Mercy has earned the 2022 Excellence in Patient Experience Award as the top large health system in the country for patient experience, a distinction made by NRC Health, a leader in building personalized health care solutions and data-driven insights.
NRC Health’s 2022 Excellence in Patient Experience Award recognizes health systems and hospitals that have demonstrated their commitment to improving patients’ care experiences.
“This award is all about the patient experience and that is central to everything we do,” said Dr. John Mohart, president of Mercy communities, who leads operations for all Mercy hospitals. “Our medical team always puts health and safety first, but the patient experience goes far beyond clinical care. Whether it’s our food service team, housekeepers or volunteers, it takes every Mercy co-worker to make patients a priority and give them the best experience possible.”
Award winners are selected based on the real-time “would recommend” ratings from patients. One winner is honored in each of the following eight categories of facilities: small, medium and large health systems; small, medium and large hospitals; pediatric facilities; and medical groups. Mercy was selected as the top large health system based on patient feedback collected from April 1, 2021, through March 31, 2022, amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is incredibly gratifying to be able to honor another esteemed group of organizations this year who deliver exceptional patient care day in and day out,” said Helen Hrdy, chief growth officer at NRC Health. “Human understanding is at the core of what we do, and to see it come to life is rewarding beyond words. Congratulations to Mercy for this recognition. Their work is inspiring!”
A complete list of winners is available at nrchealth.com/awards/excellence-in-patient-experience-award/. The NRC award follows the recently announced collaboration between Mercy and Mayo Clinic to transform patient care and find diseases earlier and the recently announced availability of an innovative blood test at Mercy to detect more than 50 types of cancer in early stages.
“This honor from NRC Health means every aspect of a patient’s care at Mercy is important, beginning when they schedule an appointment and through the follow-up care long after the clinic, virtual or hospital visit,” said Dr. Jeff Ciaramita, Mercy’s chief physician executive.
As of the end of the day, Friday, August 12, 2022, OU Health and UnitedHealthcare (UHC) have come to a resolution. The two organizations had been negotiating their contract since November of 2021.
The agreement between OU Health and UHC for hospital and clinic facilities and services terminated on May 1, 2022, but have now been reinstated. UHC has agreed to retroactively process the out-of-network claims that would now be considered in-network. OU Health Partners, the health system’s physician and provider group, was under a separate contract, which was in effect through the end of 2022. Under the new agreement, the provider’s contract was extended through July 31, 2024. OU Health and UHC also agreed to re-engage transplant services to the same level as prior to May 1, 2022.
“With so many of our services not available anywhere else in the state, we are so pleased to be able to continue to care for our UHC-insured patients, so they can continue to receive services like cancer treatment or comprehensive children’s care,” said Richard Lofgren, M.D., OU Health president and CEO.
“Throughout this time, our focus and commitment to patient care and being an institution that champions the health of our state hasn’t changed,” Lofgren said. “We are extremely pleased to be able to reinstate and continue our partnership with UHC, and together, we will make a difference in the lives of Oklahomans.”
Make your way to the Moon (Modern Living Building) for free health screenings, activities, and entertainment at the 45th annual Senior Day. We hope you enjoy this fun-filled day planned especially for senior adults. Seniors (ages 55 & older) receive FREE outside gate admission!
PJ Acker poses with Brayden holding the oil painting she created of the young man and his father.
Story and photo by Darl DeVault, Contributing Editor
The family commissioned PJ Acker to create this 11 x 14-inch oil painting so Brayden could have an image of him and his father together.
Faced with a challenge many artists would not be able to pull off, PJ Acker recently used her easily demonstrable talent and social grace to create an oil painting a young boy will cherish forever. In capturing the boy’s likeness while adding the photorealistic painting of his deceased father, she provided the family with a comparative study for the ages.
Working in her newly named Treehouse Studio, located upstairs of the Paseo Arts and Creativity Center (PACC) building, Acker was recently touched by a special commission.
