Mercy Health Foundation recently hosted its annual gala event at the Omni Oklahoma City Hotel and kicked off fundraising to expand Mercy’s gastroenterology services in the Oklahoma City metro area.
“In one night, 550 people raised $498,285 to help Oklahomans with digestive diseases that are debilitating, often preventing them from working, participating in normal activities and living a full life,” said Dr. Jesse Campbell, president of Mercy Clinic Oklahoma and co-chair of the Mercy Health Foundation Gala. “We have big dreams to one day be able to offer more services for patients in need, and those dreams begin with the support of our community.”
The gala, sponsored by Mercy’s foundation and Mercy Clinic Gastroenterology, featured a reception and silent auction followed by a dinner. Guests enjoyed a live concert by the 13-piece high-energy group, Emerald City Band. Incoming Mercy Health Foundation president Nicole Dell’Osso and husband Nick Dell’Osso committed $50,000 toward the goal.
“At Mercy, we believe we are called to serve others and the health needs of our community, but we can’t do it alone,” said Lori Cummins, vice president of development for Mercy Health Foundation. “We are so grateful for our many sponsors and donors who support our mission and our ministry.”
To learn more, visit
https://mercyhealthfoundation.net/communities/oklahoma-city
or call (405) 486-8775.

Oklahoma City’s Cattle Baron’s Ball celebrates 20 years of saving lives with a night of food, fun and fundraising – Friday September 23rd at the National Western Heritage Museum. This year’s event is being led by dedicated volunteer, Mary Blankenship Pointer, Vice President at Frontier State Bank.
Cattle Baron’s Ball is the signature philanthropy gala of the American Cancer Society.
This year’s western-themed “party with a purpose” features A-List entertainer and OKC local, Ty England. As well as games, food and beverage, live and silent auctions.
All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society and the Chad Richison Hope Lodge Oklahoma.
The Chad Richison Hope Lodge is a centrally located home-away-from-home for patients and their families opening this fall. It offers cancer patients and their caregivers free lodging while they travel to receive life-saving care from any of the area’s premier medical centers.
The $16.5 million facility is named in recognition of ACS’s capstone donor, Paycom Founder and CEO, Chad Richison. Mr. Richison is also this year’s Cattle Baron’s Ball honoree and will be recognized the night of the event.
Richison donated $5 million to fund Oklahoma’s first Hope Lodge. “This is a personal cause for many, including myself, and helps ensure anyone traveling for treatment will have one less item to worry about,” said Richison.
Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in Oklahoma. Each day, 49 Oklahomans are diagnosed with cancer. The American Cancer Society is working every day to free the worldfrom the pain and suffering of cancer through research, prevention, patient services, and advocacy.
To learn more or donate visit www.cattlebaronsballokc.org. For more information, please contact Rachel Stratton at 281-352-6471. Engage with @ACSOklahoma and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

https://www.belmontcove.com/

Ralph Shelton, Ph.D., of Perkins, lived with the effects of stress incontinence for more than five years following surgery for prostate cancer, until his physician, Ash Bowen, M.D., OU Medicine urologist, suggested the ProAct system.
According to the American Urological Association, between six and 20 percent of men continue to experience the life-disrupting impact of stress urinary incontinence a full year after prostatectomy. Approved by the Federal Drug Administration in 2017, the ProAct system is a device that addresses incontinence and restores quality of life for many men who deal with the challenges of this condition.
Late last year, Shelton was among the first Oklahoma to undergo the procedure to implant the ProAct system. “It’s a complete turnaround from where I was,” he said.
Bowen explained that urinary incontinence is a very distressing condition, an unfortunate but common consequence that occurs in connection with prostate surgeries, including radical prostatectomy or transurethral resection of the prostate. Physical movement or activity, from coughing or sneezing, to more vigorous activities such as running, lifting and other physical exertion, creates stress on the bladder. “When the muscles surrounding the bladder and urethra are damaged, that loss of muscular support causes incontinence, which may range in severity from very minor leaks to extreme – total loss of urinary control.”
The ProAct implantable device consists of two small, adjustable balloons, connected through short tubes to an injection port. Inserted on each side of the urethra during a short outpatient procedure, these fluid-filled balloons keep pressure on the bladder to help prevent urine leakage. The ports make it possible to adjust the pressure as needed to meet a patient’s individual needs.
The leakage Shelton lived with required the use of absorbent pads all the time. “It was embarrassing; there was always a risk when I went anywhere or tried to participate in any activity. Intimacy was awkward and less than confident,” he said.

