by Vickie Jenkins

Meet Kristi Brewer Campbell, Owner and Director of Care Plus Home Care. “This is a family-owned, licensed and private duty home care agency,” Kristi says. “We have certified care-givers and assisted living services to individuals and couples that want to stay home and stay well.”
Here, you will find that services are offered 7 days a week up to 24 hours a day. Live-in services are also provided if around-the-clock care is needed. Their caregivers can assist with personal care and hygiene, take care of their medications, prepare meals, clean, do laundry and assist with transportation and errands.
The family-owned business understands how important it is to their clients to feel and remain safe in their own homes. “When people can stay in their home, it makes them feel good about themselves. They feel a bit of independence even though they have a caregiver come in to assist them with their specific needs,” Kristi says. “All of our caregivers are bonded, references are verified and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation checks are run on each caregiver prior to employment. That is a big plus and when it comes to feeling safe and secure, our clients really like that. It is a peace of mind for the client and their families. The caregivers are carefully screened and undergo a criminal background check. In addition, each caregiver is bonded, insured and covered under workers’ compensation insurance. It’s nice to know that they can trust their caregiver.”
Established in 1993, Care Plus Home Care agency provides an alternative for seniors wanting to remain independent and in the comfort of their own home. The mission here is to meet the home care needs of their clients with respect, compensation and services of the highest quality. They will operate in a manner that will appropriately reward their clients and employees alike. Presently, Care Plus Home Care has about 70 clients but the number varies. “All of our clients are treated with respect, and we want to make them feel like the most important person in the world,” Kristi comments.
Kristi Brewer Campbell and her mom Nancy Brewer add a little something special for their clients. “I remember when I was a little girl, there was an elderly lady, Maddox, that we would visit each week, just to stop by to see if she needed anything. I remember how my mom was so nice to her. Now, my mom continues caring for the elderly by making our clients a birthday cake on their special day. Mom has been baking birthday cakes for a little over 3 years now and she loves it,” Kristi said. “It certainly brightens their day,” she adds. “The two of us deliver the cakes to our clients and sometimes, it’s a big celebration with their families. Everyone in the family appreciates us bringing them a birthday cake. That makes us feel really good.”
“It was my mom’s idea to bake a cake for each of our clients on their birthdays,” Kristi said. Asking Nancy how she began baking cakes for the clients, she replied, “Of course it takes a little bit for the client to get used to the daily adjustments when they need assistance in their homes. There was a gentleman that was having a hard time with it and it just happened to be his birthday. Kristi and I decided to bake a cake for his birthday. When we delivered it to his home, his whole attitude changed, for the better. It was amazing! After that, I decided that I would bake a cake for all of the clients on their birthday,” she said with a smile.
“How does it make you feel when you deliver a cake to the clients?” I ask Nancy. “Well, it makes me feel really good to know that I am doing something for someone else and by me baking a cake for them, they really appreciate it. Sometimes, Kristi and I are greeted by their families and they want us to stay for the party, etc. It is such a great feeling knowing that such a simple gesture from us can mean so much to them.”
Kristi and Nancy deliver the cakes all over Oklahoma, wherever their clients are and they never miss a birthday. The cakes are usually 2 to 3 layers of luscious flavor upon the client’s request. Decorated with icing and a Happy Birthday on the top, it almost looks too good to eat! Nancy loves to bake and will continue to bake birthday cakes as long as she is able.
A big thank you to Don and Joan Herndon for allowing me to come into your home and a thank you to Kristi and Nancy for spending your time and effort to go out of your way to make seniors feel special.