Her narrative of what happened next is so direct it is largely unedited: “He doesn’t have a photo of his Daddy and him together,” A young woman named Leah whispered to me. She and her son, Brayden, were visiting my studio during a recent First Friday Art Gallery Walk. Brayden, 11 or 12 years old, seemed captivated by the process of the pencil sketch I was doing of another visitor. When I asked if he’d like his portrait sketched, he was shy but seemed very eager, nodding yes.
While Brayden was occupied with looking over the sketch I’d completed for him, Leah whispered to me, “If I supply a photo of his dad, could you paint a portrait of them together?”
I’ve done similar portraits for others, so I told her I’d love to try. Soon, our plan was made. As we visited, I discreetly snapped several photos of Brayden with my phone.
Over the following weeks, I chose from photos Leah emailed and developed a composition. After emailing a rough draft for her approval, I got to work. While it usually takes about two months to finish a portrait from start to finish, this project touched my heart and had my full attention. I completed the painting in three weeks. These kinds of projects make the years of study and practice pay off.
I form a connection with my portrait subjects while studying their faces and the tiny nuances of expression. I become energized, excited and eager to commit to canvas what I see and feel.
In one of our communications, Leah confessed to me she’d cried more than a few tears while watching the painting as it developed. While it’s common for me to feel connected to my subject during the hours of trying to capture its essence onto canvas, a process called ‘chasing the likeness,’ this one felt special to me.
Arriving to pick up his painting, Brayden entered my studio closely following his mother. His eyes immediately landed on the 11 by 14-inch portrait in oil on the center table.
He stared motionlessly at it from the doorway. When he didn’t move or speak for minutes that seemed an eternity, I silently sought out his mother’s eyes. She gently moved him toward the table. I lifted the painting into his hands. Remaining silent, his eyes never left the painting.
“He’s overwhelmed,” his mother told me, smiling.
We took a couple of photos together, Brayden, his painting and myself, before they left.
Ten minutes later, I received a text from Leah, “He hasn’t let go of the painting. He’s crying quietly in the backseat.”
Being a mother and grandmother herself, Acker understood a mother’s desire to give her son a link to his father.
Capturing common similarities of expression while portraying an ease of comfort between the two required a certain intuitiveness. Employing the power of photorealism while imagining “what would be” required imagination. Blending disparate images with different settings and lighting conditions required technical ability. Doing these things simultaneously defines the challenge and artform of this type of portraiture.
Sketching her first portraits in pencil and crayon, Acker recalls from her childhood, “I’ve always been fascinated with faces, with watching and studying people.”
Holding true to this, she chose nursing as her first vocation. Seven years later, she taught herself the skills needed to work as a technical typist at the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. With a promotion to a position with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services Training Department, she worked with and scheduled mandatory workshops for social workers throughout Oklahoma.
After retiring, her passion for creating art reignited. Doggedly pursuing whichever technique or medium that called to her at the time, Acker acquired her education in art attending workshops across the country, as well as seminars and art courses locally at Rose State College and OCCC. Workshops with Philippe Faraut, a world-renowned sculptor, and Betty Pat Gatliff, past Forensic Reconstructive Sculptor for the State of Oklahoma, encouraged her love of portraiture and figurative art. She has created works in oil, acrylic, oil pastel, soft pastel, charcoal, watercolor, soft clay, and oil-based clay for bronze work.
For the last 25 years, Acker has worked as a professional artist in Oklahoma and has been a member of the Oklahoma Art Guild, Oklahoma Sculpture Society, Oklahoma Pastel Society and the Portrait Society of America. She cites John Singer Sargent, John Howard Sanden, Berthe Morisot and Philippe Faraut as her primary influences.
Her artistic passion continues to grow and develop as it chooses from her Treehouse studio. She blogs about works-in-progress and accepts commissions through her website www.pjackerart.com.
Visitors are welcome during her usual studio hours: Tue – Sat 10:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. and 6 – 9 p.m. every month on Paseo’s First Friday Gallery Walk.
“What I paint or sculpt now is often more informed by what I feel than by what I see,” Acker said in an interview. “Capturing the essence of a person on canvas or clay has always been magical to me. Creating is the anchor that reminds me of who I am, from whom I come, and I’m happy to be able to share.”