Bowen said Shelton was a prime candidate for the surgery: he was doing well after prostatectomy, had no underlying health conditions, was physically active, and was ready and willing to find a solution to the incontinence problem he had endured for years.
The device has been widely used in Europe since 2002, and follow-up studies in the United States are promising for long-term (five years or more) benefits.
“The device is safe and effective,” Bowen said. “Potential complications are only what might be expected with any surgical procedure – risk of infection or reaction to anesthesia, for example. Side-effects encountered with the ProAct device are mild and easily managed.”
He cited a number of patient benefits related to the procedure itself. “The procedure typically takes only 30 minutes, is minimally invasive and is performed under general or local anesthesia in an out-patient setting – no hospitalization. There are no sutures or other anchoring devices. Most men experience only minor discomfort, if any.”
Shelton confirms that discomfort was minimal, and that the procedure was simple from the patient’s perspective. “I was back to my routine, daily activities quickly.”
If adjustments are needed, these also can be done non-surgically in an office setting. Shelton recently had one such adjustment with excellent results.
“Immediately after the procedure, I wasn’t sure there was much difference, but healing and recovery came quickly, and leakage began to decrease significantly. After one adjustment to increase the pressure, it works perfectly. It’s as if I never had a problem at all. I feel like I have my life back – I’m 100% normal.”
With a doctorate in adult education, Shelton taught generations of professional educators various techniques and methodologies to promote successful learning. In addition, he expanded his career, using his expertise to assess employer needs to ensure optimal hiring practices, matching a candidate’s skill set to the employer’s desired work objectives. He enjoyed ongoing opportunities to use these skills in retirement, until incontinence began to limit his activities.
Several years into retirement, he has no plans to resume an ambitious schedule of professional engagements, but the ProAct device does mean he can consider options that may not have been possible for him before the procedure. He continues to stay active and engaged in pursuits that use his well-honed skills of analysis. He currently works as a heavy equipment specialist for a local tractor dealership, once again using his expertise to assess needs and find solutions.
“Some may call it ‘odds and ends,’ but it’s still important to me to help people find ways to succeed. I’m something of a career-tech consultant, which offers me opportunities to travel, meet people and help facilitate a teamwork mentality. Now I know I can continue to do that that on my own terms, not limited by inconvenience or anxiety about accidental leakage.”
While a referral by a primary care provider is not considered necessary, it may be required for coverage under some healthcare plans. Bowen sees patients at OU Physicians Edmond, located in the Fountain Lake Center, 14101 N. Eastern, Suite E, and performs the ProAct procedure exclusively at OU Medical Center Edmond, One South Bryant. For an appointment, call (405) 340-1279.

www.crawfordcares.com

The Oklahoma Historical Society and State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) are pleased to announce the National Register of Historic Places designation for the following properties in Oklahoma. The National Register of Historic Places is our nation’s official list of properties significant in our past.

Jackson County – Altus Junior College Library, 221 N. Park Ln., Altus

The Altus Junior College Library, designed by architect William Appleby, was completed in 1969. This modern movement building is significant in the area of education for its association with President Johnson’s Great Society legislation. As a politician and former educator who came of age during the New Deal Era of the 1930s, Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) believed in the combined forces of education and “an activist government.” Accordingly, LBJ’s Great Society legislation emphasized opportunity through education as “the government’s secret weapon in the fight against poverty and unemployment.” The library building was constructed in 1968-1969 using a 1967 federal grant under the Higher Education Facilities Act.
The nomination was prepared through a grant from the Oklahoma City Foundation for Architecture titled the “Lynne Rostochil National Register Nomination Grant Program.” The grant program was established in memory of Lynne Rostochil, an architectural historian and photographer who, in her lifetime, passionately advocated for and diligently recorded Oklahoma’s rich architectural heritage.