It’s a reality no mother ever wants to imagine; being discharged from the hospital and leaving your newborn baby behind.
That fear became real for Keely Mallory. On Jan. 17, with more than a month left in her pregnancy, Keely gave birth to her first child, Rhett.
“We had a talk the morning I gave birth to him. I told him he was only 35 weeks and that he needed to stay in there, but he was determined to make a grand entrance,” Keely joked.
Keely laughs about it now, but for almost a month she and her husband put their lives on hold to be by Rhett’s side in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City.
They found comfort in a surprising place: a tiny piece of handmade cloth in the shape of a heart. Rhett had an identical heart inside his neonatal incubator. Keely would wear or sleep with hers one night, before exchanging it with the heart in Rhett’s bassinet the next day. “The idea is that the mother’s or child’s scent rubs off on the cloth,” said Mercy Hospital Chaplain, Trisha Wiscombe, who helped implement the idea. “We found through research that scent plays a large role in bonding.”
In turn, the scent of her child may help release a flood of happy hormones in the mother that assist with milk production. For Keely, she said it also helped provide her with a sense of comfort and calm during a time that was often stressful.
“It was a way to have him at home when he couldn’t be,” Keely said. “It was so hard leaving him at the hospital every day, so to just be able to lay the cloth on my pillow at night was very comforting and helped with our transition.”
Each of the hearts is handmade by Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City volunteer Fran Thibedea, who estimates she’s made close to 200 so far. All mothers with children in the NICU receive them. The idea is also in place at other Mercy hospitals in Missouri.
Rhett was discharged from the hospital on Feb. 12. Both he and Keely are doing well.

by Bobby Anderson, staff writer

Feisty. Funny. Fortitude. Those are some of the adjectives used to describe Norma Jean Schritter, the granddaughter of 1889 land run homesteader, John Krivanek.
She’s lived in Mustang most of her life thanks to her family tracing back to the Land Run of 1889.
The family farm, located at S.W. 44th and Sara Road in Canadian County, is state designated as a Centennial Farm.
To be a Centennial Farm, the property must be at least 40 acres and operated or owned by family descendants for at least 100 years.
James “Bud” Schritter was the love of Norma Jean’s life. They were married 60 years before he passed “to prepare their next home together” as Norma Jean says.
They met at Czech Hall in Yukon after he saw her dancing and told his friends he was “going to marry that girl.”
They courted three years before tying the knot. Once during a large snow storm, Bud drove his tractor from Wheatland, Oklahoma to see her.
He stopped and cut barb wire fences to forge a path to her home and then repaired them on his drive back to Wheatland.
It’s no wonder Bud was smitten by Norma Jean. Her radiant smile and smart wit is like a magnet to iron.
Norma Jean, age 83, is a fascinating resource of historic Mustang events and families. A grease fire burned down her family home in January 1951 when she was a senior in high school. Neighbors from miles around rushed over and started hauling things out of the house.
Two ladies carried out a refrigerator on their backs. Many of those same neighborly friends helped rebuild the house and returned again to plant and harvest the farm when Norma’s father was ill.
“Sharing and helping each other was a normal way of life for neighbors back then,” said Norma Jean.
The farm has also survived dust storms and the tornado of 1970, which took the wash house, hay barn, storage barn, machine shed, and several large farm combines.
Bud and Norma Jean grew wheat and hay and lived off the products of their land. Norma Jean cultivated a huge garden and became an expert canner. Her favorite items to can include possum grapes, strawberries, sand plums, blackberries, okra, and pretty much any Oklahoma vegetable.
She has always been an excellent cook. Her cousin, Louis Krivanek, lives nearby on land that has been in his family since 1917.
He recalls that for two decades at harvest time he helped drive farm equipment for Norma Jean. It was a demanding job. He says they “worked hard and ate really good.”
The Schritters loved the television show Hee Haw and didn’t let the long work days of harvest season stop them from watching it.
Long before today’s mobile devices, they found a way to rig a TV to run off the tractor so they could work their crop to the tunes of Buck Owens and Roy Clark.
Norma Jean has been a fan of the Days of Our Lives soap opera for 45 years and gladly admits she schedules her day around its viewing time.
After that, you may find the petite redhead driving around town in her bright red Chevy pickup. She has been going to the same Mustang beauty operator, Maxine Pierce, for 41 years.
Norma Jean and her husband also partnered as “pumpers” for a national oil company. They determined how much oil, natural gas, and salt water was produced daily for each well.
They measured and tracked more than 50 well sites for almost 30 years.
Norma Jean is an avid collector of sea shells. “Shelling” in the gulf is one of her favorite hobbies. She also plays the accordion and maintains an active social calendar. In her younger years, she was a Beseda dancer for parades, Czech festivals, and the 1957 state 50th year celebration.
She still enjoys dancing and says she has always felt she would rather dance than eat.
Recently Norma Jean moved to a new house at Whispering Creek Active Adult Retirement Neighborhood in the south Oklahoma City/Mustang area. She loves the country feel of the gated addition for people age 55 and better.
She says she is surprised how big the rooms are and that they seemed even larger when she added furniture.
“I’m thrilled to find this neighborhood and my only wish is that Bud was here to enjoy it too,” she said.

