by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

A new chapter is unfolding in the Tealridge retirement community history.
Oklahoma Christian University recently sold its Tealridge retirement community located at 2100 NE 140th Street in Edmond to a local group with big plans for this well-known senior living community on the university campus.
The new group owns and manages the Tealridge Assisted Living & Memory Care Community in Edmond as well as the University Village Retirement Community in Tulsa among other communities.
However, leadership is based locally in Edmond.
“With the addition of the Tealridge independent living community, we are now able to offer our residents a full care campus with housing options ranging from independent living apartments to assisted living and even memory care services – all in one location,” said Jon Paden, who leads the new group.
The sale took almost two years to complete given Oklahoma Christian’s desire to find the right buyer and ensure the community continued to be managed and owned by a group with integrity as well as shared values and beliefs.
The new owners are already starting to reinvest in the community with over $1 million funded for building improvements which will include updating all resident apartments, dining and social areas.
“We are excited to build on the great Tealridge reputation for quality in the Edmond community and we are blessed to be able to invest the money and resources needed to really create a special, yet affordable retirement option.” added Paden.
Daily operations will be managed by Melissa Mahaffey the new Executive Director at Tealridge Retirement Community.
While she has extensive senior living management experience, Mahaffey credits her success from a genuine passion for improving the lives of her senior residents.
She also serves on the Oklahoma Assisted Living Federation.
“I am so excited to be a part of the next chapter at Tealridge.” shared Mahaffey. “We have the resources and vision to really create a place that builds on Tealridge’s great reputation while updating things to be on par with the best rental communities in Edmond.”
In addition to the great residents that already call Tealridge home, Mahaffey is building a team focused on placing a strong emphasis on customer service, hospitality and convenience for retirees regardless of what phase of life they are in, Paden added.
To find out more about Tealridge you can go online at tealridge.com.

The stabbing pains in David Key’s armpits awoke him from sleep one night in 2006. “It was excruciating,” said Key, 53, who lives in Oil Center, about 10 miles northeast of Ada.
He cycled through hospitals and clinics, his condition worsening. He developed uncontrollable tremors and neurological problems and gave up his business. After a pair of strokes, he was forced to go on disability. Years passed, yet still he had no answers.
Finally, one physician thought he recognized Key’s condition. A subsequent biopsy of lymph nodes proved the hunch: sarcoidosis, a rare disease that causes lumps of immune cells – known as granulomas – to form in organs throughout the body.
“Unless patients’ first symptoms are in the lungs, they’re usually misdiagnosed,” said Courtney Montgomery, Ph.D., who studies the disease in her lab at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
Scientists know little about what triggers sarcoidosis. It seems to start in the immune system, eliciting rampant inflammation. The tumor-like lumps can appear in the eyes, liver, heart, skin and brain and, most often, in the lungs.
The disease can strike anyone, but it disproportionately affects African Americans. And, said Montgomery, it can be fatal.
“The most common causes of death are cardiac conditions,” she said. Heart complications claimed the disease’s two most famous victims – NFL Hall of Famer Reggie White and comedian Bernie Mac – at the ages of 43 and 50, respectively.
For Key, doctors have largely managed to control his symptoms through steroids and long list of other medications for the tremors, pain, depression and neurological issues. Still, he continues to experience near-constant pain in his chest. “Sometimes, I can swear I’m having a heart attack,” he said.
Last year, in an effort to help Montgomery and her OMRF scientific team better understand the disease, Key traveled to Oklahoma City to participate in a research study of sarcoidosis at the foundation. After filling out questionnaires detailing his disease and medication history, he donated blood for the researchers to analyze.
“By studying what’s going on at a genetic level in patients with active disease, we hope to identify environmental triggers that initiate sarcoidosis,” Montgomery said. Ultimately, that work might point scientists to an effective treatment.
Key understands that volunteering in OMRF’s research study likely won’t help directly. Still, he said, “If it can help somebody down the road, it’s worth it.”
For more information about sarcoidosis or to participate in research studies of the disease at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, call (405) 271-2504 or email sru@omrf.org.

