Oklahoma City University will host preventive medicine pioneer Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper for a presentation, open to the public, at 3 p.m. March 26 in the Kerr McGee Auditorium in Meinders School of Business. Following his presentation, the university will bestow Cooper with an honorary Doctor of Science degree.
Cooper, the founder and chairman of Cooper Aerobics in Dallas and an Oklahoma native, is credited with starting the international fitness movement following the release of his best-selling book, “Aerobics,” in 1968. This year marks the 45th anniversary of Cooper Aerobics inspiring millions of people to live healthier, longer lives.
He has lectured in more than 50 countries and is most famous in Brazil, having trained the 1970 Brazilian soccer team to a World Cup victory. As a result, jogging is translated as “coopering” in Portuguese.
Cooper’s efforts have also impacted the American diet. His collaboration with PepsiCo to eliminate trans fats from its Frito-Lay snack line encouraged other companies to follow suit.
Cooper was born in Oklahoma City in 1931. During his 13 years of service in the U.S. Army and Air Force, he served as a flight surgeon and director of the Aerospace Medical Laboratory. He developed the 12-minute and 1.5-mile fitness tests and the Aerobics Point System still used today by branches of the military, schools and organizations worldwide.
In 1970 Cooper resigned from the military and founded Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas with the mission to explore the relationship between cardiovascular fitness and health and longevity. With the popularity of his book “Aerobics,” which has been translated into 41 languages and Braille, he also coined the term “aerobics” and submitted the official definition to the Oxford English Dictionary. He has authored 18 additional books, which combined have sold more than 30 million copies.
Cooper’s mission is for people of all ages to Get Cooperized™. As a leading pioneer of preventive medicine, he is challenging the world to follow his “8 Healthy Steps” to live better: maintain a healthy weight; eat healthy most of the time; exercise most days of the week; take the right supplements for you; stop smoking; control alcohol; manage stress; and get a regular, comprehensive physical exam. Founder and Chairman of Cooper Aerobics, Dr. Kenneth Cooper continues to lead the organization alongside his son, Dr. Tyler Cooper, president and CEO.

Story and photo by Jason Chandler, Staff Writer

Not every health care agency is accredited by the Joint Commission, but BrightStar Care operates with this distinction.
“It’s an accredidation that hospitals have to have, but very few home care companies would pursue because it’s hard work and it’s expensive,” said Ken Fearnow, president and administrator of BrightStar Care.
In 2013 Fearnow and his wife, Jannie, opened the private non-Medicare franchise agency in Edmond.
“Our slogan is ‘A Higher Standard of Care,’” Fearnow said. “What we hope to do is ensure a higher quality of life.”
The Fearnows believe that because of the types of services they provide that it is essential to hold themselves accountable to the highest quality of standards provided in the industry.
BrightStar serves the greater Oklahoma City metroplex by offering home care and medical staffing. A full range of services are provided in a client’s home, providing that they are well enough to stay at home and don’t need to be hospitalized, Fearnow said.
“It might be companionship and keeping people safe in their homes to people who don’t need a high level of personal care needs,” he said. “They just need safety and some help around the house, maybe light housekeeping and just preparing meals for them and those things.”
BrightStar also provides personal care services to people with a higher level of needs. They might have been discharged from the hospital and need some support in their house. Maybe they can’t get out of bed and they need help with transferring, walking and showering, Fearnow said.
“We also provide skilled nursing services,” Fearnow continued. “That would be anything from providing injections and withdrawing blood all the way to wound care.”
BrightStar also provides infusion therapy for certain types of patients.
“We like to hire people who have a heart for the work that they do,” Fearnow said. “And it’s kind of hard to test for until you get them in the field, but most of the people that are in this business are so because they have a lot of compassion. They really do it more for the satisfaction of helping other people.”
The nursing staff ranges from registered nurses to certified home health aides and certified nurse aides. These aides must have been certified for at least a year before BrightStar will consider hiring them.
“We just feel like they need to have some experience either working in a facility or working as a nurse aide before we want to put them with our clients,” Fearnow said. “We also require that they have CPR certification.”
There are also federal and state requirements for the nurse aides to have a 50-state criminal background check as well as checking the OSBI sex offender registry. They must also have a drug test and a negative tuberculosis test.
“We competency test them in various areas depending on the type of client they are going to see,” Fearnow said.
Members of the staff are in the business to enrich people’s lives, which is the focus of person centered care.
“They do it more for that than they do for the money,” Fearnow explained. “We have some caregivers — I can think of one in particular — who with more than one client we’ve had in their final hours; they’ve been holding hands and praying with them.”
Providing company is important to people who are mostly homebound or transferred with lifts and with varying degrees of disability.
“They require different expertise and different types of care,” Fearnow said. “To ensure this better quality of care, we try to match the likes and dislikes of the client with the likes and dislikes of the caregiver.”
Clients are contacted within 24 hours for feedback and to see if there is anything else that they need. Seven days later, the client is contacted again, followed by a once-a-month communication with the office. Surveys are sent to learn from the client how they are doing.
“We are in their home with them. We want to see how we are touching them at every stage,” Fearnow said.
Enriching the lives of other people by providing excellent care has also enriched Fearnow’s life.
“I always said, ‘The closer I get to the age of the people I’m caring for — and we have several that are about my age — the more important it is for me to provide the quality of care to them and the dignity I would want for myself.”
“It’s been a very rewarding business for me. My wife and I have enjoyed it very much.”