The Paseo Arts Association hosts the PACC as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working since 1981 to develop the historic Paseo into a thriving arts district.
Oklahoma City’s only authentic arts district is known for its eclectic galleries attached to art studios, high-quality restaurants, bars, and many types of merchants. The walkable cultural area surrounding a curving street features Spanish Revival architecture with trees providing shade during its well-attended Arts Festival each May. The three-day event Memorial Day Weekend – May 28-30 this year usually adds 100 artist’s booths to what the 80 district resident artists offer.
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientist Benjamin Miller, Ph.D.
The National Institutes of Health has awarded the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation $3 million to continue the study of the anti-aging abilities of a diabetes drug.
The five-year grant will allow OMRF physiologist Benjamin Miller, Ph.D., to continue his investigation of the ability of metformin, the world’s most prescribed diabetes drug, to slow the biological process of aging.
Aging is a leading risk factor for many diseases, but people can lessen the impacts of aging with appropriate diet and exercise. Because many people find dietary changes and exercise challenging, there are ongoing searches for medications that may mimic those effects.
“We know exercise slows the aging process, but this drug could be an alternative for otherwise healthy people who don’t get much movement,” Miller said.
The study will observe metformin’s impact on animal models with different fitness levels. Investigators designed the study after surprising results that also led to an ongoing OMRF clinical trial of metformin in humans.
“Our studies have shown that there may be people who benefit from the metformin treatment and others who do not,” Miller said. “Our goal is to help determine who may benefit and better target the treatment to slow the onset of chronic diseases.”
Finding the right context for anti-aging metformin treatment is critical as this use for the drug grows, Miller said. This study will help identify groups who may see the greatest positive impact and who should skip this treatment to avoid adverse effects.
Miller is continuing to recruit participants for the ongoing clinical trial. The study is now focused on participants aged 40-75 who have higher-than-normal blood sugar, a body mass index above 30, or are not physically active. Participants must also not be taking glucose-lowering agents.
Volunteers will first undergo a health screening. If enrolled, participants’ visits during the 12-week study may include blood tests, muscle biopsies, bone density scans and insulin sensitivity tests.
To participate or for more information, visit www.omrf.org/metformin or contact Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resources at 405-271-3480 or [email protected].
Funding for the research is provided by the National Institute on Aging, a part of the NIH. Grant No. R01AG074502-01A1 will support the new study, and R01AG064951 continues to fund the clinical trial.
Women compete in Stand Up Paddling World Cup Racing on the Oklahoma River last August.
Story by Darl DeVault, Contributing Editor
The men paddle in one of several preliminary heats in the Canoe Sprint Super Cup last August on the Oklahoma River.
World-class paddlers will compete August 26-28 at the 2022 World Paddlesport Festival at RIVERSPORT’s $100 million venue on the Oklahoma River for medals and prize money. The events are free for spectators and feature International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint Super Cup and Stand Up Paddling World Cup Racing, along with first-in-America Red Bull Rapids- a wacky race in homemade boats down RIVERSPORT Rapids.
“We are so excited to welcome these athletes to Oklahoma City,” said Elizabeth Laurent, chief marketing officer for the organization. “Watching the Olympic and World Champion athletes on the water is an amazing experience – you really get that Olympic feeling when you see all of the country flags and watch the competition at this level. We hope everyone will come out and join us in welcoming these athletes to OKC.”
This marks the second straight August OKC will host prestigious ICF events after RIVERSPORT hosted the 2021 ICF Super Cup in its international television first night racing last year. Previously scheduled for Moscow, Russia, this year’s events were moved to OKC due to an International Olympic Committee directive after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The free three-day festival will also feature community dragon boat, kayak and SUP racing, plus full days of family fun and fireworks Saturday night.
Many competitors will be coming to compete in Oklahoma after competing in the world championships in their events August 3-7 in Halifax, Canada.