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

On the darkest days, sometimes all it takes is a single ray of light to turn everything around.
For the last 20 years, Louise Colbaugh, 90, has shined in the Oklahoma City metro, volunteering at metro hospitals.
Colbaugh is closing in on three years volunteering at Community Hospital in south Oklahoma City but before that she gave 17 years at Hillcrest and eventually St. Anthony.
“I enjoyed it,” she said of her decades of unpaid service. “I don’t know. It’s just a way of life after awhile, you get up and go. You don’t sit at home and watch television or whatever.”
Colbaugh stayed home until almost 45, rearing a son and a daughter before heading out into the workforce.
Her son moved on to the paper products industry in Houston. Her daughter is close by in Moore and retired herself.
Her great granddaughter has already graduated college and is going on to pursue her degree as a physician’s assistant.
Attending graduation for her great granddaughter was a moment she’ll never forget.
“Wonderful and proud,” beamed Colbaugh, who also has two younger great grandchildren.
After raising kids and before volunteering she went back to school and studied accounting. She worked in the accounting department at Shepler’s western store.
As her husband’s health faltered, she decided she needed better insurance. She worked at Tinker Air Force Base as a civilian in the accounting department, eventually in the AWACs division.
Numbers were numbers, but only a lot more zeroes were at the end of those military budgets.
Colbaugh and her husband celebrated 51 years of marriage before he passed.
“It was bad,” she said of the end. “He had so many heart surgeries before he died. They tried to do surgery on him again and he never came out of it.”
For most who spend time with a loved one during an extended illness, the hospital would be the last place they would want to spend more time. Too many hours of fear and pain.
Colbaugh ran towards it.
“It’s just a way of life. It’s like another home to me,” Colbaugh said. “It gives you a purpose to get up in the morning. You know you’re going to meet people and you’re going to talk. I just like to do it.”
It’s an opportunity for Colbaugh to pour into others. She has stories to share. She’s felt the same feelings.
“It may be something like getting them a cup of coffee or a warm blanket,” Colbaugh explained. “I enjoy doing it and I enjoy talking to the people. It’s satisfying I can help people.”
“Like I say, it’s a way of life for me now.”
Colbaugh’s journey to Community Hospital began when St. Anthony closed its gift shop. A few of her fellow volunteers made the trip as well.
“Some people they’ll sit home and don’t do anything and then they wonder why they feel so bad,” Colbaugh said. “If they only knew how satisfying it was they would run for it really. That includes men and women. I work with both.”
“And there’s always somebody coming in and they see what you’re doing and they want to volunteer, too, but it’s getting farther and farther in between.”
Community Hospital has two campuses featuring a comprehensive range of medical services offering nursing care in a close-knit, compassionate community.
“You get paid. You get paid with gratitude and the thank-you’s you get,” Colbaugh said. “Men especially say ‘thank you for being a volunteer.’ That just makes me feel good.”
“And Roxy (Kostuck) our manager she is so good to all of us. She has Valentine’s parties and she gave me a 90th birthday party and it was wonderful.”
She immediately used the gift certificate she received to splurge on a cashmere sweater.
Colbaugh typically volunteers every Monday and Tuesday, coming in at 8 a.m. and working until 2 p.m.
She grabs the cart filled with complimentary items and goes room to room checking on patients and their families asking if they need anything.
From there she goes to the surgery waiting room.
“I go in and see what I can do for them,” she said. “And then I come back and Roxy always has something. I wrap a lot of gifts. They give away so much I can’t believe a hospital does that.”
As you might expect, Colbaugh is a big fan of volunteering her time. She’s quick to share her experience when others ask.
“I would tell them they would appreciate coming up here once they started,” Colbaugh said. “It would be good for them and they would get lots of exercise. I think they would love it.”

