by Mike Lee
Staff Writer

At 56, Robin L. Byford, CPA, CFP, is senior vice president – wealth management advisor at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. in Oklahoma City.
She works with clients of all ages but seniors come to her with a variety of questions. She counsels seniors on making their resources last as long as possible and helps them decide what’s best for them.
A CPA for 34 years, Byford says her No. 1 piece of advice she would give to seniors is to be in the house they want and to have it paid off or almost paid off before going into retirement.
“What we have found just by observation in our practice is that you need to … start landing the plane at age 60,” Byford said. “Because every day after that is almost a gift.”
Byford said by this time the odds of either you or your spouse having a health event are drastically increasing. The odds increase exponentially if you are fortunate enough to have a living parent.
“All of those things will keep you from working full-time,” Byford said.”
About 90 percent of seniors plan to continue living in their own homes for the next five to 10 years, according to an AARP survey. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define “aging in place” as being able to live in one’s home and community safely, independently and comfortably – regardless of age, income or ability level.
The Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants recommends addressing four questions to make independent living a more workable reality.
Question No. 1: What really matters to you?
Don’t get hung up on the term “aging in place.” If you want to continue enjoying the people and activities you love, it may not be necessary to remain in the same residence. As a first step in your planning, list what’s important to you in your current lifestyle and the things you wouldn’t mind changing. While selling the family home can be an emotional decision, it may be the best choice if a smaller place is easier to maintain, closer to family and a money saver that could allow you to travel.
Question No. 2: Will your current home accommodate your needs?
It’s important to determine if your current home will still be a good fit if you have problems with mobility or health as you get older. Features that make homes more comfortable for older people include bedrooms and bathrooms that are located on the entry level; few, if any, steps in the doorways or throughout the home; and entryways that are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs. Conduct an informal assessment of your home to decide if it’s accessible now or if some remodeling projects could be in order.
Question No. 3: What would renovation cost?
If you don’t think your home will remain easily accessible as you age, consider potential renovation expenses. A MetLife study cited renovation costs at $800 to $1,200 for widening a doorway; roughly $500 for the installation of two bathroom grab bars; and $3,500 to $35,000 for a variety of bathroom improvements – including better lighting and handicap accessible showers, tub seats and sinks. If remodeling seems too costly or complicated, you can downsize homes or change to a location that’s easier to navigate and still remain independent. There may even be other benefits to moving into a different home or neighborhood. For example, a new place in a populous area may give you easier access to social activities.
Question No. 4: Do I have a good support system?
Either now or later, you may need to rely on others to care for you or help with everyday tasks. It will be easier to remain relatively independent if you live near family or friends, home health care providers, doctors and medical facilities. Your planning should include a local support system that meets your changing needs. As part of this effort, investigate local community and government resources, in addition to geriatric care managers. For more eldercare tips and locations, visit www.eldercare.gov and read “Your 1st Step to Finding Resources for Older Adults.”

What was your  first job?  Rambling Oaks Assisted Living

“I lived on a dairy farm and my first job was milking cows.  I would get paid a quarter and I would go to a movie.” Julia Murray

“I lived in the country and my first job was a school teacher.  The school was small and was all 12 grades.” Paula Grove

“I worked at a Ford garage and was a parts man.” Paul  Bolles

“I was in 9th grade and worked at a drug store.  I did everything that I needed to do and even worked behind the fountain.” Chester Spears

The Alzheimer’s Association’s new report, The Impact of Alzheimer’s Disease on Medicaid Costs: A Growing Burden for States, released today, found that between 2015 and 2025, Medicaid costs for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias will increase in every state in the U.S. and the District of Columbia.
In Oklahoma, Medicaid spending on people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias will increase by more than 40 percent over the next 10 years. This year, spending will total $437 million, increasing to $613 million in 2025.
“With the quickly rising Medicaid costs for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, Oklahoma needs to continue to refine The State Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease in Oklahoma, enhance standards of quality care, as well as attack the disease through research,” said Mark Fried, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association Oklahoma Chapter.
Seniors with Alzheimer’s and other dementias rely on Medicaid, which is funded by state and federal governments, at a rate nearly three times greater than other seniors due to the long duration of the disease, the intense personal care needs and the high cost of long-term care services. According to the Alzheimer’s Association’s Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report, by the age of 80, 75 percent of people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias will be admitted to a nursing home, compared with just four percent of the general population.
Alzheimer’s is a triple threat, with soaring prevalence, lack of treatment and enormous costs that no one can afford, but we are here to help. Beyond funding vital research, the Alzheimer’s Association offers free resources to guide the over 60,000 Oklahomans living with Alzheimer’s and their more than 220,000 unpaid family caregivers, including:
Alzheimer’s Association Helpline (1-800-272-3900): This toll-free 24/7 Helpline is the one of its kind; the Helpline is staffed by masters-level counselors and provides information and guidance in more than 170 languages and dialects.
Support Groups: Connect with others going through the same journey and get support through the different stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Education Programs: Attend caregiver education classes and workshops to learn about connecting with and caring for your loved one with Alzheimer’s disease.
To find a local list of education programs and support groups, visit alz.org/CRF
The Alzheimer’s Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Our mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research, to provide and enhance care and support for all affected, and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer’s. Visit alz.org or call 800.272.3900.

