Story by James Coburn, Feature Writer

Every day there is someone who has it in their heart to care for people helping clients of Excell Private Care Services, said Crystal Warner, CEO.
Excell Private Care Services is a home care agency providing private duty, Veterans Administration Services, a Medicaid Advantage program, and case management for the state. Certified nurse aides can provide 24-hour in-home care with bathing, cooking, cleaning, companion care, emptying a foley bag, meal prep, medication reminders, and shopping.
“We have RNs on staff. So, they would come in and do an assessment, and then we would find an aide that would work well with the family,” Warner said. “We don’t require a referral from a doctor. It’s just anybody who would need in-home care.”
Excell Private Care Services partners with home health and hospice services to help with skilled needs for an hour or two.
“Then they’re gone. They’re there to see them for that skilled need for a certain amount of time. Because our aides can be there for however long the family wants us there, having an aide there — they are less likely to return to the emergency room. They have someone to call. We have nurses on call 24 hours a day,” Warner said.
The CNAs may stay with the patient for up to 24 hours. Private care aides only clean the house but can be prepared by a CNA to go to CNA school to earn their CAN license. There are also educational opportunities for LPNs to advance within the company.
Compassion is an indispensable element for the staff. Screening includes several different background checks to make sure the aide can provide a safe environment and has not committed a crime, Warner said.
“We go through CPR training, lifesaver courses,” she added.
Family members can rest assured their loved on has a CNA or caregiver in the home with them if an emergency happens.
Sometimes a client does not need to go to an emergency room. It may be that they are scared during a storm or feel lonely. They may need to have somebody to ask questions to.
Having another set of eyes also helps hospitals that depend on Medicare to avoid unnecessary emergency room visits.
“We will also partner with communities and sit with the patient and do companion care,” Warner continued.
Many health care providers were short on staff during the COVID pandemic. Family members knowing their loved one was at risk of a fall were thankful to have a CNA sit with their aging parent.
A lot of long-term health policies will pay for Excell Private Care Services, including VA insurance and Medicaid.
“If you have insurance that says it will pay for the service, it will take care of everything,” Warner said.
The feedback that Excell Private Care Services has received has been exceptional. A recent family member wrote how much the family loves the CNA being so compatible and friendly.
“We love the conversation that we’ve had. ‘She’s helped us a lot with the house,’” Warner paraphrased a family member. “It’s always nice for us to hear that because until we call around to do our checks and ask if they like the aide, we may not hear. So, it’s nice when someone reaches out and lets us know.”
Patients and family members understand they can call Excell Private Care Services whenever they need a resource as simple as providing a wheelchair.
They can call Warner seven days a week at any hour of the day or night, she said. Warner has gone to be with families until an ambulance has arrived at a client’s home.
The company provides services throughout the Oklahoma City metro and also has an office in Tulsa. The staff also travels to Duncan and Lawton. There are not too many counties that Excell Private Care Services does not reach, except in the panhandle and the far southeast corner of the state.
“We’re going to be opening a new satellite in Chickasha,” Warner said.
The need for services is growing in demand as the population of older Americans continues to grow.
Many elders have no clue that they would be able to receive such a service.
“We’ll help them go through the process even if they don’t choose our company and they choose someone else,” she said. “We’ll help them get signed up so they will have somebody come to their house under the Medicaid program.”
Being able to bridge a gap by providing community services is personally enriching for Warner.
“It’s being able to help the people that need the help, and also help the families get through a tough time,” Warner said. “Allowing a mom to still live in her home independently, allowing a daughter to be a daughter and not a caregiver, or a son being able to be a son and not a caregiver — it’s being able to help those families.” For more information visit: www.excellcares.com