INTEGRIS is joining other hospitals and health centers around the country in a national effort to produce a stable supply of generic drugs. The venture is designed to address the growing frustration caused by persistent shortages of simple yet vital medications.
Utah-based not-for-profit generic-drug company Civica Rx is spearheading the initiative. “Drug shortages have become a national crisis, with patient treatments and surgeries canceled, delayed or suboptimal,” says Martin VanTrieste, chief executive officer of Civica Rx. “We thank these organizations for joining us to make essential generic medicines accessible and affordable in hospitals across the country.”
The benefit of the Civica Rx initiative is expected to be two-fold. Hospitals will not only have access to generic drugs that are frequently in short supply, but they will also be able to purchase those medications at a reduced cost. A savings that can then be passed along to patients.
“We are excited to be a partnering member in this venture,” says Tommy, Ibrahim, M.D., chief physician executive at INTEGRIS. “We enjoy a proud tradition of being a leading-edge health care provider known for a pioneering spirit that has paved the way for many medical firsts and technological advancements. We believe this initiative is another example of that. It is an innovative approach to providing quality, accessible, more affordable medicine to the citizens of Oklahoma.”
Civica Rx plans to bring 14 hospital-administered generic drugs to market in 2019. The overall vision is to become a model generic drug company that provides high-quality Food and Drug Administration-approved products at affordable prices.

WESTVILLE – A number of years ago, Terry and Pam Lamb began sharing a mustard recipe with friends and family. Now, they’ve created a business out of it.
“After being asked to bottle our lemon dill mustard so friends and family could share it with others, we decided to look into making it a business,” Terry Lamb said. “We had no experience in producing a food product. We looked to our local SCORE office for assistance. They suggested we market more than one product. We started playing with flavors and came up with over 10 we felt would be marketable and decided to start marketing three.”
Partnering with Pam’s mother, Vienna Willard, the Lambs converted their shop into a commercial kitchen. After approval from the Oklahoma State Department of Health, Tajour Specialty Products was ready for production.
“We currently manufacture three flavors of mustard,” Terry Lamb said. “Our flavors include lemon dill mustard, rosemary garlic mustard and cranberry orange mustard. We have a number of other flavors developed with the intention of introducing more flavors as our company grows.”
The Lambs chose to incorporate a Hand Up Program, in which they donate 2 percent of every sale to go into an account to help people in their community build local businesses and fight food insecurity.
“We also try to make our products versatile,” he said. “Our mustards can be spread on a cracker with cheese or used on a sandwich. They can also be used as an ingredient in recipes. Our favorite is to make a dressing out of our cranberry orange mustard by mixing it with equal amounts of honey and using it on a salad or as dip. Making deviled eggs using any of our mustards runs a close second.”
Lamb said the goal is to create flavorful, healthy products without added sugar, salt or fat. Tajour Specialty Products was established in November 2017 and started sales in December 2018. The owner is a member of the Cherokee Nation. Tajour Specialty Products recently joined the Made in Oklahoma Program. To learn more about the business, visit www.tajoursp.com, www.madeinoklahoma.net/products/tajour-specialty-products-llc/ or find them on Facebook.

The Oklahoma History Center is honored to present Colonial Williamsburg’s Katharine Pittman in a portrayal of America’s “Lady Washington,” Martha Dandridge Custis Washington. The performance will be Thursday, February 7, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and will take place in the Chesapeake Event Center. Admission costs are $10 for Oklahoma Historical Society members and $20 for nonmembers. There is no reserved seating, so early arrival is recommended. Tickets may be reserved by calling 405-522-0765. The Oklahoma History Center is located at 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive in Oklahoma City.
Katharine Pittman has been an actor/interpreter for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for six years. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University and holds degrees in theater and history, and performed for many years around the country in musicals and operas. However, history was always her passion and, when given the opportunity, Pittman developed the Martha Washington portrayal and became one of the Nation Builders for Colonial Williamsburg.
While in Oklahoma, Pittman will make an appearance at the annual Colonial Day event at the Oklahoma State Capitol and Revolutionary Day in Tulsa.