by Mike Lee, Staff Writer

At 58, Dea Dietrick found herself at a crossroads.
Gone was her husband of 27 years. With him went the money she was planning on funding her golden years.
She hadn’t gone to college after school, even though her dad told her she needed to get her teaching degree.
Employed at a church with a nominal salary, things looked dim.
So the absence of available options was almost a Godsend for Dietrick, who was just a few years shy of enrolling in Medicare, enrolled in college instead.
Fast forward five years and there’s a smile on Dietrick’s face. There’s also a college degree with distinction.
And her father would be proud not only that she’s teaching, but teaching others how to get the most out of themselves in life.
“I’m proud of this because it gives me authority to encourage others to go after their dreams and rise above their circumstances,” she said.
The decision to go back to school seemed like the best option to provide for herself in the future. Retirement wasn’t a port she would be pulling into anytime soon so she figured she needed to do what was best for the long haul.
She enrolled at Mid-American Christian University in May 2010. Working full-time, plus a side job, she carried a full course load each semester.
Five years later she graduated Summa Cum Laude with Distinction as one of the top five students in her class of 531.
It was actually Dietrick’s church job that helped her get to where she is today.
Working as a Biblical counselor, Dietrick’s title was campus administrator. Staff would refer people to Dietrick for counseling and she would get to the heart of what was wrong.
“It’s very fulfilling,” she said. “It’s where my passion is. I love working one-on-one with people.”
She was forced to put that passion to work to make a living.
“One day my attorney looked at me and told me she didn’t know if we would be able to recover any of the assets and it looked as though I needed to investigate how to earn more money and plan for a sustainable retirement,” Dietrick recalled of her divorce. “I reasoned that obtaining a degree as the only way possible to provide for myself. After investigating several local schools I found MACU to be conducive with my lifestyle.
“My thought was to work at the church during the day and open a counseling office at night. That plan has taken a slightly different form, but I am doing what I love and intended; using my degree and professional experience to serve others to experience life satisfaction and well-being.”
And Dietrick has a powerful story to tell. She reasons that if she can go to college at 58, reinvent herself and earn a degree in five years while working full-time then she has a few things to share about the value of hard work and determination.
“My ultimate goal is to help individuals understand their significance and use their passion to live a life of influential leadership and authentic satisfaction, bringing their ultimate best to their employer,” she said.
As founder of A Dynamic New You, LLC, a firm dedicated to helping individuals exercise their leadership capabilities, she adds a new dimension to her client’s personal wellbeing. Her forthcoming book, Charting Life with Intentionality, serves as a positive reminder that everyone has something significantly remarkable to share and is able to become an impactful influential leader.
Serving in the role of Counselor, Coach, Public Speaker, and a John Maxwell Certified Trainer, her experience blended with her wisdom introduce profound applicable concepts during coaching, Mastermind Groups and workshops.
She attends Crossings Community Church and is a member of Early Risers Toastmasters, American Business Women’s Association, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and is active in several smaller networking groups and volunteer opportunities.
Born and raised in Denver, Dietrick has lived abroad in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was a profound experience, one that resulted in the adoption of twin girls.
Each daughter now has two children.
“My feeling is you can’t let life get to the point where you just sit down and sigh,” she said. “I think what happens with older people, those who have given or put a lot into what they’re doing all their life – they don’t feel respected anymore. The culture is changing and they feel they should stop.”
Dietrick says she doesn’t feel old. She still wears platform heels and the occaional mini-skirt now and then.
“I think it’s important to invest in others, especially as seniors, because you have wisdom you can share with people who want to change and grow,” Dietrick said.