Tulsa County – Charles and Bertha Blevins House, 1838 N. Norfolk Ave., Tulsa

The Charles and Bertha Blevins House is an excellent example of a property associated with Black Heritage and Civil Rights history, as it embodies the efforts to promote voter registration and participation in Oklahoma’s elections prior to the passage of the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act. Involvement in local civic and political organizations by the house’s owners, Charles and Bertha Blevins, contributed to the economic and social development of the Black community in north Tulsa during the mid-twentieth century. Most notably, the house served as a polling place for nearby residents, making voting more accessible and secure for Black Tulsans.
Listing in the National Register of Historic Places is an honorific designation that provides recognition, limited protection and, in some cases, financial incentives for these important properties. The SHPO identifies, evaluates and nominates properties for this special designation.
The State Historic Preservation Office is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit https://www.okhistory.org.

The American College of Rheumatology has selected Oklahoma Research Foundation physician-researcher Joan Merrill, M.D., as a recipient of its 2018 Master designation.
Recognition as an ACR Master is one of the highest honors members can receive and only those who have made outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology are selected. The ACR selected 21 individuals for the designation this year.
The contributions come through scholarly achievements and service to patients, students and the profession.
Merrill was presented with the award at the college’s annual meeting on October 20 in Chicago.
“I went to my first ACR meeting during my rheumatology fellowship in 1987 and I haven’t missed a meeting since,” she said. “Now more than 30 years later, it’s an honor to receive this award after a long, long career in this field.”
A graduate of Cornell University Medical College, Merrill joined OMRF from the faculty of Columbia University in 2001 to establish a clinical trial laboratory to work on ways to successfully test drugs for lupus.
Since then, she’s built a research cohort of more than 500 lupus patient volunteers, led numerous clinical trials for investigational lupus treatments, and pioneered novel trial designs for testing innovative therapies for lupus and other autoimmune illnesses.
Lupus, a chronic, disabling disease, has proven challenging to understand, said Merrill, resulting in more than $1 billion lost in failed trials. Only one treatment has been approved for the disease in the past 60 years.
Recently Merrill has been at the forefront of improving the recruitment of minority patients to clinical trials for lupus. She has also has been spearheading a call for transformative changes in trials for new lupus drugs.
“The goal is to have more approvals of effective drugs and to prevent ineffective ones from succeeding,” said Merrill. “That would be huge, because our patients need safer and better treatments.”
The American College of Rheumatology is a nonprofit organization founded in 1958 to improve the care of patients with rheumatic disease.

