by Traci Chapman, staff writer
It takes great strength to deal with the finality that is hospice – to provide treatment not likely to provide recovery, to see the pain and suffering of patients and their family. It’s also rewarding work, a chance to help make that patient’s final journey one of peace, warmth and comfort.
“Hospice care can be difficult, of course, it takes something special to do this,” Russell Murray Hospice Clinical Supervisor Missy Ellard said. “I believe hospice work is a calling.”
That calling is something Ellard knows well. While she has worked in other nursing specialties, the Yukon RN has always come back, both to the type of work she loves and the company she said epitomizes the best of care and value that hospice brings to its patients and the people who love them.
Ellard did not start out as a nurse. For 10 years, she worked at the old Western Electric, later AT&T, facility. But, times changed for the industry and despite a strong and active labor union, she and many others were laid off.
“I always wanted to go into nursing,” Ellard said. “I’ve always seen getting laid off as a God thing, just what was meant to be.”
That outlook meant what many people would see as a step backward Ellard saw as an opportunity – and she jumped at it. It was in her early 30s that Ellard attended Redlands Community College and Southern Nazarene University, obtaining Associates of Applied Science and Bachelor of Science Nursing degrees.
In 1994, with school behind her, Ellard was ready to follow her new path and find her first nursing job. She learned about Russell Murray Hospice, then an El Reno hospice provider, and found a home – in the process becoming the first nurse RMH hired straight out of school.
“I worked as a staff nurse, as a case manager, I loved the work and the people I worked with, but after a time I wanted to try something new – I just really wanted to get other experience, so I branched out,” Ellard said.
That decision led her to a variety of experiences – working in home health and in a doctor’s office. She worked as a nurse for Canadian County Department of Human Services, making home visits to conduct patient assessments and evaluations, determining their qualification for Medicaid programs, including hospice referrals.
Ellard also used her skills for Oklahoma DHS Developmental Disabilities Services, responsible for health assessments at four Oklahoma City metropolitan area group homes. There, she recommended therapy, dietary consultations, wound care and other necessary services – but, as much as she enjoyed the work, something was missing, she said.

“I missed hospice care, I love hospice care,” Ellard said. “I had family members who were being served by Russell Murray, and I realized just how much I missed working here.”
So, she was back – Ellard said she realized she was home, exactly where she belonged. She was named clinical supervisor in Russell Murray’s now home office – while El Reno remained its base, the not for profit now had offices in Kingfisher, Weatherford and Oklahoma City.
Patients are not always what one might imagine someone needing hospice care might look like, Ellard said. The five nurses she directly supervises also provide physical assessments to at-risk children, like those taken to Canadian County Youth and Family Shelter – children who have had their lives completely disrupted, with parents or guardians who could be incarcerated or are facing severe addiction or other problems.
For those patients who are facing an imminent end to their life, Ellard and her nurses are committed to using every resource at their disposal to make any time that individual may have left the best it can be – and that is something different for each patient, she said.
“The thing about hospice care, about palliative care, is it’s truly holistic, something that provides not only relief from physical conditions, but encompasses everything to improve the quality of life for the patient,” Ellard said. “It’s the one area of nursing you can truly practice holistic care.” That might mean incorporating spiritual guidance or comfort, or it might involve finding a way to bridge an estranged family relationship; it could be making it possible for the patient to do something they’ve always dreamt of or simply ensuring they’re comfortable as they live their final days.
“Some of our patients want to fight their disease every single minute, as long as they possibly can, and we help and encouragement them with that,” Ellard said. “Others just want to be comfortable, to spend their time with their families or their friends, and we follow their lead on that, as well.”
No matter a RMH patient’s beliefs, needs or approach to their condition, they do have one thing in common – they are never turned away due to financial considerations, Ellard said.
“If a patient qualifies and desires hospice care, we do not turn patients away based on their reimbursement status,” she said. “Many hospices, even not for profit hospices, have a ‘quota’ of non-reimbursable patients and will decline patients if they don’t have a payer source – RMH has never done that.”
That approach has helped spur the company’s growth, which includes not only Ellard and her five-member nursing staff in El Reno, but a total of 25 full-time RNs and LPNs, as well as several per diem PRN nurses, across RMH’s four offices. That staff serves about 100 patients throughout the Oklahoma City metropolitan area and an approximately 75-mile radius surrounding each of its offices at any given time.
“Everybody deserves to die with dignity – to me, if we can bring peace, if we can bring comfort, we help them to do that,” Ellard said. “It’s that mission, it’s that ability to be a part of that – well, that’s the reason this was my first job, and I want it to be my last.”

What are you looking forward to this holiday season? Integris Canadian Valley Hospital volunteers

Having my family come from Washington State and St. Louis to visit. That will be the highlight.  Carolyn Furgeson

A visit from Santa Claus would be wonderful. Becky Horn

My son lives in OKC and I’ll be here with him and his family. Eleanor Fuller

My family is having a reunion in Colorado so there will be 14 of us traveling to Pueblo. Morna Martinez

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.