The international events play out before prime seating at the Boathouse District’s Finish Line Tower terrace as the centerpiece of the multi-day race event. The Sprint Cup racing runs August 26-27, and the Stand Up Paddling World Cup extends three days, August 26-28.
The Red Bull Rapids event Saturday, August 27, is all about fun, where the wildest whitewater race where showmanship and ingenuity take the top prize. This group challenge of 50 teams have made creative, wacky vessels to race down a 258-yard whitewater rapid course. The teams of 2-5 people 18 years and older are scored on the creativity of their vessel, along with how fast they descend and how far they stay afloat.
The top three placers earn exclusive Red Bull experiences. Judging is done by Red Bull athletes, coaches, and Oklahoma native Darci Lynne. Lynne is the season 12 winner of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” where she received the most votes for a final performance in the history of the show at age 12. Now 17, singer and ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer is touring America with show dates until November.
Oklahoma City’s Riversport is unique in offering all these events at one venue. It is the only city in the world to provide athletes with whitewater slalom, such as the Red Bull Rapids will use, and a venue for international-level flatwater sprinting. In its 16th year of making sports history, the venue is the only permanently lit flatwater course in the world. Completed in 2013, the permanent racecourse lighting along the river was integral to the MAPS 3 Oklahoma River improvements.
Canoe sprint takes place on a flatwater course, and races are contested by two types of boat, canoe (C) and kayak (K). In a canoe, the paddler competes in a striding position using a single-blade paddle, in contrast to the double-bladed paddle used in a sitting position in a kayak. International level, the discipline distances are from 200m to 5000m, individually and in teams of up to four. Each discipline is categorized by boat type, number of competitors per boat, gender, and race distance.
RIVERSPORT is known as an innovator in Olympic sports and outdoor recreation. The nonprofit RIVERSPORT Foundation has developed Oklahoma City’s Boathouse District. It has become one of the world’s premier urban outdoor adventure and water sports venues. It regularly hosts national and international races in both rowing and canoe/kayak. Located at America’s crossroads, the Boathouse District features iconic architecture, world-class adventure sports and recreation, and robust programming for all ages.
It is an official US Olympic and Paralympic Training Site and a model for other communities to embrace bold ideas and bolster outdoor culture.
The International Canoe Federation is the umbrella organization for all national canoe organizations worldwide. It is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, and administers all aspects of canoe sport worldwide.
The full schedule for the weekend events is available online: 2022 ICF World Events (riversportokc.org)
Riversport is located at 800 RIVERSPORT Dr. Oklahoma City, OK 73129.
2022 World Paddlesport Festival – ICF World Events:
Saturday, August 27 • 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
2022 ICF Canoe Sprint Super Cup Racing | Aug 26-27
2022 ICF Stand Up Paddling World Cup Racing | Aug 26-28
2022 Red Bull Rapids | Aug 27
Join RIVERSPORT for this incredible event featuring top paddlers from around the world competing in Super Cup and World Cup events, plus Red Bull Rapids – a wacky race in homemade boats down RIVERSPORT Rapids. We’ll also have community dragon boat, kayak and SUP racing plus a family fun and fireworks Saturday night. Plan to join us for a full day of fun, and read on to learn how Oklahoma City was invited to host the historic ICF Super Cup and World Cup events.
From left, LaToya Fields De Wberth, sales counselor, Deana Bridges, executive director, Cameron Gruenberg, regional director of sales and marketing, and Amber Compton, sales and marketing director at Lyndale Edmond pose before the event.
Story and photos by Darl DeVault, contributing editor
Lyndale Edmond Senior Living Sales and Marketing Director Amber Compton welcomed the group of 52 Senior Business Solution colleagues to their networking luncheon on July 21 at Lyndale Edmond. Emphasizing how shifting demographics and reshaping complexes built for older Americans address a variety of rates and services, she explained Lyndale features nine cottages on their remodeled senior living property as well as 115 independent living and 48 assisted living apartments.
The Lyndale Edmond Senior Living hosts shared their premium meeting space, their clubhouse adjacent to their pool, for the monthly gathering of senior healthcare marketers and senior-focused company workers.