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

Like many, Karyl James, MSN, BSN, RN, Mercy Hospital CNO watched the frequent headlines marking deadly shootings.
And the reports of violence inside health care showed no signs of slowing down.
But what happens if the two scenarios combined? It was a question James and others in the Mercy system really didn’t want to think about, but one they knew they had to answer.
“With all the public shootings going on our safety team in collaboration with nursing said we have to educate and do something about it,” James said recently.
Through planning, discussion and scenarios Code Roscoe was born.
The code is Mercy-wide, so all 45 hospitals in the system use it for any active shooter situation.
Each unit must have at least two identified safe places that can prevent a shooter’s access to people.
“It’s not just nursing it’s registration, it’s all of those individuals. The front door of the hospital is registration so they need a safe place,” James said.
Planning for the unknown is a constant battle. Knowing who might have a gun is another.
A former ER nurse, James is familiar with both.
“Unknown was just kind of second nature for me and personally, I’ve had a gun pointed at me as an ER nurse many years ago,” James said.
It was an eye-opener to say the least.
“Yeah, I’m going to die. It was frightening,” James said of what flashed through her mind all those years ago. “He was not in his right mind and pulled out the revolver. Luckily, I had a police officer right next to me and he grabbed the gun.”
“The worst we can do is say ‘Oh, that will never happen to me because it might.’”
James knows working without a plan would shortchange everyone. That’s why she’s invested in the planning, hoping it will never be put to use.
The first drill that was run pointed out several instances where locking mechanisms didn’t work the way they should have.
The second time the code was called it wasn’t a drill.
“I got that call on a Sunday afternoon and I just froze,” James said of the scenario where the hospital locked down after a suspect in a nearby neighborhood was seen with a gun. “My stomach just sank because there was no drill.”
Out of instinct the first thing James did was call the house supervisor. That wasn’t protocol.
“The first thing you do is turn your phone off and text only,” James said. “I was the administrator on call.”
The house supervisor did answer and whispered to James she and several others were huddled under a table in the nursing administration offices.
“There was no lock on that door so they had the table pushed against the door,” James said. “The larger space you could just walk in. We’ve since put a badge reader on that door.”
Officials also learned the emergency locking button that seals all doors in the emergency department did not work.
“You could literally walk up and push open our ER so we got that fixed,” James said. “It really kind of opened our eyes to a lot of the safety measures we thought we had but really didn’t.”
Mercy has had Code Roscoe in place for nearly three years now. It’s evolved along the way.
“The reason I feel good about it is because the co-workers feel good about it,” James beamed. “After that actual event I went to the hospital after it was all said and done. It was a grueling 45 minutes because that was about how long it took for police to subdue the individual shooting in the neighborhood. I rounded on staff.”
“They knew exactly what to do. They knew where their safe spots were and the locks worked. They felt safer. For me, that’s a win.”
Planning for the unexpected is challenging to say the least.
“There’s always something new and I think you have to be flexible to understand you don’t have everything figured out and you never will,” she said.
“I get shocked every day with something new. Being open to accepting that and training as much as you possibly can for those bigger events – coworkers will figure out what they need to do and what is right to do for their patients and their safety.”

Dear Savvy Senior,

Can you provide some tips on how to choose a good estate sale company who can sell all the leftover items in my mother’s house? Inquiring Daughter

Dear Inquiring,
The estate sale business has become a huge industry over the past decade. There are roughly 22,000 estate sale companies that currently operate in the U.S., up nearly 60 percent from just 10 years ago. But not all estate sale companies are alike.
Unlike appraisal, auction and real estate companies, estate sale operators are largely unregulated, with no licensing or standard educational requirements. That leaves the door open for inexperienced, unethical or even illegal operators. Therefore, it’s up to you to decipher a good reputable company from a bad one. Here are some tips to help you choose.
Make a list: Start by asking friends, your real estate agent or attorney for recommendations. You can also search online. Websites like EstateSales.net and EstateSales.org let you find estate sale companies in your area.
Check their reviews: After you find a few companies, check them out on the Better Business Bureau (BBB.org), Angie’s List (AngiesList.com), Yelp (Yelp.com) and other online review sites to eliminate ones with legitimately negative reviews.
Call some companies: Once you identify some estate sale companies, select a few to interview over the phone. Ask them how long they’ve been in business and how many estate sales they conduct each month. Also find out about their staff, the services they provide, if they are insured and bonded and if they charge a flat fee or commission. The national average commission for an estate sale is around 35 percent, but commissions vary by city and region.
You may also want to ask them about visiting their next sale to get a better feel for how they operate. And be sure to get a list of references of their past clients and call them.
Schedule appointments: Set up two or three face-to-face interviews with the companies you felt provided you with satisfactory answers during the phone interviews.
During their visit, show the estate liquidator through the property. Point out any items that will not be included in the sale, and if you have any items where price is a concern, discuss it with them at that time. Many estate companies will give you a quote, after a quick walk through the home.
You also need to ask about their pricing (how do they research prices and is every item priced), how they track what items sell for, what credit cards do they accept, and how and where will they promote and market your sale. EstateSales.net is a leading site used to advertise sales, so check advertising approaches there.
Additionally, ask how many days will it take them to set up for the sale, how long will the sale last, and will they take care of getting any necessary permits to have the sale.
You also need to find out how and when you will be paid, and what types of services they provide when the sale is over. Will they clean up the house and dispose of the unsold items, and is there’s an extra charge for that? Also, make sure you get a copy of their contract and review it carefully before you sign it.
For more information on choosing an estate sale company, see National Estate Sales Association online guide at NESA-USA.com, and click on “Consumer Education” then on “Find the Right Company.”
Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

