Today, the Social Security Administration released its first Equity Action Plan, supporting President Biden’s whole-of-government equity agenda to advance equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity for all.
On January 20, 2021, The President signed an Executive Order, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. The Executive Order requires all Federal agencies “to pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and other people who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.”
“Social Security’s programs touch the lives of nearly every American, providing income security for the diverse populations we serve, including people facing barriers, people with disabilities, people who are widowed, retirees, and their families,” said Kilolo Kijakazi, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “Systemic barriers may prevent people who need our programs the most from accessing them. Our Equity Action Plan will help to reduce these barriers and ensure people have access to our services.”
Social Security’s Equity Action Plan includes:
* Increasing collection of race and ethnicity data to help understand whether programs are equitably serving applicants and beneficiaries,
* Revising policies and practices to expand options for service delivery, Ensuring equitable access for unrepresented claimants in the disability application process,
* Decreasing burdens for people who identify as gender diverse or transgender in the Social Security number card application process, and
* Increasing access to research grant programs for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions and procurement opportunities for small and disadvantaged businesses.
To learn more about the actions outlined in the Equity Action Plan, please visit www.socialsecurity.gov/open/materials/SSA-EO-13985-Equity-Action-Plan.pdf. For more information about efforts to redress systemic barriers in policies and programs to advance equity for all, visit www.whitehouse.gov/equity.

by Greg Schwem

“I am currently on the “adjective” diet, meaning I will swallow anything that describes how I want my body to look.
It’s not the first time I have tried to obtain a better shape via attractive sounding nutritional titles. I strode into a vitamin store recently and walked out with something called “Serious Mass.” It’s a product that, judging by the physiques of other guys buying it, would make my neck the size of my thighs.
Perhaps the product worked for them. For me, it should have been titled “No Mass. Seriously.”
Next up was “Joint Mobility,” a supplement that, according to its manufacturer’s website, prevents inflammation that can result in “unwanted pain, stiffness, cracking, or even popping joints.”
Sadly, those cracks and pops persisted although I felt very mobile when making my way to the couch.
Have I learned my lesson? No, as evidenced by an initial trip to a local smoothie store, where a whole new batch of enticing and promising verbiage awaited me.
I have never been a fan of smoothies, particularly as a substitute for actual food. If I am going to drink my lunch, I want to feel as full as if I had just exited McDonald’s after polishing off a double quarter pounder with cheese and large fries. This has never happened. One time it didn’t happen because I spit out the entire contents after seeing my receipt. Who knew something called “Acai” would require a second trip to the ATM?
Nevertheless, smoothie stores and juice bars now occupy most of the retail space not already acquired by Starbucks. A relative recently purchased a “faith based” juice franchise.
“So, if Jesus ever wanted a smoothie, this is where he would go?” I texted her shortly after the grand opening.
I still have not received a response. Hey, I thought it was funny.
I decided to give a recently opened smoothie bar near my home a chance. I had just left the gym after a particularly spirited workout and wanted to retain that good health feeling for as long as possible, meaning until 5 p.m. when I planned to join a friend for beer and wings.
Striding up to the counter, I ordered something called “Island Green,” containing spinach, kale, mango, pineapple and banana. It sounded inviting, never mind that it was the color of Augusta National.
“Would you like any supplements?” asked the “smoothierista,” or whatever you call the person tasked with grinding kale into a liquid.
“Such as?” I responded.
I was shown a list of powders including collagen, vitamin B12 and whey protein. But my eyes immediately went to another one: “Fat Burner.”
Excuse me? A scoop, or several, of sand-colored powder could burn unsightly fat from my frame? Why was this even in stock? I mean, who is ordering a smoothie and saying, “No, no, I don’t want to remove fat. In fact, I want just the opposite. Can I have a scoop of flab? Do you have any plump? And while you’re at it, gimme two scoops of low self-esteem!”
I didn’t ask what exactly was in Fat Burner; for all I know it’s the color of sand because it actually IS sand. It was also an extra dollar. I ordered it.
The only burn I felt was the one in my stomach, which disappeared after 20 chicken wings.
A friend recently introduced me to the term “SUPERFOODS,” which sounds like, if eaten, would give me the ability to fly. I have tried most of them; I can report there is nothing “super” about chia seeds and lentils.
As of today, I vow not to base my daily food intake around descriptive titles. Instead, I will continue hitting the gym, drinking copious amounts of water and limiting my ice cream intake.
Unless that ice cream is SLOW CHURNED. That’s healthy, right?
(Greg Schwem is a corporate stand-up comedian and author of two books: “Text Me If You’re Breathing: Observations, Frustrations and Life Lessons From a Low-Tech Dad” and the recently released “The Road To Success Goes Through the Salad Bar: A Pile of BS From a Corporate Comedian,” available at Amazon.com. Visit Greg on the web at www.gregschwem.com.
You’ve enjoyed reading, and laughing at, Greg Schwem’s monthly humor columns in Senior Living News. But did you know Greg is also a nationally touring stand-up comedian? And he loves to make audiences laugh about the joys, and frustrations, of growing older. Watch the clip and, if you’d like Greg to perform at your senior center or senior event, contact him through his website at www.gregschwem.com)