A fall can happen in a split second, but it may take a lot of time, pain and rehabilitation to recover. Falls can cause injury at any age, but they can be especially devastating for seniors. In fact, falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths among individuals over age 65.
About one-third of the population over age 65 falls each year. (Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control) This is a serious problem affecting seniors. As we age, the risk increases for injury from falling and these injuries may result in hospitalization and long term loss of freedom and independence. However, you can reduce your risk.
To help you, INTEGRIS Third Age Life Center in collaboration with INTEGRIS Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation, developed an educational program, Prevent Slips, Trips and Broken Hips. The program includes discussion of risk factors for falling and prevention of falls, and the opportunity for individual assessment of one’s risk for falling.
The program is available to senior groups in the metro Oklahoma City area. To schedule Prevent Slips, Trips and Broken Hips at your location, please contact Marge Jantzen, 405-717-9823, at INTEGRIS Third Age Life Center. For more information click here:  http://integrisok.com/senior-community-services-third-age-life-oklahoma

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

Brad Whinery’s mother and father were pioneers in the Oklahoma funeral industry.
Sixty years later, Brad Whinery is still innovating how Oklahomans lay their loved ones to rest.
“What it’s provided us is an opportunity to help other people,” Whinery said of his family’s Oklahoma legacy. “We’ve always been a family that likes serving other people.”
Whinery firmly believes you should pay your last respects and not your life savings when a loved one passes.
He’s helped literally thousands of Oklahomans select a lasting and dignified cremation option that meets family needs and budgets.
And now Oklahoma’s first cremation-only garden is providing even more options for those laying their loved ones to rest.
REFLECTION POINTE
Whinery has helped honor and remember loved ones by integrating the beauty of nature with the beauty of the celebration of life at Reflection Pointe.
The first thing you’ll notice upon entering the grounds is the peaceful sound of water cascading over a granite wall. A waterfall is a magnificent feature that also serves as a permanent resting place. Your loved one’s ashes can be placed behind a black granite plaque on the backside of the waterfall.
The water pools into two reflection ponds surrounded by a garden with bistro-style seating. The waterfall offers several options for memorialization, including black granite plaques with room for an inscription or custom, engraved portrait. It is the only area where a bronze plate can be placed to give a person’s name with their birth and death date. The waterfall and garden area have limited availability.
Another area is known as the Ossuary.
Oklahoma artist Jay Hylton was commissioned to design the Ossuary at Reflection Pointe Gardens. The bronze and steel sculpture with the rotating ball reflects the perpetual connection to one another.
The Ossuary provides an elegant, affordable and permanent memorial option for cremated remains. Families place their loved one’s ashes into the Ossuary through the opening in the bronze ball. A family can add their loved one’s inscription to the surrounding granite cenotaph as a testament to their enduring legacy. The Ossuary and cenotaph also have limited availability.
Pet owners recognize they don’t just have an animal they have a family member.
Whinery recognizes that dogs and cats are much more than pets. They are important members of our families and deserve to mourned and be memorialized in a dignified way. The first of its kind in Oklahoma, Furever Friends is a special space where pets and pet lover’s remains can be buried separately or interred together. This special memorial garden is designed to represent the unique bond between pets and their owners.
The entire property is tranquil and uncluttered.
Built on an eight-acre wooded area, visitors can stroll through the park, reflect at the waterfall or sit on the grounds without walking around above-ground monuments like traditional cemeteries. As unique as the life you are remembering, Reflection Pointe also offers the options of scattering ashes in the meadow or placing them in the Ossuary or a niche inside the waterfall.
Reflection Pointe Gardens uses GPS technology and smart microchips to locate your loved ones’ site and access online memorials. Visitors simply download an app to their personal smartphone, or borrow a tablet from the office to self-navigate the gardens.
As you walk through the gardens you can view digital memorials of friends and loved ones that not only give more than important names and dates, but also a keen insight into the unique life presented.
Videos and photos bring a person’s memory back to the forefront of visitors.
“When someone visits a grave they’re not given a name and a date they’re given a life story,” Whinery said.
Last summer, Whinery invested in a 360-degree virtual property photo shoot. So far the feedback has been tremendous.
No matter where they live in the world, loved ones are able to virtually visit the final resting place any time they want.
And one of the best parts is services at Affordable Cremation and Reflection Pointe are often only a fraction of the cost of just a grave opening in the Oklahoma City metro.
That’s not including the traditional funeral-associated costs of buying a monument, a vault – not to mention a lot which easily boosts prices into the thousands of dollars.
It’s another milestone in the Whinery family’s commitment to helping loved ones pay their last respects and not their life savings.