Kristi Cormack was at a Galentine’s event in February 2020 with a group of friends when she said it hit her; she was too exhausted to stay. The 30-year-old went home and slept for three days. She had no history of health issues and didn’t know she’d soon be diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
“I couldn’t go to work on Monday and the only excuse I had was that I was tired,” Cormack said. “It was a kind of tired I’d never experienced before.”
She called her primary care physician and, at first, they thought it was a virus. Kristi had a gut feeling it was more serious and requested blood work. The test revealed her instinct was right. After a CT scan and biopsy, Kristi’s medical team at Mercy had a better picture of what was wrong.
“I’ll never forget that call at 4:45 p.m. March 26, 2020,” Cormack said. “They called to tell me that it was cancer. Nothing can ever prepare you for that phone call.”
She immediately grabbed a notepad and started writing down any words she could comprehend. It was an aggressive form of spindle cell sarcoma. A six-pound tumor was growing from her pancreas.
“You hear all these words and you don’t have a clue about the weight of them,” Cormack said. “You don’t know what walking through treatment and chemotherapy means.”
Because less than 40 people in the United States have been diagnosed with this type of sarcoma, the oncology team at Mercy collaborated with their peers across the country. They sent Cormack’s scans to MD Anderson Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School for review.
“Kristi is a special case,” said Dr. Christian Ellis, surgical oncologist at Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City. “She had a bad situation. The location of her tumor and the fact that she is so young are very rare.”
It was a lot to process, but the timing created an additional challenge. All of this was happening when the world was first learning of COVID-19 and everything began to shut down.
“I went in for my biopsy the day the Oklahoma City Thunder had the first COVID case, and the NBA shut down,” Cormack said. “I remember waking up that evening and thinking, ‘What world did I wake up in?’”
Her initial consultation about removing the tumor happened in early April via video conference. That’s when she met Dr. Christian Ellis. He was the first person to explain the gravity of the surgery and that it could mean life or death.
“I remember sitting with my mom at home, seeing the CT scans on the video and Dr. Ellis walking me through the scans, talking me through surgery, the impact on each organ – the colon, small intestine, my spleen, stomach and pancreas – and what that would mean for me post-operation,” she said.
She was overwhelmed and told him she couldn’t make her decision without meeting in person. He told her to come down to the office right away.
At an in-person meeting, Dr. Ellis encouraged her to seek a second opinion. He was confident he could do the surgery, but Cormack said he wanted her to feel confident in him and the plan of action.
“He said if it’s crossed your mind at all, I want you to get a second opinion,” Cormack said. “He told me you deserve to explore all of your options and feel confident before you step into something this big.”
Cormack said she was relieved the second opinion confirmed Dr. Ellis’ course of action and helped her remove all the ‘what ifs.’
Family and friends camped out in the parking lot of the hospital while she endured what could have been an eight-hour surgery. A nurse called them hourly with updates and after just four hours, the surgery was complete. Dr. Ellis removed her spleen, two-thirds of her pancreas and all of the tumor. He told her anxious family he was pleased with how well it went.
“I woke up in the ICU and just screamed, ‘I’m alive, I made it, I’m alive,’” Cormack said.
After she recovered from surgery, Cormack began six rounds of an aggressive form of chemotherapy that required a five-day inpatient stay at Mercy every 21 days. She was relieved she could have one visitor during her treatments.
On Oct. 29, Kristi finished her last round of chemo. The fourth floor nurses cheered and sang to her as she left the unit when she was ready for discharge. Her mom drove her around to the back of the hospital to the Coletta Building, where Mercy’s outpatient oncology services are housed. She pulled up to the building to shouts of “ring that bell.”
She rang the bell outside of the Coletta Building, surrounded by family and friends, to signify the end of her cancer treatment. They celebrated the end of a long, hard journey.
“Kristi had all the ups and downs of a young person who was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, but our multidisciplinary team at Mercy walked her through the entire process,” Dr. Ellis said. “She did very well, and she is cancer free today.”