by Bryan Painter

Muskogee – A lot of people say they are thankful for what time has taught them. However, Kelly Wiedel, who ranches with husband Bart in eastern Oklahoma, has a lifetime of experiences to back that up.
There are simple things she has learned.
Take for instance haying.
“I’ll never forget the day when my father-in-law Jim Wiedel said I had tractor driving in my blood because I asked him if I could rake again,” Kelly Wiedel said.
She also won’t forget what she learned one day when she was out haying.
“When raking hay with a tractor without a cab, stay away from bumble bees,” she said.
Wiedel has painted countless feet of pipe fence and gateways.
“From that I have learned to always paint with the wind at my back,” she said.
There are also things she’s learned that weren’t so simple, such as the first time her husband was ever involved in a vehicle accident. She was a passenger.
“It caused me to get vertigo and after time with it not going away and many different tests and scans of my head,” she said, “we found out that I had a brain aneurism and had to have brain surgery. So the wreck was a blessing because it saved my life.”
Perhaps it was all those experiences and more that led her to place a sign in their dining room that reads, “It may not be the easy way, but it’s the Cowboy Way.”
On a Sunday morning
Kelly was only 6 years old when she met this lanky boy named Bart at church on a Sunday in the early 1970s. Her family had just moved to the area and as it turned out, she grew up living roughly 10 miles from his family’s cow/calf and haying operation.
Kelly and Bart married in 1984 and started out with a small cow/calf operation near Muskogee. Three years later they became partners with his parents and together the families had 400 momma cows.
In between then and now, they have purchased more land and cattle. They have taken on the management of another 1,000-acre ranch.
Beverly Delmedico has known Kelly and Bart for several years.
“I don’t know of a couple that is closer together than Bart and Kelly,” she said. “They do absolutely everything together. They are just something else. I love Bart and Kelly both.”
Very proud of their family
Wiedel has another sign hanging on the wall, “Home is where the herd is.”
While they are proud of their ranch, they are extremely proud of their family. Others have recognized the Wiedels as well.
Kelly and Bart’s family received the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee’s District Six Farm and Ranch Family Recognition during the organization’s 77th annual meeting on Nov. 17.
They have three children, James Robert Wiedel, Jared Jay Wiedel and Lacy Miller, along with six grandchildren.
So, Kelly Wiedel says this about agriculture.
“It has given me a life to work beside my husband and raise our children in a way of life that has made them want to continue to live their lives in agriculture,” she said. “Our two sons have cattle of their own and work with us in the hay field. Our daughter and her husband have their own cattle operation about 45 miles away. We hope that our children and grandchildren have learned that hard work will make them better people.”
There is that word again, “learned.”
Life on an agricultural operation provides its own forms of continuing education.
There are the enjoyable lessons.
“I am most happy on the ranch when it is spring time and all the baby calves are running around,” she said.
Then, there are the challenging lessons.
“We went through a bad drought and had to bale cornstalks to provide hay for our cattle, because we sold more hay than our fields made because of the drought,” she said.
A key part of that comment is, “We went through…” They didn’t stop, they didn’t turn back. They put on their work gloves and they “went through.”
So how does Wiedel summarize the lessons learned so far in life?
Kelly Wiedel said, “It takes a person who is willing to put in a lot of time and hard work to make a ranch successful.”