by Felicia Lucas

Danny Waldron Hill jokes that, “you can see a lot of movie stars – FREE – ALL AGES ADMITTED” when you visit his home at FOUNTAINBROOK ASSISTED LIVING CENTER IN Midwest City. The movie stars line the wall in a commons area at the Center, photos from an era of Hollywood past, many of them autographed.
A six generation Oklahoman, and CHICKASAW Nation Citizen (his grandmother was original enrollee Lizzie Columbus), Hill began taking celebrity photos when he was discharged from the Air Force in 1960, and continued until 2010 when his health and lifestyle changed with the passing of his wife and “sidekick” Mary Ella. He grew up in Southwest OKC, attending Columbus Elementary, Jackson Jr High and is a 1956 graduate of Grant High School.
Always having his camera near, Hill snapped photos of visiting celebrities while living and working for the Federal Government in the Dallas, TX area. “There seemed to always be a celebrity or two in the downtown area having lunch or performing at a concert. It was worth keeping my camera near me.” Often, he would capture a photo, develop it, frame it and wait patiently for many years to have the photo signed by the personality featured. At times, he would be invited back stage for a close up or two, as was the case with Debbie Reynolds. Johnny Cash once invited him on stage to share a collage of the famous singers’ many poses, and signed it in front of thousands of fans attending the concert that night.
Actors and Actresses alike enjoyed seeing photos of themselves from many years back, and would often try to purchase them – but to no avail – the photos were his private collection. Occasionally, he donates pictures from his collection to museums and restaurants featuring the particular star – most recently donating a shot of Mickey Mantle to the namesake’s restaurant in Bricktown, OKC.
His large collection expands many venues and decades and includes film stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas, Mitzi Gaynor, Sophia Loren, Cecely Tyson, Richard Rountree; musicians Mel Torme, Pat Boone, Roy Rogers, Hank Thompson, Charlie Pride, Andy Warhol, Sally Struthers, Carol Channing; athletes Dorothy Hamill and Hank Aaron; and various performers like Art Linklater, Jerry Lee Jones, Liberace, Herb Alpert, Adam West as BATMAN, Cesar Romero as the JOKER, Eartha Kitt as CATWOMAN and Clayton Moore as the LONE RANGER.
Active in pow-wows and other American native events, and also serving on the Chickasaw council in Dallas, his 5 decade photos of Native American Dancers have been shared at many pow-wows (gatherings of the native tribes) and displayed in libraries across the Dallas/Ft Worth area. His expertise allowed him the opportunity to share his love and passion for the camera by public speaking at conferences and teaching Camera/Photo classes at community colleges in the Irving, Grand Prairie and Arlington area, where he lived for 40 years.
Not limited to famous people, he snapped photos of animals, flowers, trains, and of course, family! It was anticipated and expected at family reunions to view “Uncle Dan’s” photos on a slide show projected on the side of a house or wall. With his family now extending into great, great nieces and nephews, his photos have become a part of the family’s history with pictures of loved ones that have passed away, or aged from toddlers into grandparents…
His return to Oklahoma was bittersweet in that it was after his wife’s passing. An often quiet man, (except for the boldness associated with a photographer), he was one of the first residents of FOUNTAINBROOK, and would have preferred sharing his “assisted living” experience with her, as together they could have shared the various outings and wonderful activities offered by the staff. Director Debbie Riddle has become “just like family” sharing in his new life and adventures, and allowing him to share his past loves of all things photography.