Creighton Gilbert (1924-2011), a scholar and connoisseur of Italian Renaissance art donated his extensive collection to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in 2011. Opening Thursday, June 24, A Life in Looking: The Creighton Gilbert Collection explores the thematic elements that make up this exceptional collection.
This exhibition is also important for the university, as two art history professors from the OU School of Visual Arts, Allison Palmer and Erin Duncan-O’Neill, served as curators. “This exhibition showcases some of the most exquisite pieces from an important gift to the museum, artworks that were carefully collected over Dr. Gilbert’s long and storied art historical career,” said O’Neill. “It was an exciting project, leading us to new discoveries from X-radiographs in conservation reports and treasures unboxed from storage.”
The show is organized into five themes: religion, architecture, allegory, portraiture and humor. Gilbert took particular delight in discovering works by major artists, such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Albrecht Durer, to name a few, hidden away in print shops. In 2005, then museum director Eric Lee, a former student of Gilbert’s, encouraged his mentor to leave his private collection to the museum. The bequest, totaling 272 objects, spans the 14th to 20th centuries with an emphasis on Old Master prints and drawings from the Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo periods. “While Dr. Gilbert
was a specialist in the Italian Renaissance, his collection encompasses a wide range of European artworks from the 1400s-1900s, and he seemed to delight in researching issues of attribution and dating,” said Palmer
An academic prodigy, Gilbert entered college at age 14, became a professor at 21 and eventually completed a doctorate from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts in 1955. He was also one of the foremost authorities on Michelangelo. He authored numerous books and articles on Caravaggio, realism in Renaissance art and the Northern Baroque, as well as two seminal works: Michelangelo: On and Off the Sistine Ceiling (1994) and Caravaggio and His Two Cardinals (1995).
“Gilbert curated many exhibitions at museums and universities, developing a breadth of interests on clear display in his collection,” said O’Neill. “From illuminated parchment to sketches made on a cabaret table, we see discoveries made by a passionate and well-trained eye in a range of subjects and time periods.”
A Life in Looking: The Creighton Gilbert Collection is on display June 24 through Dec. 31.
The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is located in the OU Arts District on the corner of Elm Avenue and Boyd Street, at 555 Elm Ave., on the OU Norman campus. Admission to the museum is complimentary to all visitors. Information and accessibility accommodations are available by calling (405) 325-4938 or visiting www.ou.edu/fjjma.

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

The 4th of July lets me think of the many Washington D.C. memorials, but D.C. has so much more to offer, and that’s the problem.
Over the years I have discovered that some cities are just too large, diverse, and ever changing, to be experienced fully in just one visit. I find this true about our Nation’s Capitol, Washington D.C. That’s why I find it to be an “installment” city: one that needs to be visited over and over again, over a number of years (or decades in my experience.)
Creating a reasonable itinerary for D.C., and knowing your physical capabilities is the key. In my youth I walked and walked and walked to near exhaustion, to see some of the monuments, memorials and museums. For this brief two day trip I took it easy, knowing that in most likelihood that all would be there for another visit on down the line.
I used inexpensive taxis to go most places. I could not believe how accessible they were.
My home base was in the Beacon Hotel and Corporate Quarters, up the hill from the White House by several blocks. It was a comfortable hotel, with a doorman for taxis, offering spacious rooms, kitchenette and full size bath. While I would not try to visit their unfriendly dining establishment again, I would consider the hotel for my next installment. They do offer a rooftop bar on some nights. Go early before the music starts.
Months in advance I contacted both my Congressional representatives to see about getting a White House tour. After a prolonged attempt it did happen, and I was put on a list with a group of strangers, to this day I have not met. I showed up a little earlier than my appointed time, and went through 2 check lists before going through security. I was told on the website, no cameras, although cell phones with cameras were allowed (go figure that logic), no pencils, no pens, no back packs, no water, no nothing, or it would be taken away. Strange again, but the price you pay. The self guided tour, following a pre determined path, was reminiscent of a tour decades ago. In reflection it is fun to see the rooms and hallways on TV and know their juxtaposition to each other and such, because you were there. I’m ashamed to say, I did not get a feeling of awe, but seeing the portraits of JFK and Jacqueline was heart warming. A tour of the Capitol Building is much easier to get and very informative.
I can also recommend visiting the National Gallery, The Spy Museum and its adjacent restaurant, Zola. All three are worth a lengthy visit. Dining at Zola is definitely on my list for my next installment visit to D.C.
Other fun food and beverages were enjoyed at the iconic Old Ebbitt Grill, the Round Robin Bar at the Willard Intercontinental, and the roof top bar and dining atop the W Hotel, where extra ordinary sights can be had of the White House, Washington’s Monument, Jefferson Memorial and the Lee Mansion in Arlington The W can be a bit snooty, as they reserve several roof top bar tables for VIP’s, which are seldom used early in the evening. So as you wait for the elevator behind the velvet rope, just profess to the doorman you want to stand at the bar. It’s worth the effort.
I longed to see the National Cathedral and took a taxi there and back. Getting back was the challenge. I saw the edifice and took a Gargoyle tour, which I can not recommend.
One is shown slides of the exterior, and then taken out front on the grounds to try and see again, what you saw in slide format. My souvenir book of Gargoyles sold in the basement gift shop was worth its money; the tour was not. A quick trip to the architecturally pleasing National Museum of the American Indian was accomplished, along with a light lunch, and my two days were completed.
One of the best compliments of any travel adventure or meal is answering “Yes” to the question, “Would you have it again?” And “Yes,” Washington D.C. is already on my list for future city installments. As always these days double check web sites and times of admission etc, for the times you need.
When you go or before check out:
The Spy Museum https://www.spymuseum.org/visit
Beacon Hotel: http://www.capitalhotelswdc.com
The National Cathedral: www.nationalcathedral.org
Washington D.C. info: http://washington.org