Newly appointed Regional Director of Sales & Marketing Cameron Gruenberg was on hand to observe from his office in Tulsa.
“Lyndale Edmond is a beautiful senior living community offering independent and assisted living with a resident-first philosophy, caring associates, great lifestyle programs and delicious meals,” Gruenberg said in an interview. “Hosting this event allowed attendees to experience what life is like at Lyndale Emond.”
The networking group was treated to one of many of the host’s amenities when Lyndale Culinary Director Bryan Newton offered a well-received lunch of BBQ ribs.
Many attendees were learning about their community peers for the first time. For others, it was apparent they had been attending the networking luncheons for many of the six years the SBS group has been getting together.
The luncheon continued with each invitee giving a few minutes of background on their employer and how they saw their role in helping seniors with their needs in the community. A few people outlined special events their venues were planning in the near future, inviting others to attend.
The discussion often centered on getting calls from care managers or discharge planners from hospitals and rehabs. Some explained they were available to help them find a community with openings, who is full, who can offer space, and who can provide temp nurse slots.
Other speakers reached out to all those gathered for more interaction to support the booths available at the upcoming Senior Day on September 21 at the Oklahoma State Fair.
Several speakers shared information about upcoming professional events. The guests were reminded of the Oklahoma Assisted Living Association Annual Convention & Trade Show as the association celebrates its 25th anniversary August 23 – 25 at the River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa.
The meeting was a more personalized version of a monthly networking newsletter with information, announcements, and networking within the retirement industry.
Several speakers highlighted how to get involved in Oklahoma’s many Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s, with the main ones being September 17 in Tulsa and October 22 in OKC.
Some providers reported real-time availability for their care and housing options along with home care and hospice providers.
A radio station representative who primarily markets information emphasized the station strives to be a dependable senior community resource.
Later, Lyndale Executive Director Deana Bridges explained the spacious, fully featured clubhouse the meeting was in is available to clients for special events and also for rent to outside groups. The remodeling at Lyndale allows them to offer the cottages as private residences along with independent living and assisted living apartments as more affordable housing models.
Sagora Senior Living operates the property. It is one of America’s top 50 privately-owned senior housing operators with communities throughout Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Florida and soon California.
Lyndale Lifestyles Director Michelle Robbins also offered to make their bus available if anyone wanted a quick property tour.
Conversations before and after the more formal portion allowed attendees to stay connected with their senior industry peers while building possible referral networks.
Jeanette Reiff, RN, employee health nurse for The Oklahoma Center for Orthopedics and Multispecialty Surgery, celebrates the 20th anniversary since the hospital opened.
by James Coburn, Staff Writer
The Oklahoma Center for Orthopedics and Multispecialty Surgery (OCOM) is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Jeanette Reiff, RN, has been OCOM’s employee health nurse since the hospital opened. Hospital staff has been treated to several special events throughout the year from meals and giveaways.
“We did an ‘unsung hero’ this morning for one of our employees (Stephanie Campas) that goes above and beyond and doesn’t get recognized enough,” Reiff said. “So, we gave her an award and took pictures of her. She’s one of our dietary workers. Whatever we need — if we need her to help us with employee lunches or whatever’s going on, she does a great job going around and talking to the patients, providing them with meals that meet their needs. And, she always has a great attitude.”
Reiff was recruited by OCOM to open the endoscopy department and has enjoyed working with many of the same people for the duration.
The state has immunization requirements for all new hospital employees. Reiff ensures they have their drug screenings and have all their immunizations including the flu. OCOM has had a COVID pod in the hospital since January 2021. Employees report to Reiff for Workers Compensation injuries. She deals with airborne pathogen exposures, but mainly it is bloodborne pathogens.
The state of Oklahoma requires hospitals to have an employee health nurse. So Reiff was recruited from her endoscopy role to bridge that gap. At that time, she had a steep learning curve to accomplish the task.
We had a consultant who was working with us at the time, and she got me in some classes with the health department,” she explained.
She also attended some group meetings during lunch with occupational nurses discussing how they handled employee health at their hospitals. She is grateful for the opportunity.