In a year of full returns in-person and across theaters, deadCenter Film and Norman Music Festival are proud to partner on Thursday, April 28, at Sooner Theatre in announcing finalists for the inaugural Oklahoma Music Video Award in advance of the 22nd annual deadCenter Film Festival, taking place June 9 – 12. The award finalists will be presented at 7 p.m. during opening night of the music festival, which will run through Saturday, April 30 in Norman and precede an evening of programming merging music and movies.
The 22nd annual deadCenter Film Festival will take place June 9 – 12 in venues across downtown Oklahoma City. This inaugural partnership merges the schedule kick-off of the deadCenter Film Festival, in its first full in-theater run since 2019, with NMF, returning to full three-day operations after being one of the first metro area festivals to cancel in 2020, subsequently canceling the event again in 2021 due to the pandemic.
“One of my favorite things about Oklahoma is the way organizations work together to bring unique experiences to our state,” said deadCenter Film’s director of festival and operations, Miranda Patton. “Our partnership with the Norman Music Festival is undeniably one of those great partnerships. I am beyond excited about our upcoming event, the Music Video award, and future opportunities to celebrate music and film together.”
Immediately following the announcement of music video finalists, deadCenter Film will offer a screening of the documentary feature “Skating Polly: Ugly Pop” about the Oklahoma-bred, now West Coastbased, band Skating Polly, which was winner of the film festival’s Audience Award in 2021. The evening will feature a Q&A with director Henry Mortensen after the screening and a performance by Skating Polly, a trio of siblings known for memorable, genre-shattering versatility for more than a decade.
“We are just thrilled to be able to partner with a tremendous organization like deadCenter Film Festival on the inaugural Oklahoma Video Music award. Being able to overlap our brands and extend our message to broader audiences on each other’s behalf is the kind of collaboration that benefits our state, undoubtedly,” Shari Jackson, Norman Music Festival’s executive director said. “Being able to make this presentation with Skating Polly in attendance is the cherry on the top. On behalf of our board of directors, I can certainly say that we look forward to future collaborations with deadCenter Film Festival.” For more information visit: https://www.deadcenterfilm.org/

Oklahoma Trails is home for new female river otter, Hazel.