Mr. Terry Zinn – Travel Editor
Past President: International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association
3110 N.W. 15 Street – Oklahoma City, OK 73107
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Mary Ann Pawless, like millions of Americans, wonders how Katie Thurston’s journey will end this season on “The Bachelorette.”
The dating show is one of several shows the Lawton woman looks forward to watching each week, but that hobby was at risk because of her struggles with macular degeneration, a common eye disorder among people over age 50 that causes blurred or reduced central vision.
Pawless sought help with her vision issues from the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services’ Older Blind Independent Living Program. The staff teach independent living skills, adaptive aids and alternate techniques. Areas of support include help with reading tasks, time telling, name signing, orientation and mobility for clients in their home and community. Clients are also taught money identification and management, recreation and leisure activities and multiple independent living skills.
Pawless demonstrated how she uses a handheld magnifier with a light to read an adjustable magnifying glasses that enable her to watch her favorite TV shows including the ABC reality series. Each week she follows along as the men wait to see who will not receive the final rose and are sent home.
“For a while there it was, poor me,” Pawless said. “I didn’t have the desire to try to do too much. I just kind of scooted around, but now it’s kind of like a whole new world they’ve opened up for me. I used to get kind of depressed, but that’s very rare now because I stay busy at home and doing the yard.”
DRS also helped in other areas of her life. Pawless has black tabs on her stove and microwave that help her identify numbers and has a pair of elbow length oven mitts to prevent accidentally burning her arm while using the oven. She also listens to audiobooks from the Oklahoma Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, a program associated with Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired that provides audio books and audio equipment.
The Oklahoma Older Blind Independent Program provides one-on-one teaching for Oklahomans ages 55 and older who are struggling with vision loss and blindness. A large percentage of the staff are blind or have low vision and are located in offices throughout the state to help individuals regain their independence in a safe and efficient way at no cost to the client.
Pawless’ rehabilitation teacher Pam Holloway is also blind. Holloway helped Pawless to be creative around her house, such as using a rubber band to identify her shampoo and conditioner. Pawless’ orientation and mobility specialist Liz Scheffe taught her how to navigate outside and use her white cane. With her newfound independence, Pawless is now able to live life to the fullest again and has recovered from the depression that came with losing most of her vision.
Pawless, her husband and dog, Biscuit, live in a cabin with a beautiful garden across from Mount Scott. Her hobbies include listening to audiobooks, cooking and working in her garden. She enjoys spending time with her grandson and neighbors.
“The Older Blind program means that our staff can give something to older blind individuals that they might not get anywhere else, and that is their independence to perform tasks for themselves,” Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired Field Services Coordinator Teresa McDermott said. “There is nothing more joyous than to hear a client say they never thought they would be able to read a piece of mail or a medicine label again, or cook a meal on the stove, but they can now, as a result of services from our staff.”
For more information about DRS services, call 800-845-8476 during business hours to be transferred to the nearest office or visit:
https://oklahoma.gov/okdrs/independence/blind/older-blind.html.
The Older Blind Independent Living Program is part of the Service for the Blind and Visually impaired division of DRS, a state agency that assists Oklahomans with disabilities through vocational rehabilitation, education, employment, independent living programs and the determination of medical eligibility for disability benefits. Last year, DRS served more than 76,000 Oklahomans.