Jamaica: More than the Jazz & Blues Festival

Photography and Text by Terry “Travels with Terry” Zinn  [email protected]

While an excuse is never needed to visit exotic locales, it’s advisable to have an anchor activity for your visit.  The Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival near Montego Bay, was my initial reason for revisiting Jamaica.  I had been there decades ago with a group of college chums. Other than the palm trees and azure waters and the natural wonder of Dunn River Falls near Ocho Rios, I don’t remember much.
The Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival is a three night event, held this year at the Trelawny outdoor stadium near Montego Bay.  The musical line up of acts was impressive, fun and educational.  Reggae is not in my lexicon of favorite musical styles, as the first night was all nominal Reggae from local and regional bands
The second and third nights the caliber of musical entertainment increased with well-known performers including: Mariah Carey, Arturo Tappin, Richie Stephens, Peter Cetera, Charlie Wilson, Pointer Sisters and Soja, who were nominated for Best Reggae Album at the 57th Grammy Awards this year.   While many expected Carey to be the highlight of the Festival, it was Charlie Wilson and Peter Cetera who earned the adoration of the music fans.
Before and after the evening concerts I visited several Jamaican attractions that offer variety, education and fun.   Be sure and plan to visit the restored 1760 Rose Hall plantation house.  Here with a personal tour you can step back in time to imagine the lifestyle of a sugarcane plantation owner.  The most famous inhabitant was John Palmer’s wife, Annee, who turned out to be called the White Witch by her slaves for her cruel treatment, as she murdered a few husbands and herself was killed in the house. It is said she still haunts the house to this day.  While the house was in ruin until in 1965, we are thankful it was completely restored to what might have been its glory days.
Chukka Caribbean Adventure Tours (www.chukka.com) offers  ATVs, dune buggy rides and Zip lining. It is a safe and enjoyable soft adventure to drive a two person dune buggy through the orchards with majestic views of the distance Jamaican mountains.  Zip lining is always an adventure, for no two locales are ever the same. As you sit down into your harness and let go, you never know what jungle vistas will be zipping by. Going through the fork of a large tree, is indeed a thrill.  The expert guides at Chukka are to be commended for their skill and attention. Chukka also offers, nature canopy tours, river floating and rum tastings.  If you can work into your time, visit the great house. The view from atop this hilltop mansion of the Egg Crate Mountains provides a unique memory.
Over in Ocho Rios, be sure and visit Mystic Mountain (www.rainforestbobsledjamaica.com) with its dry bobsledding ride, Dolphin Cove (www.dolphincovejamaica.com)  with its sea life and aviary, and it goes without saying to visit iconic Dunn River Falls (www.dunnsriverja.com).  For Jamaican history visit the downtown Montego Bay Cultural Center, by Sam Sharpe square with parking in the rear.
In Montego Bay you may wish to stay at the adults only, all inclusive, upscale Hyatt Zilara hotel (http://rosehall.zilara.hyatt.com) with its extensive pools and palm fringed private beach.  While I don’t know if it’s officially recommended, but with eight all inclusive (no bills) dining locales, where reservation are not taken, your own impromptu progressive dinner could be enjoyed.  What a luxury to sample an appetizer here, and entree at another venue and then dessert at another.
Hyatt Zilara offers Brazilian style dinning; Italian, with fresh made oven baked pizzas; an anytime buffet at Horizons, and a favorite of all, the on the beach Jerk stand, with melt in your mouth grilled chicken, port and sausage. Open till 6 pm, a beach side sampling, always hot and ready, is indeed a vacationer’s dream.  Beach and pool side servers are available to take and deliver your beverage requests. More eating options are also available along with a Crepe stand near the lobby, operating until 2 pm. And don’t forget 24 hour room service. At Flavorz, I had a Welsh Rabbit, Sunday Roast with Yorkshire Pudding (a pastry), topped off with Jamaican Fruit Cake which is more like a chocolate mousse cake infused with fruit flavors.
On my first night I was delighted at the service and ambiance of the dress code-enforced Petit Paris restaurant.  Stewart, my server was informative, efficient and personable as he served me scallops, a house salad, Steak Frites and an out of this world coconut Crème Brule. I added another perfect martini made from the Stirz bar adjacent to the main lobby.  Not many bars in the best resorts can make a proper martini or follow directions, but at the Hyatt Zilara, over several days of enjoyable testing, I found them all accomplished.  With an evening beverage in hand while strolling along the balmy ocean surf at dusk, you can create and take in a true lux resort experience.
You need not wait until next year to visit Jamaica during the Jazz and Blues Festival, for as you can see Jamaica has many other attractions around which to center your visit. My thanks to the Jamaica Tourist Board for their assistance, as they can also help you plan your Jamaican visit.  (www.visitjamaica.com)

