Dear Savvy Senior,

What types of discounts are available to baby boomers, at what age do they kick in, and what’s the best way to go about finding them? Almost 50

Dear Almost,
One of the great perks of growing older in America is the many discounts that are available to boomers and seniors.
There are literally thousands of discounts on a wide variety of products and services including restaurants, grocery stores, travel and lodging, entertainment, retail and apparel, health and beauty, automotive services and much more. These discounts – typically ranging between 5 and 25 percent off – can add up to save you hundreds of dollars each year.
So, if you don’t mind admitting your age, here are some tips and tools to help you find the discounts you may be eligible for.
Always Ask
The first thing to know is that most businesses don’t advertise them, but many give senior discounts just for the asking, so don’t be shy.
You also need to know that while some discounts are available as soon as you turn 50, many others may not kick in until you turn 55, 60, 62 or 65.
Search Online
Because senior discounts frequently change and can vary depending on where you live and the time of the year, the Internet is the easiest way to help you locate them.
To do a search, start by visiting SeniorDiscounts.com, which lists thousands of discounts that you can search for by city and state, and by the category you’re interested in, for free.
You can also look for discounts at TheSeniorList.com, which provides a large list of national and regional business chains that offer them, or you can Google them individually. Just go to Google.com and type in the business or organization you’re curious about, followed by “senior discount” or “senior discount tickets.”
If you use a smartphone, another tool is the Sciddy app (see Sciddy.com) that lets you search for senior discounts and can send you alerts when you’re at an establishment that offers them.
Join a Club
Another good avenue to senior discounts is through membership organizations like AARP, which offers its 50 and older members a wide variety of discounts through affiliate businesses (see AARPdiscounts.com).
If, however, you’re not the AARP type, there are other alternative organizations you can join that also provide discounts such as The Seniors Coalition or the American Seniors Association. Or, for federal workers, there’s the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.
Types of Discounts
Here’s an abbreviated rundown of some of the different types of discounts you can expect to find.
Restaurants: Senior discounts are common at restaurants and fast food establishments – like Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Subway, Wendy’s, Applebee’s and Golden Corral – ranging from free/discounted drinks, to discounts off your total order.
Retailers: Many thrift stores like Goodwill, and certain retailers like Banana Republic, Kohl’s, Michaels and Ross stores offer a break to seniors on certain days of the week.
Supermarkets: Many locally owned grocery stores offer senior discount programs, as do some chains like Albertsons, Kroger, Publix and Fry’s Supermarkets, which offer some discounts on certain days of the week but they vary by location.
Travel: Southwest Airlines provide the best senior fares in the U.S. to passengers 65 and older, while Amtrak offers a 15 percent discount and Greyhound offers 5 percent off to travelers over 62. Most car rental companies provide discounts to customers who belong to organizations like AARP. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Carnival cruise lines offer discount rates to cruisers 55 and over. And, most hotels offer senior discounts, usually ranging from 10 to 30 percent.
Entertainment: Most movie theaters, museums, golf courses, ski slopes and other public entertainment venues provide reduced admission to seniors over 60 or 65. And the National Park Service offers a lifetime pass for those 62 and up for $10 (see nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm).
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.

SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital and the City of El Reno have reached an agreement for SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital to begin leasing a portion of the facility formerly known as Mercy Hospital El Reno. A definitive agreement was finalized on April 2.
Under the terms of the lease agreement, effective May 1, SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital began operating the emergency department of El Reno hospital as a department of SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital. SSM Health St. Anthony will maintain a full service, 24/7 emergency department in order to serve the needs of the residents of El Reno and surrounding communities. In support of the emergency department, SSM Health St. Anthony will also offer outpatient services including laboratory services and diagnostic imaging to provide convenience for patients. Although acute inpatient services will not be provided, the freestanding emergency department will ensure seamless protocols for immediate transfer of any patients needing a higher level of care.
Services will continue to be provided at the current address on Parkview Drive while the City of El Reno constructs a new $9 million facility patterned after SSM Health St. Anthony Healthplex locations with a campus featuring a freestanding emergency department, and diagnostic services. The City of El Reno will be the owner of the new freestanding emergency department facility. In addition, SSM Health will construct an adjacent building to house urgent care, primary care physicians and specialty physicians to round out the new medical campus.
In mid-May, SSM Health Medical Group will also provide urgent care and primary care services at 2315 Parkview Drive. Providers in this location will include Robert DiCintio, PA-C, Alex Rasmussen, PA-C, and Alina Quy, APRN-CNP.
“SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital is pleased to have been selected by the City of El Reno to be the community’s health care partner. We look forward to expanding our ministry into El Reno and keeping important health care services within the community,” stated Joe Hodges, President, SSM Health – Oklahoma.
“We have worked closely with SSM Health St. Anthony to develop a long-term approach to provide health care services for our residents,” stated Mayor Matt White. “Our partnership with SSM Health St. Anthony will ensure continuity of health care in our community.”
Miller Architects was engaged by both the City of El Reno and SSM Health for the design of the new health facility campus, and Waldrop Construction will serve as the construction manager. Miller and Waldrop have worked together on many successful projects for SSM Health.
For more information about our providers and urgent care service, please call 405-231-8866.

South Oklahoma City Man Volunteers to Give Back for Blessings Received

National Volunteer Week was celebrated April 7-13

In his retirement, Fred Selensky enjoys his membership in the Oklahoma City Fiat Car Club and has built many friendships with other car enthusiasts over the years. But his weekly volunteer role has also brought new friendships into his life.
“When I retired, I was looking for a way to give back for the blessings I’ve received,” Selensky said.
So, he signed up to be a volunteer driver for the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Central Oklahoma (RSVP) Provide-A-Ride program, which provides low-income seniors transportation to doctor’s appointments. Last year, 66 RSVP Provide-A-Ride volunteers drove more than 400 clients to 6,065 medical appointments.
“It’s fulfilling a need in the clients I take because they don’t drive and don’t have to pay for a taxi to medical appointments,” he said. “It’s really fulfilling for me, too, and I enjoy doing something people appreciate. It’s not a chore”
April is National Volunteer Month, a month dedicated to honoring volunteers and encouraging volunteerism. Selensky is one of more than 900,000 Oklahomans who gave of their time last year, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service. Research shows that adults who volunteer are more likely to experience health benefits—longer life span and better mental health.
If you are interested in volunteering with RSVP as a Provide-A-Ride driver or with one of the many RSVP nonprofit partners, call 405.605-3110 or visit www.rsvpokc.org.

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.

Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in adults in the U.S., affecting more than 54 million people with more than 100 distinct types of the disease.
To make matters worse, there are no approved treatments for the most common form of arthritis—osteoarthritis. It stems from the loss of cartilage between bones and joints and will affect more than half of all Americans over the age of 65.
Understandably, this has led to much concern about the future of arthritis treatment.
“We all want to live long enough that we eventually have some wear-and-tear form of arthritis,” said Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Vice President of Clinical Affairs Judith James, M.D., Ph.D. “But we don’t want any disability or limitations from it that tend to occur as we age. What we need is a disease-modifying drug.”
James, a rheumatologist and internationally recognized expert on arthritis, said that advancements in treating other forms of arthritis offer hope for similar developments in osteoarthritis.
“In the past decade, we have seen big changes in treatment for several types of arthritis, including the introduction of drugs and interventions for less-common forms like rheumatoid arthritis,” said James.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic illness mainly characterized by inflammation in the lining of the joints, and it affects more than 1.3 million adults in the U.S. James currently serves as principal investigator on a clinical trial called StopRA, a prevention study for the disease.
“We are testing people who are at high risk of developing RA. Our goal is to get them on treatments that may help prevent the disease from ever occurring,” she said. If you are interested in participating or finding out more about the study, please call 405-271-7745 or email [email protected].
The National Institutes of Health invests more than $500 million annually toward understanding and treating various forms of arthritis. Some of that work is happening at OMRF, including research by scientist Tim Griffin, Ph.D., who studies the effects of obesity on the development of osteoarthritis.
“Much of what we initially learned about osteoarthritis came from studying end-stage diseased tissues when people had their joints replaced,” said Griffin.
However, technological advances in imaging and biomarkers have allowed scientists to study earlier stages of disease. Griffin says that this has given new hope for a cure.
“We now think of early-stage OA as resulting from a family of different conditions, such as obesity, trauma, or aging,” he said. “Treatments that target the specific cause of osteoarthritis at the early stages may delay or even prevent disease.”
Multiple studies have shown that a diet avoiding inflammatory foods like saturated fats and refined carbohydrates can help protect you. Griffin’s lab recently found that diets high in saturated fats increased the risk of joint inflammation in mice—even before cartilage loss began.
“We are working on this disease in earnest and continue to understand more and more about it,” said James. “I am increasingly hopeful that we will see a treatment for osteoarthritis in our lifetime.”
But while we await the first osteoarthritis drug, what can we do in the meantime?
“‘Move as much as you can,” said James. “The more you sit, the stiffer and more painful your joints become. Other keys are to maintain a reasonable body weight and participate in joint-safe exercises like swimming or using an elliptical machine.”