The Cowboy Museum is celebrating the diversity of the American West with two upcoming exhibitions spotlighting Mexican and northward migration. “Viva Mexico!”, on exhibit July 9 – October 17 and Find Your North, on exhibit August 20 – October 17, use images, artifacts, maps and stories to share the influence the people “south of the border” had on cowboy and Western culture.
“The American West was and continues to be built on diversity of thought and experience,” said Natalie Shirley, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum President and CEO. “It was an embodiment of a shared hope and future, even for those for whom the west was actually north.”
This year marks the bicentennial of Mexican Independence from Spain in 1821, an event that played a significant role in the history of Central America to Western Canada. After Mexico gained independence, the nation retained its cultural mexcla of Spanish, criollo, African, mestizo and native Mexican traditions, eventually bringing them to the North and creating the American Cowboy. Both exhibitions will be open during National Hispanic Heritage Month celebrated annually September 15 – October 15.
“Viva Mexico!” highlights how hombres a caballo (horsemen) affected key historical events like Mexican Independence, the Texas Revolution, Mexican War and the Mexican Revolution through artifacts, art objects, and photographs. The exhibition showcases how Mexican culture, faith, food, popular culture, and trade contributed to and continues to shape the Americas we know today.
Find Your North shows how a change in perspective can highlight different histories. The exhibition will focus on Hispanic experiences and influence on the borderlands. Diverse archival materials and collections preserved in the Museum’s Dickinson Research Center will be highlighted.
For more information on “Viva Mexico!” and Find Your North, visit nationalcowboymuseum.org/all-exhibitions.

* Focus, Rehabilitation and Tribal Facilities numbers are not assigned to a specific region as their patient populations reside across the state. Information provided through survey of Oklahoma hospitals as reported to HHS as of the time of this report. Response rate affects data. Facilities may update previously reported information as necessary. Data Source: Acute Disease Service, Oklahoma State Department of Health. *As of 2021-06-24 at 7:00 a.m

A Covid-19 variant that appears more contagious than the earliest strain of the virus is increasingly circulating in the U.S. But is the mutation something to fear?
Only if you’re unvaccinated, say experts at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
“Viruses mutate to survive,” said OMRF immunologist Eliza Chakravarty, M.D. “Becoming more transmissible is helpful from an evolutionary perspective. But with vaccines, we can mount a defense we didn’t have last year.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the delta variant, first identified in India, as a “variant of concern.” The CDC gave the mutation that now accounts for more than 20% of new infections in the U.S. the designation based on growing evidence that the variant spreads more easily and causes more severe cases of Covid-19 when compared to other variants.
The variant’s prevalence has more than doubled in recent weeks. What started as a seemingly small percentage of cases doesn’t mean small danger for a virus that has claimed more than 600,000 lives in the U.S., said OMRF physician-scientist Hal Scofield, M.D.
“The delta variant appears prime to become the dominant coronavirus strain in the U.S., as it is now in the United Kingdom and India,” said Scofield, noting that the variant is striking teens and young adults with increasing speed. “For communities with low levels of vaccination in Oklahoma, this could mean serious trouble come fall.”
There is good news for the fully vaccinated, Scofield said. In a study published in May, researchers in the U.K. found that a two-dose regimen of the Pfizer vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 from the delta variant. CDC officials anticipate similar results for Moderna’s vaccine. And the effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose shot appears only slightly lowered — 60%, vs. the 66% seen in clinical trials — against the variant.
Despite this, in the same U.K. study, scientists found that one dose of the Pfizer vaccine is just 33% effective against the virus.
“It’s a reminder of how critical full vaccination is,” said Chakravarty. “If you are unvaccinated and waiting to see whether there will be a spike in cases before getting your shot, or if you’ve delayed in getting your second dose, the time to act is now.”
Although infections of Covid-19 are rare in fully vaccinated people, Scofield said that testing should remain top of mind to track the progression of the delta variant in the state.
“If you’re vaccinated, we’re on the cusp of returning to regular life,” said Scofield. “But if you’re sick with symptoms such as coughing, fever and difficulty breathing, you still need a Covid test.”