Photography and Text by Terry “Travels with Terry” Zinn  t4z@aol.com

If going to Cuba is important to you, you might think about how you are going to get there? Do you want to fly into Havana or an outlying city, and go it on your own with no guide or schedule or reliably confirmed lodgings? And what about getting around once there? Do you only want to see one city, one environment? And what about an over seeing agency or organization to check in on your safety and health? There is nothing worse than getting sick or suffering a minor injury away from home.
These uncertainties can be alleviated by taking a cruise ship, such as with Fathom aboard the Adonia, that visits three Cuban ports of call in a week, arrange guides and cultural activities and looks over your safety insuring your return to the good old USA. It leaves out of the port of Miami, As with all cruises it is a safe idea to arrive a day early so that you don’t “miss the ship” with unexpected delay. Miami offers a plethora of one or two day opportunities to expand your trip. South Beach with its many restaurants and art deco hotels is a prime and affordable example.
With no special journalistic discounts, my cruise fare was most affordable. If you start communication with Fathom through their web site ( https://www.fathom.org/cruise-to-cuba/ ) you might get notices of special reduced fares within a couple of weeks of a cruise departure. I found fellow passengers that bought such last minute discounted fares with noticeably no discount in cabin features or shore excursion offerings.
Besides Cuba, Fathom offers affordable cruises and tours to the Dominican Republic, which I hear has beautiful beaches and more touristy offerings than Cuba.
A good cruise ship is a convenient and comfortable way to travel, with your food, lodgings and entertainment taken care of. Of course you can venture from the standard tour offerings on your own. In Havana, you might find your own local guide to the city in a vintage automobile.
With a large cruise ship comes the drawback of so many passengers needing to be loaded on busses at the same time. While Fathom staggers the announcements for passengers to get off the ship, there still results in a line at dockside. There is little way around this, but to add to the delay and frustration is the Cuban customs which at each stop, each passenger must go through. Of course everyone from the cruise ship is permitted to pass through, but the frustration comes with medal detectors and showing passports which are seldom stamped, but must produce your photo identity. If this was done once for the entire cruise as has been done on European cruise ports it would make the cruise more pleasant and time effective. But one must remember that this is Cuba with its very suspicious and bureaucratic government. I am assuming there is nothing that Fathom can do about this, but it is an inconvenience.
Once loaded on about ten separate busses following ten different itineraries with ten different local guides, the luck of the draw is the rule of the day. Some bus guides are as good as one could expect from a country not familiar with Americans. Some are hard to understand and are not proficient in the area they are guiding, thus more frustration. The choice of your cultural exposure on your assigned tour varies and the passenger has no choice. Some excursions are rated high by the passengers and some are delinquent. Some have more interplay with the locals and some just hit the monuments and plazas. The intention is good but the execution needs improvement. If you pay with your cruise package for a tour, it seems logical that you can pick the experience that best suits your desires.
Dining aboard the Fathom is a pleasant and efficient experience. Upon entering the dining room you are asked if you would mind sharing a table. I always do this as your fellow dining guests are as interesting as your ports of call, coming from a variety of home states and backgrounds. This also is an efficient way for a table of six or eight to get served. Of course you may dine alone if you prefer. The wait staff is most efficient and congenial and the food above average for a cruise ship.
After a hard day of touring or on your day at sea, you can treat your self with your reservations to special Signature dining, a painting and wine class, and even a multiple course cocktail class, featuring specialties of the day and exotic cocktails.
The cabins, are of average cruise styling and the Fathom Adonia offers many with balconies opening on to sea vistas. A balcony is mandatory for this cruise to Cuba as there are many sights to see as you enter a variety of harbors, not to mention Havana’s with the historic “Remember the Maine” battleship experience. Often local Cubans will be on the outlaying banks waiving and wish you well. You also may see landmarks and local houses that you would otherwise not see, and thus a glimpse into the average Cuban way of life.
An added educational treat is the on board presentations before visiting a port. Here they will illuminate you as the history of Cuba, the particular port, and the cultural interaction you might experience. At these briefings the crew is happy to answer any questions you may have.
All in all a Fathom cruise to Cuba aboard the Adonia, or maybe the Dominican Republic, is an experience I would repeat. And that is the highest compliment one can give a cruise. The Adonia is a destination that rivals a Cuban visit. For your information: https://www.fathom.org/cruise-to-cuba/

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has awarded an Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientist $5.9 million to study new ways to control bleeding like that which occurs in aneurysms.
OMRF researcher Courtney Griffin, Ph.D., received a seven-year grant to pursue novel research into blood vessel function and factors that lead to uncontrolled bleeding.
“Seven years is like paradise to a scientist. It allows us to address questions and take our research in new directions we couldn’t have before,” said Griffin, who joined OMRF from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008. “This will give us the opportunity to dig in on basic science questions that could lead to new drugs and therapies for devastating conditions.”
The grant was awarded under a new federal granting program known as the R35, which was established to promote scientific productivity and innovation by providing sustained support and increased flexibility in research. NHLBI program officer Yunling Gao, Ph.D., said the R35 award is designed to provide long-term support to outstanding investigators like Griffin who are conducting research that breaks new ground or extends ongoing studies that are making significant contributions to the field.
“Dr. Griffin has been supported by the NHLBI’s programs over the past decade, and she has emerged as an expert in the field on protease-mediated regulation of vascular stability,” said Gao. “We look forward to her new breakthroughs and achievements for years to come.”
Griffin’s work is focused on proteases—proteins that chew up other proteins. At OMRF, she studies the role proteases play in a healthy setting and also the damage they can cause in blood vessel development when they go awry. When blood vessel integrity is compromised, they become weaker and can rupture, which can be fatal.
By knowing what vessels are susceptible and under what conditions, they can identify disease links that may be predictable and lead to the development of therapeutic interventions.
“The competition for these grants is fierce, and you must have an incredible track record to be considered for one of them,” said OMRF President Stephen Prescott, M.D. “The NHLBI is betting on Dr. Griffin, and she is an outstanding choice for this award. I have no doubt she will reward them with her incredible work.”
The grant, No. R35 HL144605, is from the NHLBI, a part of the National Institutes of Health.