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

Walking into Willowood you’re bound to see someone sitting at the piano playing a tune or relaxing on one of the couches in the grand entryway reading a book.
There’s a feeling of home inside Willowood that Executive Director Nancy Klepac, LPN, Certified Dementia Practitioner, and her staff work hard to foster.
Care and comfort combine at Willowood, which will undergo a facelift this year thanks to a new owner.
Klepac is excited about the plans guided by Heart Living Centers for the community that has enjoyed a long history in the wonderful and quaint city of Mustang.
“In the next few months I know Heart Living Centers will be diligently working to get our permits and reconstruction underway and I’m looking forward to the residents seeing the new construction and feeling the new construction,” Klepac said. “It will give everyone a breath of fresh air and give Willowood the distinction it deserves.”
Situated along State Highway 152 Willowood’s stately columns hint at what waits inside.
Details have been carefully thought out to meet resident needs.
Klepac has spent a quarter century caring for seniors and their details.
“We offer a variety of services and we have a very high bar of care that is exemplary for our residents that are living here,” said Klepac, whose innate calling has always been caring for elderly people.
Heart Living Centers represents new beginnings for Willowood with renovations and many updates to come.
Meeting with new ownership was a satisfying feeling for Klepac.
“It was very exciting,” Klepac said of partnering with Heart Living Centers. “This home has a long history and has been in need of a few things. It’s ready for its updates so it’s exciting to see what Heart Living Centers with their resources and progressive experience in the industry can do.”
Klepac’s experience with senior living runs the gamut from nursing to leadership.
From a very young age, Klepac began caring for family. She became a nurse aide at 14. “This is a calling for me,” Klepac said. “I knew that when I was six years old and so did my family that my innate calling was for the caring of elderly people. When I became a nurse I didn’t work in any other field other than long term care.”
She was eventually drawn to Willowood, starting as the director of wellness.
“I believe our care is something we do very well,” Klepac said. “We are also very respectful of residents and allowing our residents to do what they would like to do as long as it is same for them.”
“I’m very strong on residents making their own decisions about their care.”
That’s near and dear to Klepac’s nurse heart.
You’ll see her in scrubs on some days helping out where she is needed.
“Scrubs wash easily,” Klepac laughs, recounting the times she’s pitched in to help wherever a resident might need her.
“My nursing foundation is probably the most important thing to me in serving as the executive director,” she said. “And I do believe it’s a service. It allows me to look at things clinically as well as from the business aspect in the community.”
It’s also why she’s looking to help Willowood expand its reach to potential residents with chronic illnesses that are often underserved by traditional senior living communities.
In the coming months Klepac said you’ll see Willowood offer services for chronic disease management not typically seen.
And she won’t do it alone.
Her staff is her extension throughout the building.
“I have a very strong team here at Willowood. They care for our residents. They put our residents first, which in this day and time is a hard thing to find in our industry,” Klepac said. “They are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week without exceptions to all of our residents and their families.”
“All of of our residents have our personal telephone numbers, myself and all my department heads.”
That means availability for Willowood residents. Whether it’s something that doesn’t work in the middle of the night or the middle of the day, residents have the ability to reach out.
And even if they don’t need anything, Klepac and her staff are their to love on them.
“The care I see them provide to the residents and their families is just exemplary,” Klepac continued. “In this industry it can be draining to give all day long and then go home to their families, yet my team never seems to be short on the ability to give.”