Dear Savvy Senior, I spend a lot of time online and love the convenience of paying bills, shopping, and keeping up with my grandkids on Facebook and Instagram. But last month my computer was infected with malware, and I just found out some cybercriminal opened up a credit card using my identity and went on a shopping spree. Do you have some simple tips to help me stay safe while online? Violated in OKC

Dear Violated,
Unfortunately, cybercrimes against seniors has become a huge problem in the U.S. According to FBI data, last year alone more than 1.8 billion was stolen from unsuspecting older Americans during the pandemic.
While anyone can be subject to cybercrimes, seniors are frequent targets because they tend to be more trusting and have more money than their younger counterparts. But there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from online fraud, hacking and scams. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Strengthen your passwords: A strong password should contain at least seven characters and include numbers and a special character, like an exclamation point or asterisk. Be sure to change up your password across different sites to ensure a hacker would not gain access to all accounts through one password. And keep a written list of all your passwords stored in a safe secure place.
On your smartphone or tablet, be sure to set up a four or six-digit PIN to protect your device.
Opt out of pop-ups: To protect yourself from computer viruses and other forms of malware, make it a habit to avoid any pop-up style message when you’re on the web. Sometimes hackers disguise their malware as pop-up advertisements or “special offers” when you’re shopping or reading online. Clicking on these pop-ups can lead to viruses or data breaches.
If you encounter a suspicious pop-up message, don’t click on anything in the window. Simply leave the site or close out of your web browser.
When in doubt, throw it out: Sometimes online hackers will send you an email or text message and pretend to be someone they’re not in order to convince you to share valuable information with them, such as your Social Security Number, address or credit card information. This is called phishing.
If you receive a message from an unknown sender, do not respond or click on any links or attachments. Instead, either ignore the message or delete it.

Share with care: There is such a thing as oversharing, and it definitely applies to online profiles. On social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, online hackers can easily gather information about you from what you post – like where you live.
Ensure that your privacy settings are up to date so that only people who follow you or are your Facebook friend can see your posts.
Verify websites: Before you shop or access your bank online, double check the validity of the website you’re using. A good rule of thumb is to check the beginning of the web address and look for an ‘s’ at the end of https: at the start of the address. The ‘s’ stands for secure, and if you don’t see it in the web address that you’re on, you should not trust that website with your passwords, payment or banking information.
Have some back-up: Practicing safe habits will protect you and your information, but you don’t have to rely on just yourself to stay safe. Anti-virus software works in the background to protect your computer from a variety of malware and helps to make it easier for you to avoid threats while surfing the web.
For more information on how to safeguard your personal technology devices, Cox Communications offers a variety of tips and solutions at Cox.com – search “security.”

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.

U.S. News & World Report has cited four degree programs offered by the University of Oklahoma College of Allied Health as among the best educational programs nationally. The rankings recognize top schools for training at the master and/or doctorate levels. Each school’s score reflects average rating based on a survey of academics at peer institutions.
OU College of Allied Health programs ranked by the national publication are: Audiology: Ranked 36th in the nation. Audiologists are experts in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of hearing and balance. Professionals with the Doctor of Audiology degree work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, clinics, academic institutions and private practices. Physical Therapy: Ranked 42nd. Physical therapy is a rehabilitation field focused on improving quality of life through prescribed exercise, hands-on care, and patient education. Physical therapists are movement experts who examine, evaluate, and treat injuries, disabilities, or other health conditions, including nerve and muscle function, posture, balance and pain disorders for individuals of all ages. Occupational Therapy: Ranked 58th. Occupational therapy is a rehabilitation field that maximizes performance in everyday activities such as self-care, home management, work, school and leisure for people across the lifespan. Occupational therapists evaluate and treat motor, visual, cognitive and psychological deficits, and innovatively modify tasks and environments that support participation in life activities. Speech-Language Pathology: Ranked 63rd in the nation. Training in speech-language pathology prepares professionals to assist adults and children with disorders of speech, language and swallowing. This high-demand and fast-growing profession includes professionals in a wide range of work settings, including clinics, hospitals and school systems.
Jane Wilson, Ph.D., dean of the OU College of Allied Health, said “The acknowledgement by an external entity of the outstanding quality of our programs and the faculty and staff who support those programs is gratifying. We are confident that our college community will be able to continue the excellent work and learning that places us in the top tier of programs nationally.”