Guests visiting the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden will have an opportunity to see its newest animal family member, Hazel, a female North American river otter. Hazel, 1, recently arrived at the OKC Zoo from Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Michigan, and can be seen at the Zoo’s river otter habitat in the Big Rivers building at Oklahoma Trails. The recommendation for Hazel to relocate to the OKC Zoo came from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan® (SSP) for North American river otters. AZA’s SSP programs are cooperatively managed programs created to oversee species populations within AZA accredited zoos and aquariums.
“It’s always exciting to connect guests to a new member of our animal family,” said Tyler Boyd, the Oklahoma City Zoo’s curator of carnivores. “Hazel is settling in nicely and becoming familiar with her new habitat space. At this time, she is our only river otter but we are working with the AZA’s SSP program for river otters to find her a companion.”
Located throughout North America and Canada, river otters are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as stable, meaning that their population in the wild is not in immediate danger of decline. River otters are just one of 13 different otter species found globally. River otters are known for their long slender bodies with short legs and their excellent swimming abilities. Adult otters can vary greatly in size, growing to about 2.5 to 5 feet and weighing between 10 and 30 pounds. A carnivorous species, river otters eat fish, frogs, crayfish, turtles and even some small mammals. They hunt either alone or in pairs but can also forage on land for insects and small mammals.
You “otter” make your way to the OKC Zoo to see Hazel! The Oklahoma City Zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily with the last entry no later than 4 p.m. Purchase advance tickets for general admission at www.okczoo.org/tickets. Located at the crossroads of I-44 and I-35, the OKC Zoo is a proud member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the American Alliance of Museums, Oklahoma City’s Adventure District and an Adventure Road partner. Regular admission is $12 for adults and $9 for children ages 3-11 and seniors ages 65 and over. Children two and under are admitted free.
Stay connected with the Zoo on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linktree and TikTok, and by visiting our blog stories. To learn more about Zoo happenings, call (405) 424-3344 or visit okczoo.org.

The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation presented scientific awards to four scientists and announced another as an endowed chair during Wednesday’s annual spring board meeting.
Florea Lupu, Ph.D., received the Edward L. & Thelma Gaylord Prize for Scientific Excellence, OMRF’s highest scientific award. Lupu joined OMRF in 2001 and holds the H. Allen and Mary K. Chapman Chair in Medical Research, which focuses on the study of cardiovascular and circulatory diseases and disorders. His lab aims to find a new treatment for sepsis, which kills about 270,000 people per year in the U.S. — more than lung cancer, breast cancer and drug overdoses combined.

The Merrick Award for Outstanding Medical Research was given to Benjamin Miller, Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in aging research. Miller, a physiologist, seeks to prevent the onset of chronic diseases by slowing the biological process of aging. His current work focuses on whether metformin, the world’s most prescribed diabetes drug, is effective at slowing aging.
Gaurav Varshney, Ph.D., received the J. Donald & Patricia H. Capra Award for Scientific Achievement. Varshney uses revolutionary gene-editing technology to understand human hearing loss, a condition that affects 1 in 6 American adults. Last year, he received NIH funding to study 21 genes believed to be involved in developmental disorders such as hearing loss, autism and schizophrenia.
The Fred Jones Award for Scientific Achievement was presented to Wan Hee Yoon, Ph.D. Yoon uses fruit flies to investigate how disruptions or failures in mitochondria — the driver for energy and metabolism in cells — can lead to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Last year his research uncovered a rare genetic mutation deemed responsible for neurological disorders in nine children in Europe and the Middle East.
Also at the meeting, Darise Farris, Ph.D., was named the Alvin Chang Chair in Biomedical Research. Farris’ lab studies conditions that range from Sjögren’s disease to bacterial infections such as anthrax. Her focus is the body’s abnormal immune responses in these conditions and how countering those reactions can result in better health outcomes.
“Dr. Farris is internationally recognized for her innovative research on immune responses in health and disease,” said Rod McEver, M.D., OMRF’s vice president of research, who held the Alvin Chang Chair from 2009 to 2020. “She is a highly valued colleague at OMRF and other institutions, and most importantly, she is a dedicated mentor to younger scientists.”