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

Like many people, Patti Neuhold never saw the next big thing in her life coming.
But as the dust began to settle and spring had finally sprung, Neuhold was getting her head wrapped around the fact later this summer she would become the next president of the 16,000-student University of Central Oklahoma.
“I’m excited about it. Every day I realize more is going to come my way and opportunities I’ll get to be a part of and it’s exciting,” said Neuhold.
Earlier this year, the Regional University System of Oklahoma announced Neuhold will become UCO’s 21st president following the June retirement of current President Don Betz.
Neuhold is the Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer for the University of Central Oklahoma. She has a deep knowledge of UCO, having served in leadership in finance and budget, administrative and professional development departments, joining the university in 2007.
With two degrees earned and a third almost completed Neuhold is a proud product of education.
“I would not be where I’m at today without education and that’s a fact,” Neuhold said. “It is, in my opinion, a life changer. Education equals freedom for so many people. It can change the trajectory of an entire family for generations to come.”
“For me, to be able to open that door is so rewarding. I want to make sure other people have the opportunity to grow and shape their destiny the way I have.”
Neuhold balanced UCO’s $187 million budget through years of the most significant declines in state support and declining enrollment. She facilitated business process reviews that resulted in savings, higher retention of faculty and new leadership development opportunities.
“Patti Neuhold has the leadership experience, and vision for the university that will help prepare our students to contribute ideas, innovation and solutions to the marketplace,” said Mark Stansberry, RUSO regent chair. “Her blend of financial acumen, organizational development and understanding of what industry needs will help UCO continue to lead in education and workforce development.”
Neuhold was approved by the board of regents after a national search.
“This is not something I had been working towards,” Neuhold said. “This really wasn’t on my radar for some time.”
But when President Betz announced his retirement last year the wheels started turning. And Betz had already been preparing her.
“He was always very encouraging and helpful in helping me see the possibilities that were ahead of me,” she said.
These are challenging times for higher education in Oklahoma.
“It’s no secret the State of Oklahoma has withdrawn its financial support from higher education across our state,” Neuhold said. “I – like all the other presidents in the state – will be dealing with our allocation from the state and building a relationship with legislators where they understand where we are coming from and what we’re trying to do.”
“Society in general is pushing back against higher education and really forcing all of us to justify our existence, which seems counterintuitive for many of us. I think we’ll be dealing with changing our stories and making sure people understand what is going on behind the curtain and doing everything we can with what we have.”
From its main campus in Edmond and facilities throughout the metro area, UCO is recognized nationally as a military-friendly school and for its high student engagement through service-learning and volunteerism and its workplace environment.
“I hope that No. 1 we can pair our innovative thinking with innovative action. I really want to see UCO move ahead,” she said. “We have so many great problem solvers on our campus – so many innovative thinkers – and I would love to see all of that paired with action.”
“I want UCO to be marked by progress, and potential and possibility.”
She stood out in the selection process but Betz already knew she would.
“Patti has been a key member of the university cabinet for several years, and has exercised significant leadership on a number of highly relevant issues to the university,” Betz said. “I believe that Patti will serve the UCO community, the metro and the state with energy, insight and distinction. I will work closely with her throughout the transition. I am delighted, and I sincerely look forward to the successful future of the university under her leadership.”