by Mike Lee
Staff Writer

Carl Morrell has seen 17 presidents during his lifetime.
The average individual income has risen from $800 to more than $26,000 per year in that span.
One hundred years ago the zipper was invented.
Today, nearly 80 percent of Americans have the Internet in their home.
A lot has changed during the last century but the guy affectionately known to his family as “shorty” has taken it all in stride.
Carl Bertrand Morrell turned 100 recently at Rambling Oaks Assisted Living Center and he still has plenty of stories to tell.
He graduated from Valley Grove Elementary, then located in the Corbett farming community southeast of Lexington, and went on to graduate Lexington High School and then the University of Oklahoma.
In 1936, at the age of 20, he joined the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps and worked with the Army Corps of Engineers in the Big Horn National Forest outside of Sheridan, Wyoming building the Sibley Lake Dam.
He earned $30 per month plus his room and board.
In 1937, he came back to Oklahoma and built on his brief encounter with field engineering by enrolling in the OU School of Engineering.
His education was interrupted in the spring of 1940 as he enlisted in the U.S. Army just months before America’s entry into World War II.
He served his country until 1946. He initially trained as a high speed radio operator in anticipation of assignment to a bomber crew in Europe.
But he was plucked to attend Officer’s Candidate School and earned a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Signal Corps.
From there he commanded coastal radar units in Maine, Massachusetts and North Carolina until the war ended.
After his release he resumed his education, this time switching to the School of Business where he graduated in 1948 with a Bachelor’s in Accounting.
He then worked for Continental Oil and moved to Ponca City where he later worked for Conoco for 33 years before retiring in 1980.
After the death of his wife, Delma, in early 1985 Morrell returned to Norman. There he would marry his childhood friend, Agnes Waddle, the widow of his older brother.
Together they joined Immanuel Baptist Church where for eight years he volunteered to help the church manage its finances. He also taught a Senior Men’s Sunday School class until he was 89 and served as Sanctuary Greeter.
He was recently honored for his years of services in World War II by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
“He is a really sweet man and has obviously made an impact on everyone here,” said Sales and Marketing Director Shana Sapp, who notes Rambling Oaks has three centenarians, one who is 103.

by Mike Lee
Staff Writer

It’s mid-morning and Mike Kastl is giving his granddaughter a bottle and trying his best to get her down for an 11 a.m. nap.
The 67-year-old could use a nap himself but he’s happy to oblige. In fact, he’s happy to do most anything these days after beating cancer.
When he’s not bouncing his grandbabies around the former ag teacher is spreading the word to other men about how important annual checkups are.
He believes to this day it is checkups that saved his life.
It was 2009 when Kastl and his wife both were hit with cancer diagnosis.
The PET scan of her bile duct came back red hot.
A trip to the Mayo Clinic in Houston followed, as did a life expectancy of three-to-five years.
“She only lasted two,” Kastl said.
It was during this time that Kastl found ProCure Proton Therapy Center for himself.
It was during an annual checkup that he learned his PSA score had doubled. It was a big enough jump to be referred to a urologist for a biopsy.
“They took it in two different places,” Kastl said. “One showed five percent cancer and the other showed 20 percent cancer.”
His options were radiation, surgery and then a new thing with protons.
“He kind of blew it off but I was taking notes,” Kastl said of the visit with his doctor. “When somebody says you’ve got the big C you start listening real close. I was online 24/7 looking at prostate cancer treatments.”
During his research he stumbled upon Robert J. Marckini’s book You can Beat Prostate Cancer: And You Don’t Need Surgery to Do It.
He read it and followed his sister’s urgings to contact the new ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Oklahoma City that was just being finished.
He began his first of 44 treatments in August of 2009 and holds the distinction of being ProCure’s first prostate patient.
“The quality of life is what makes ProCure, I think, much better,” he said. “My quality of life is better for having gone to ProCure. No side effects. I didn’t lose any hair. I was out working cattle.”
When he’s not watching Elmo videos he’s running cattle with his brother at his ranch in Stillwater.
And when he’s not doing that he’s telling other men about prostate cancer.
Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men. The American Cancer Society’s estimates for prostate cancer in the United States for 2015 are:
About 220,800 new cases of prostate cancer.
About 27,540 deaths from prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer occurs mainly in older men. About six cases in 10 are diagnosed in men aged 65 or older, and it is rare before age 40. The average age at the time of diagnosis is about 66.
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer. About one man in 38 will die of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer can be a serious disease, but most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it. In fact, more than 2.9 million men in the United States who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point are still alive today.
When discussing cancer survival statistics, doctors often use a number called the 5-year survival rate. The 5-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who live at least five years after their cancer is diagnosed. Of course, many of these people live much longer than five years (and many are cured).
Five-year relative survival rates assume that some men will die of other causes and compare the observed survival with that expected for men without prostate cancer. This is a better way to see the impact of the cancer on survival.
Proton therapy can precisely target your tumor, reducing damage to healthy tissue near the tumor and potentially allowing you to receive higher, more effective doses of radiation. Proton therapy not only effectively targets a tumor, but it can also be used in combination with chemotherapy, as a follow-up treatment to surgery, and in combination with standard X-ray radiation treatment.
Today, Kastl is remarried and has a new lease on life. And he enjoys all the extra time he has to spend with his grandkids.