Like any good administrator, Brookhaven Extensive Care’s Mollie Woolridge is constantly looking for better ways to help her residents.
So when she heard about the Prevent Clinic and what it could do she was sold.
“We always want to give the best care for our residents so anything that’s new and can make their lives better or easier we want to try,” Wooldridge said. “What they pitched to us was what we needed because readmissions are an issue and these can prevent some. It can at least let us know when someone is declining.”
Enter John Murgai and Lee Rose with Prevent Clinic – an on-site health monitoring and management firm that specializes in identifying patients who are at-risk for hospital readmission.
Once those patients are identified, Prevent Clinic focuses on continued monitoring until the patient’s prognosis improves.
Patients in the Prevent Clinic – largely those with congestive heart failure – are examined once they begin the program and are then seen weekly.
“We know from the start if they are at risk and what to look for and they are monitored regularly by additional people,” Wooldridge said. “And it’s people that learn to know them.”
Brookhaven specializes in nursing care. And Dustin Schuler is the Director of Nursing.
From a clinical standpoint, he was all for using Prevent Clinic.
“It was just giving us an extra tool to care for the residents,” he said. “For a long time with skilled care you had to send them out to the hospital to get any kind of testing done. It was just a great option to help the residents.”
Wooldridge monitored the numbers and liked what she saw.
“When did this work? From the very beginning,” she said.
Prevent Clinic’s ultrasounds and dopplers are also at Schuler and his staff’s disposal.
“The technology the mobile x-ray has is pretty high-end,” he said.
“Once I got the nurses on board 100 percent it was definitely additional peace of mind,” he continued. “I think they like it, knowing there’s another test they could run. It gives them something else we can go to. They realize sending the resident to the hospital isn’t good for them and it isn’t good for the family.”
Health care reform has pinpointed hospital readmissions as a key area for improving care coordination and achieving potential savings.  Medicare patients have the largest share of total readmissions and the highest associated costs for readmission.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, there were approximately 3.3 million adult hospital readmissions in the U.S. in 2011. That resulted in $41.3 billion in additional hospital costs.
For Medicare patients, the No. 1 condition resulting in readmission was congestive heart failure which was responsible for 134,500 readmissions. Septicemia and pneumonia were the next two conditions responsible for the majority of readmissions. These three conditions alone resulted in $4.3 billion in hospital costs.
At a time when hospitals are trying to lower a patient’s length of stay, patients are unfortunately coming home sicker than before.
The thinking is that objective hemodynamic data can lead to better outcomes and ultimately a lower cost of care.
“It’s an added plus on our side because we do something nobody else does,” Wooldridge said.
Initially, Wooldridge admits her staff was leary of taking on a new process. But Murgai quickly won them over.
“Trying new things is always difficult because you don’t want to add more work to already overworked people,” Wooldridge said. “But I think this helps them in so many different ways. It’s not additional work it’s additional eyes on our residents. More people can see a decline or an improvement.”
Murgai said Brookhaven is the first facility to use Prevent Clinic’s optimized program.
“We test every patient here,” Murgai said. “Every patient gets tested … that way nothing falls through the cracks for them.”
And the cracks are where patients can slip through, leading them back to the hospital.
“Hospitals are where sick people are and people get sicker sometimes when they go there,” Rose said.
That’s why keeping them out of the hospital is the best prescription.