“When I first took it on, I was an endoscopy nurse, so I was doing endoscopy and employee health. And eventually the manager of the endoscopy department moved on, so they moved me up to manager. I was managing the endoscopy department and doing employee health.”
Eventually she would work exclusively in employee health.
“I just stuck with it,” she said.
Reiff has been a registered nurse since 2000, the year she graduated from Oklahoma City Community College. She began her nursing career on the cardiac floor of INTEGRIS Medical Center and the Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation Center, located in Oklahoma City. The cardiac floor at Integris and Jim Thorpe Rehab were two separate jobs.
She was a stay-at-home mom raising twins when she set her course on nursing. She needed to earn decent money if she worked part-time.
“We had a really bad car accident, and I wasn’t sure how well my husband was going to be after they cut him out of that truck,” Reiff said.
She considered becoming a physical therapist when a friend encouraged her to join her in applying for nursing school.
“It’s been a blessing,” Reiff said. “It is rewarding to see so many people who come in hurting so badly and they’re able to get joint replacements and feel so much better afterwards.”
Certain moments of being a nurse make an indelible impression. Reiff recalled the early days of her career at Jim Thorpe. There was a young patient who had been in a four-wheeler accident and was paralyzed from the waist down. The same nurse had taken care of him every night but was away on vacation. Reiff filled-in his nurse for a couple of weeks while his nurse was gone.
“Everybody told me he was pretty difficult if he didn’t have the nurse he was used to,” Reiff said. “He wasn’t cooperative with the other ones. And he was standoffish with me at first. Then I saw he was watching Crocodile Hunter and I said, ‘Oh my twins love that show.’ And he said, ‘You have twins. My brother and sister are twins.’”
They discovered they had something in common. He stayed at the hospital longer than anticipated because his parents did not use the insurance money wisely, she continued.
“So, they didn’t have all the requirements that he needed to go home in a wheelchair,” Reiff said. “Making that connection with him — those patients that you see every night for months at a time — it was just great to see him improve, take care of himself and gain some confidence, and finally get to go home.”
Reiff never thought of being a nurse as a child, but now she cannot picture her life without it.
“This has been a wonderful place to work. OCOM has given me opportunities that I probably would have never had if I had worked in a larger hospital,” she said.
For more information about OCOM visit: https://ocomhospital.com/
Photo left to right. Terri Callaway, Nancy Williams, Sue Scott, Peggy Barnett, Carol Minter, Gloria Helmuth, Connie Connely, Ann Attig.
Centenarian is derived from Latin and means “of a hundred.” Centenarian of Oklahoma celebrates the lives of Oklahoma citizens who are “of a hundred” or more.
Centenarian of Oklahoma is a non-profit, volunteer group based in Tulsa, Oklahoma whose sole purpose is to honor and celebrate the lives of our Oklahoma citizens who have reached the age of 100 or more. There is no cost, fee or obligation. It is the only group of its kind in the United States
Each Centenarian is honored with a biographical sketch; a Centenarian of Oklahoma Certificate and a Golden Okie Pin. The group follows up with the Centenarians on their birthdays; at Christmas and with other remembrances during the year.
Since the beginning of this program in 1991 Centenarians of Oklahoma has honored more than 2700 Oklahoma Centenarians. Currently Centenarians of Oklahoma has 281 living honorees. Every effort is being made to locate and honor even more Oklahoma Centenarians.
The group maintains a website at centenariansok.com detailing all their activities. The website includes a video completed in conjunction with the Oklahoma State University 100 Year Life Program, along with statistics and other interesting facts. The Facebook page: Centenarians of Oklahoma highlights current honorees. Permanent records of deceased Centenarians of Oklahoma are archived at the Oklahoma Historical Society and become an honored part of Oklahoma history.
If you know an upcoming Centenarian, or someone who is already a Centenarian, contact the group at: [email protected], by phone at 918-510-0150, or you may complete the website forms by following the instructions on the form; submit by scanning the form and returning by email or US Mail.