Governor Kevin Stitt nominates current interim commissioner of health for commissioner position

Thursday Governor Kevin Stitt nominated Keith Reed the Commissioner of Health for the state of Oklahoma. Reed has been with the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) for 20 years, serving in various positions throughout the agency.
Reed has been serving as OSDH’s interim Commissioner of Health since October 22, 2021.
“I am honored to be nominated by Governor Stitt for consideration as Oklahoma’s next Commissioner of Health,” said Keith Reed, current interim commissioner of health. “I am proud to work alongside professionals that are truly dedicated to improving the lives of their neighbors. I look forward to the potential to serve in this capacity and continuing the transformation of OSDH, as it strengthens internally to ultimately be more responsive and a better partner for Oklahomans.”
Reed was born and raised in Monroe, Oklahoma located in Le Flore County.
“I often draw on my upbringing in a smaller Oklahoma community when thinking about the needs of Oklahomans that OSDH has the responsibility for meeting,” said Reed.
Reed has his Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Oklahoma’s Northeastern State University and possesses a Master of Public Health Degree (MPH) from the University of Oklahoma. Further, he is Certified in Public Health through the National Board of Public Health Examiners.
In addition to his public health career, Reed is a Colonel in the Oklahoma Air National Guard, serving multiple tours in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. He is currently assigned as Commander, 137th Special Operations Medical Group, Will Rogers Air National Guard Base, Oklahoma City.
“Keith Reed has done an exceptional job as interim commissioner of health and will continue to serve Oklahomans well in this permanent capacity,” said Gov. Stitt. “Keith has a proven track record of success, and he is the right person to lead the Oklahoma State Department of Health into the future.”
Before Reed is officially named as the Commissioner of Health, the senate must confirm his appointment.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) protects and improves public health through its system of local health services and strategies focused on preventing disease. OSDH provides technical support and guidance to 68 county health departments in Oklahoma, as well as guidance and consultation to the two independent city-county health departments in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Learn more at Oklahoma.gov/health.

In case you missed it, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) released a report last week highlighting the growing number of nursing home closures. More than 1,000 nursing homes have closed since 2015, displacing as many as 45,000 vulnerable residents. As nursing homes and assisted living communities struggle with the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of sustainable government funding, AHCA/NCAL projects that hundreds of add
* Since 2015, facility closures have included 776 before the pandemic and 327 during the pandemic.
* Over 400 nursing homes may close before the end of this year.
* During the pandemic, nearly half of nursing home closures (46 percent) were facilities with the highest ratings by the federal government.
In response to the findings from the report, Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL, said:
“Every closure is like a family being broken apart, with the lives of residents, staff and their families impacted in the process. With hundreds of nursing home closures looming now and thousands more anticipated if government funding is cut, state and federal policymakers need to step up to support our social safety net. We need to do better than just keep nursing home doors open—we need to make significant investments to better support our frontline caregivers and transform facilities for a growing elderly population.”
In many cases, facilities are faced with the difficult choice of limiting admissions or closing their doors for good as a result of financial challenges and a historic workforce shortage. Earlier this month, the Eliza Bryant nursing home in Ohio announced its impending closure because of financial and staffing troubles, and the Kensington, a nursing home in Nebraska made a similar announcement a week later.
Nursing home closures mean reduced access to care for vulnerable seniors who need around-the-clock care. Policymakers must act by allocating the resources necessary to address this urgent crisis and support long term care for the future.