by James Coburn, Staff Writer

Imagine your life being a puzzle tossed into the air, fragmented into pieces that cannot be joined together again. Every day brings a little death for someone living with Alzheimer’s disease. It can be treated, but for this terminal illness, there is no cure.
For the caregiver or anyone who shares experiences with a person living with dementia, there is a program offered called Alzheimer’s Experience which promotes empathy for the loved one by educating people about how Alzheimer’s changes the course of life.
Most recently the event was held at the Fountains at Canterbury in Oklahoma City and is offered at other locations, said Charlie Redding, director of business development for Right at Home which offers in home care and assistance, and Jennifer Forrester, community relations director of Oklahoma Hospice Care.
They have also partnered with Rivermont in Norman as well as Touchmark in Edmond. Redding has also partnered with fire departments to offer refresher course training.
Forrester said the Alzheimer’s Experience is also helpful for senior law attornies or anyone with a vested interest. She is there to score the events, observe the participants in the room and take notes, Forrester said. She watches to see if tasks are being performed in order and sees how they react to noises in their ears.
“If you’d like to take a walk in the shoes of someone living with memory loss or Alzheimer’s disease, this is your chance,” Redding said.
Right at Home is hosting a dementia tour in partnership with Oklahoma Hospice Care, Redding said.
“This experience lasts about 20 minutes and we’ll provide delicious snacks for you after the tour,” he added.
The participants will take a pre-test and a post-test after the simulation, Redding said. “We’re targeting health care professionals, but it’s open to anyone, family members, caregivers, employees of the community and different vendors that we all deal with.”
The Virtual Dementia Tour consists of putting on goggles, gloves, inserts into their shoes and a headphone with a recording. The recording lasts 11 minutes during which time the participant is given five minutes to complete a task.
“They have to go into the apartment,” Redding said. “We want this to be a home-like environment as possible so that people can be more empathetic to what someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia truly is going through in their living dwellings.”
There may be things a person living with dementia may not be able to vocalize such as lower extremity nerve damage or arthritis. Maybe they cannot buckle their belts or see to turn the pages of a book to a certain page.
“A lot of times people living with dementia cannot verbalize other symptoms,” Redding said. “Things that are going on, because their brain doesn’t process it that way.”
A person with Alzheimer’s could be given a task to put their sweater on. However, they might return with a blanket wrapped around them or remain in the closet or doorstep.
“What they heard was ‘Go get that blanket and put it on.’ Or they can’t see a sweater,” he said. There is a debriefing with each participant after the event, Redding said.
“We do not want them interacting with the people who have not gone through it because we don’t want them to know what to expect,” he said.
Additionally, the debriefings might be done collectively or individually. When he brings the program to Norman Specialty Hospital at 1:30 p.m. on February 4th the direct-care employees will benefit by the impact.
“For me, I’m a part of this just to raise awareness for the devasting disease for not just the person, but the people around them,” Forrester said. “It’s scary. And I think this provides everybody an insight to what it might be like.”

What is one of your favorite things about living in Oklahoma? Epworth Villa

“I like the climate here in Oklahoma.  It is very pleasant.  It is better than any other state that I have been to.” Reba Dawkins

“My family is here.  My nieces and nephews helped me get settled in here and it makes me feel good to know they are here.” Martha Johnson

“I like the people here.  I have been to all the states and people here are so nice.” John Culbertson

“One of my favorite things about living in Oklahoma is the weather.  I’ve lived here all my life and I love the weather.” Diane Freeny