by Bobby Anderson, RN – staff writer

A new hospital is emerging on the Oklahoma City skyline.
The six-story Integris Health Heart Hospital is moving towards its June completion date and hiring is continuing.
The 209,000-square-foot building will include 64 ICU beds, multiple cardiac catheterization labs, cardiovascular operating rooms, hybrid operating rooms, electrophysiology heart labs, and convenient cardiac diagnostic testing areas. It sits on the campus of Integris Baptist.
An onsite coffee shop that features a full menu of breakfast, lunch and, craft coffee in partnership with locally owned Ends of the Earth (EOTE) Coffee Company will also be included.
“We have long been known as the only hospital in Oklahoma to offer a full spectrum of advanced cardiac care from diagnosis to heart transplantation, and the new heart hospital will allow us to continue to offer the best heart care available anywhere in the world,” says Jeffrey Sparling, M.D., an interventional cardiologist and president of Integris Health Cardiovascular Physicians. “This tower is proof of our commitment to improve the heart health of Oklahomans now and for many generations to come.”
Integris Health is actively recruiting for a variety of positions.
Kelsey Behm, BSN, RN, CCRN, MBA is the director of nursing for the Integris Heart Hospital.
She came to Integris in 2012 and worked as a nurse tech before starting her nursing career in the transplant ICU. ECMO and cardiothoracic ICU roles followed.
“This has been a long time coming. We are so excited,” she said. “We are very quickly approaching the opening date but this heart hospital and critical care tower will be part of Baptist Medical Center. What we are able to do is expand cardiac care and services that we offer.
“What’s really awesome is we will be moving all of our cardiac diagnostics, procedural and, surgery areas into this new state-of-the-art building as well as our cardiothoracic intensive care unit and have additional critical care beds and an abdominal transplant ICU.”
If it sounds like a lot of moving parts, there are.
Behm said more than a year of planning has gone into the move.
“So many different teams of people, departments, different disciplines,” Behm said. “It really is bringing a lot together. We have a team of people that on a weekly basis track progress and make sure the project is running on plan.”
Even though construction is ongoing, frontline caregivers were able to tour the facility in early February.
“They’ve been excited but to actually see it, feel it and walk through it they were all really proud and excited for the new building,” Behm said. “What we have now, the infrastructure has its challenges. Walking into this new (building) with big rooms and windows … they were just really excited. They have a lot of pride in it. It was really a great day.”
A larger facility means more staff positions. Behm said positions are available up and down the service line.
“We are actively recruiting to grow our team. Anything from pre-op, surgical admitting, PACU that’s all going to be dedicated to cardiac, we are building those teams from the ground up.”
Cath lab, CVOR, cardiothoracic ICU, abdominal transplant and, critical care teams are also being built.

Wesley Robert “Bob” Mote, M.D., was soft-spoken and private. A U.S. Air Force physician for 39 years, Mote still lived in the 1,200-square-foot Moore home he purchased in the ‘60s when he died at age 83.
Mote, who never married and had no children, made a $75 gift to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in 1989. When he died, both foundation officials and Mote’s family were more than a little surprised to learn of a second gift to OMRF worth $2.2 million.
“We were shocked to learn the size of his estate,” said Mote’s great-nephew and namesake, Wes Mote, who said that his great-uncle lived a modest life. “Money meant very little to him. He cared nothing at all about impressing people.”
A second-generation physician, Mote’s family traces his love of medicine to a childhood spent around his father’s clinic in Ardmore. After graduating from medical school at the University of Oklahoma, the young man who had devoted hours of his childhood to writing letters to soldiers during World War II joined the Air Force.
Following posts overseas and stateside, Mote took a staff position at Tinker Air Force Base. He devoted nearly four decades of his life to the care of servicemen and servicewomen and retired as Tinker’s chief of occupational medicine.
Beyond his medical career, Mote was an outdoorsman who enjoyed traveling the world, logging thousands of miles over his lifetime. “He would call us and say, ‘I’m calling from China,’ or ‘I’m headed to Costa Rica,’ or somewhere else,” said Wes Mote’s wife, Leea. “He had just gotten back to Colorado after following the Lewis and Clark Trail and was about to head home when he died unexpectedly.”
Although he was quiet-natured, his great-uncle radiated empathy and had “a manly way of being gracious and caring,” said Wes Mote. He especially delighted in mentoring young medical students, going out of his way to call and check in on them as their careers progressed. “He was so excited about what was to come in medicine,” said Wes Mote.
An avid reader with an insatiable intellectual curiosity, Mote remained a student of medicine even after his retirement. According to Wes Mote, he attended seminars around the country and kept up with the latest advancements in science and medicine.
Because Mote did not designate his donation to a particular area of science, the gift will fund research at OMRF where it is needed most. At OMRF, scientists work on projects affecting a wide range of illnesses, including cancer, Alzheimer’s and heart disease.
“Dr. Mote’s generosity will make a difference in the lives of countless Oklahomans and people everywhere,” said OMRF Senior Director of Development Sonny Wilkinson. “It’s clear that the hope for a brighter future medical research offers to us all mattered deeply to him.”
Wes Mote agrees. “He’d been around medicine since the time he was born, so to us, it makes perfect sense that he left his estate to research,” he said. “I think probably his only regret about dying was missing out on what’s to come in medicine.”