By Nick Thomas

Actors Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth were married in 1974. Or was it 1976? Actually, it was both! The pair tied the knot when their “Days of Our Lives” characters (Doug and Julie) married two years after the couple wed in real life.
Some 50 years and a collective 5,000 episodes later, the Emmy Award-winning stars of the perennial NBC daytime soap opera are still together both on-screen and off. They recently produced a website, Secrets of Soap Opera Lovers, explaining how the two have lived, loved, and worked together for five decades (see www.soapoperasecrets.com).
“Our grandson, David Samuel, came up with the idea,” explained Bill from the couple’s home in Los Angeles. “He had been divorced and wanted to know the secrets for our long and happy marriage.”
“So we wrote them down for him and he suggested we share them with others on the Internet,” added Susan.
Their secrets, a collection of personal tips for building a successful long-term relationship, include singing and dancing together, saying I love you every day, keeping promises, and supporting your partner’s dreams. Another involves kissing, an activity their TV characters frequently embrace. The couple’s first kiss – on-screen and in real life – was in a premarital episode airing on July 23, 1970.
“That’s our number one secret,” noted Bill. “Give your lover a kiss first thing in the morning and the last thing at night.”
“We have love scenes on the screen, so naturally we have to rehearse them at home,” added Susan as Bill laughed in the background. “We need to practice a lot – we have to perfect them!”
On the website, Bill and Susan explain their secrets in a series of short videos filmed in the couple’s living room, each reinforced by an illustrative clip of their characters from the show.
“We chose scenes from ‘Days of Our Lives’ that demonstrate the point we make in each video,” said Susan.
Bill, who is 96, and Susan, 78, expect their characters to continue displaying on-screen affection through 2022 and beyond.
“The show is produced five days a week and they used to shoot day-for-day, but now they shoot eight episodes in five days,” explained Susan. “Bill and I have been working about four to seven times a month which is plenty right now.”
In addition to their daytime soap duties, both Bill and Susan have each appeared (separately) in a dozen feature films, as well as numerous TV movies, series, and theatrical productions throughout their careers. Bill even enjoyed a smash hit in the 50s singing “The Ballard of Davy Crockett,” outselling versions by Fess Parker and Tennessee Ernie Ford.
“We recorded it on the first take in one day,” recalled Bill. “I still get a royalty check each year for about $3,000. So someone must still be buying it!”
Long-time fans of “Days of Our Lives” are still buying the love that Bill and Susan’s characters share on-screen.
“It’s not Shakespeare, but the writers continue to make Doug and Julie fresh as the times change and as we age,” said Susan. “We haven’t even thought about stopping. Old actors don’t retire, they just lose their agents!” This iconic daytime TV couple, however, can expect to retain their management for quite some time.
“It’s been hard work for many years, but we still love it,” she adds. “We’re proud to be producing a quality product as the matriarch and patriarch of the show.”
Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, in Alabama, and has written features, columns, and interviews for numerous magazines and newspapers. See www.tinseltowntalks.com.

After a major fall, metro senior credits physical therapy with helping her regain independence

Equine lovers can’t imagine life without horses. Carol Peake or Piedmont is one of them, but a fall in the stables meant she had to pull back the reins on riding and she worried she might never ride again.
Peak has ridden horses since childhood. After another of countless rides, she was putting her riding gear away when it happened. A saddle strap wasn’t properly secured, leaving the loop in line with her foot.
“When I turned around to walk off that loop was around my ankle,” Peake recalled. “It yanked my foot out from under me and I crashed to the ground right here on the concrete.”
Her husband was nearby and heard her holler. He rushed to her side and called for help. Peake was rushed to the hospital where they found she had broken the ball off her hip and fractured her femur. She required surgery to repair the damage. Weeks later, she was back home, in pain and barely able to bend at the hit. She wondered how she would be able to ride again. That was when Peake started working with Dr. Alex Maxwell, a physical therapist at Valir Physical Therapy in Piedmont.
“She came in, day one, and knew, ‘I want to get this pain under control,’ and then, right after that, ‘I want to get on a horse as soon as I possibly can,’” Maxwell said.
“Mostly I wanted my life back,” Peake explained, but she knew she had a long way to go.
“She was very unsteady, and she was pretty nervy about standing on one leg, which you have to be on one leg to get into a stirrup and swing your leg over the horse,” Maxwell said.
Peake was upfront with Dr. Maxwell, telling him on her first day about her determination to get back in the saddle.
Knowing her goals, Maxwell tailored her therapy in ways that would help her reach that goal of returning to riding. They focused on exercises that would target specific muscles, strengthening her body in ways that would help her someday get back on a horse again.
“We find those things they want to do, and we make sure we are addressing them through our modalities and treatments,” Maxwell said.
Peake was determined to get better. She pushed through day after day. With Maxwell’s help and encouragement, she began to see improvement — her pain became more manageable, and her strength increased. Nine months later, she reached her goal, climbing back in the saddle for the first time since her injury.
“It was exhilarating,” she said of that moment.
Peake continues to ride regularly. She does need a little help getting into the saddle, though she’s getting closer to doing it on her own. Meantime, she continues to work on strength and range of motion in her hip with the help of the team at Valir PT. She knows without them riding could easily have become a thing of the past.
“Being able to talk about something for weeks and weeks and train for it in here and then actually get to see her go and do it, it was an opportunity that I really appreciated her giving me,” Maxwell said.
Interestingly, Peake says the help she got through physical therapy brought other positives, helping her to enjoy time once again in her garden.

OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, located on the OU Health Sciences Center campus in Oklahoma City, recently marked more than a decade of delivering the most advanced, research-driven, comprehensive care for patients facing the challenges of a cancer diagnosis. Dedicated on June 30, 2011, Stephenson Cancer Center opened to patient care three weeks later.
A $12-million gift made in 2010 by Tulsa residents Charles and Peggy Stephenson, longtime supporters of the University of Oklahoma, capped a $50-million private fundraising campaign. Theirs was the largest single donation to the Health Sciences Center at the time. In 2019, the Stephenson Family Foundation presented a transformative $20 million gift to expand the center’s research mission. Extending the impact of the Stephenson’s generosity, the cancer center committed to raise an additional $20 million, dedicated to the discovery of new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. The philanthropic support of the Stephenson family served to sustain momentum that helped secure the cancer center’s designation as a National Institutes of Health (NCI) Cancer Center in 2018.
NCI designation became a specific goal for Stephenson Cancer Center in 2001, when the Oklahoma State Legislature approved House Bill 1072. Passed with bipartisan support, the bill called upon the university to create a comprehensive cancer center to provide leadership in cancer treatment, research and outreach. Further, the overarching goal was to achieve national recognition as an NCI-designated cancer center. Over the past decade, more than $400 million has been committed to the support and ongoing development of the cancer center, making it the largest public-private biosciences initiative in Oklahoma history.
Stephenson Cancer Center is the only NCI-designated center in Oklahoma. NCI designation belongs to only an elite group of cancer centers representing the top 2% of centers in the United States. Then and now, the cancer center demonstrates an unprecedented commitment to fighting cancer through improved treatment, clinical research, support programs and education.
Robert Mannel, M.D., Stephenson Cancer Center director, emphasized what it means to have such a resource in the state. “Cancer is the greatest challenge of modern-day medicine, possessing an intimidating force to irrevocably alter the lives of patients and their families. Cancer touches all of us, with one of two Oklahoma men and one in three Oklahoma women getting a cancer diagnosis during their lifetime. Stephenson Cancer Center’s vision is to eliminate cancer in Oklahoma and beyond. Its mission is to provide patient-centered, research-driven multidisciplinary cancer care. Such care is available in Oklahoma at Stephenson Cancer Center.”
The presence of this unparalleled resource for the utmost in compassionate patient care makes it possible to offer a broad range of latest-generation therapies and research-driven clinical trials. Further, it allows patients to access world-class care close to home, eliminating the necessity of travel beyond state borders. This invaluable benefit preserves patients’ vital networks of physical, mental and emotional support found in family, friends and spiritual communities.
“We’re keenly focused on research-driven patient care that provides access to tomorrow’s therapies today. It is research that drives us toward a future reality in which the burden of cancer is reduced or eliminated,” said Mannel. “Here, we have harnessed the resources that will one day help to defeat this adversary, which has taken such a toll on families across the globe. Stephenson Cancer Center is an inspiring model of what we can accomplish as Oklahomans united for such a compelling cause.”
Mannel explained that the cancer center’s mission-critical components include recruitment of NCI-funded researchers and the education and superior training of oncology health professionals. “These strategies are part of the battle plan to defeat cancer.”