Art Gone Wild provides unique opportunity to view, purchase original animal art in support of wildlife conservation

Art Gone Wild, the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden’s exclusive animal art show, is making a creative comeback! After taking a break in 2018, the OKC Zoo is excited to announce the return of Art Gone Wild, Oklahoma City’s wildest art show, to the Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 West Reno, Oklahoma City. The exhibition runs Thursday, August 22 through Monday, September 16, 2019, in the Crystal Bridge, south lobby. Lobby hours, during which attendees can view and purchase pieces, are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Zoo’s newest collection of wildlife art features over 200 original paintings that highlight the artistic talents of various Zoo animals including Asian elephants, California sea lions, giraffe, Sumatran and Amur tigers, Western lowland gorillas and more. Creating art is stimulating for the animals who are guided by their caretakers who are on-hand to assist in the painting process. Each animal expresses their creative abilities in their own way. Some animals use specially adapted tools such as paintbrushes while others paint with their trunks, flippers, noses and paws!
All of the art created by Zoo animals is made with safe, non-toxic paint. Painting sessions are done voluntarily by the animals as part of the Zoo’s enrichment program. Enrichment activities are designed by the Zoo’s animal experts to continually improve and enhance the lives of the animals in their care.
Art Gone Wild fans can view and purchase these original paintings ranging in price from $35 to $300 depending upon the canvas size. All net proceeds benefit the Zoo’s conservation initiatives. Art Gone Wild is open to the public and free to attend. To learn more about Art Gone Wild, call Zoo Guest Relations at (405) 425-0262 or click here.
Visit Art Gone Wild for an awe-inspiring look at art by animals for animals! Located at the crossroads of I-44 and I-35, the Zoo is a proud member of Oklahoma City’s Adventure District and an Adventure Road partner. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Buildings close at 4:45 p.m. daily. Guests must exit grounds at closing time. Regular admission is $11 for adults, and $8 for children ages 3-11 and seniors ages 65 and over. Children two and under are admitted free. Stay connected to the Zoo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTubeand visit Our Stories. To learn more, call (405) 424-3344 or visit www.okczoo.org.

Agency Adds to Compassionate Allowances List
Andrew Saul, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced four new Compassionate Allowances conditions: CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder, Pitt Hopkins Syndrome, Primary Peritoneal Cancer, and Richter Syndrome. Compassionate Allowances is a program to quickly identify severe diseases and medical conditions that meet Social Security’s standards for disability benefits.
“Social Security’s highest priority is to serve the public and we are committed to ensuring Americans with disabilities receive the benefits they are eligible for,” said Commissioner Saul. “For over a decade, our Compassionate Allowances program has helped us accelerate the disability process for people who are likely to get approved for benefits due to the severity of their condition.”
The Compassionate Allowances program identifies claims where the applicant’s condition or disease clearly meets Social Security’s statutory standard for disability. Due to the severe nature of many of these conditions, these claims are often allowed based on medical confirmation of the diagnosis alone. The list has grown to a total of 237 conditions, including certain cancers, adult brain disorders, and a number of rare disorders that affect children. To date, more than 600,000 people with severe disabilities have been approved through this fast-track policy-compliant disability process.
The agency incorporates leading technology to identify potential Compassionate Allowances and make quick decisions. When a person applies for disability benefits, Social Security must obtain medical records in order to make an accurate determination. Social Security’s Health IT brings the speed and efficiency of electronic medical records to the disability determination process. With electronic records transmission, Social Security is able to quickly obtain a claimant’s medical information, review it, and make a determination faster than ever before.
For more information about the program, including a list of all Compassionate Allowances conditions, please visit:
www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances.
To learn more about Social Security’s Health IT program, please visit:
www.socialsecurity.gov/hit.
People may apply online for disability benefits by visiting www.socialsecurity.gov.
To create a my Social Security account, please visit:
www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount.

Last spring was a discouraging time for Billy Mickle. He was diagnosed with liver cancer and his course of treatment seemed unsure.
Then he was referred to Nelson Royall, M.D., a Tulsa-based OU Physicians surgeon who was the first to bring major robotic liver surgery to Oklahoma. Royall used the robot to perform minimally invasive surgery on Mickle, removing the left lobe of his liver, in which the cancer was confined, and sent him home only three days later.
For Mickle, who lives in Sand Springs, Royall’s expertise was a godsend. The cancer had not spread, his small incisions healed quickly, and he’s back to his daily life.
“Dr. Royall and his staff are just amazing,” Mickle said. “I give him the highest praise.”
Royall brings a unique service to Oklahoma. He is one of only a handful of robotic liver and pancreas surgeons in the United States and is the first in Oklahoma to use the robot to perform surgery for liver and pancreatic cancer. He is fellowship-trained in surgery of the liver, bile duct and pancreas, bringing years of surgical oncology experience to patients in Oklahoma and around the region.
With robotic liver surgery, patients bleed less, meaning they don’t require blood products or transfusions, Royall said. They face a lower risk for complications, leave the hospital faster, and recover more quickly than those who undergo traditional open surgeries. Incisions are five to eight millimeters, which leads to less pain and scarring. In addition, the robot makes surgery possible for many patients who couldn’t tolerate open surgery or aren’t candidates for laparoscopic surgery because of other issues.
Patients also enjoy a good prognosis after robotic liver surgery because of Royall’s skills in performing more precise and advanced maneuvers than would be possible with laparoscopic surgery.
“The robot allows me to have 360-degree range of motion, which lets me get around difficult areas and structures,” he said. “I can perform more delicate suturing, and I can do complex movements without any difficulty. We also remove lymph nodes from the area to make sure the cancer hasn’t spread, and the robot allows me to remove them safely while protecting sensitive blood vessels and organs in the area.”
The robotic system provides additional tools to enhance the safety of the surgery. Three-dimensional imaging allows Royall to see where structures are in space. The robot also offers what is equivalent to X-ray vision – allowing him to see inside the liver and bile duct system.
“It allows me to quickly find the bile duct and blood vessels feeding the different parts of the liver,” he said. “I can make sure the ones that need to be protected are not injured during the surgery. It also helps to prevent leaks from areas like the bile duct.”
Royall finds it gratifying to provide a safer surgery that results in outcomes at least as good or better than traditional and laparoscopic surgery. His patients are grateful to have the option in Oklahoma.
“I was very blessed to have this surgery,” Mickle said. “I knew I was going to be alright.”

I burst excitedly into our family room, finding my wife and two daughters staring at their phones while some mindless reality show droned in the background. A typical night in the Schwem household.
“Attention, please, everyone,” I said. “In the name of science, I have found our next vacation destination.”
Crickets.
“Ahem, I said I have found our next…”
“We heard you,” my wife said. “And we’re not going.”
“You don’t even know where it is.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “We are not doing anything in the name of science.”
“Yeah, Dad,” my eldest chimed in. “Last year you wanted us to go to St. Louis and catch the flu. On purpose.”
“We would have each made $3,500,” I said, referring to last summer’s study at St. Louis University in which researchers sought out healthy volunteers who would consent to being exposed to the flu virus, followed by 10 days in quarantine.
“Dad, what’s in your hand?” my youngest asked. “Are those bolt cutters?”
“Yes,” I said. “We might need them if we are going to see aliens.”
My girls, huge fans of “Stranger Things” on Netflix, dropped their phones. I finally had their attention. My wife, not so much.
“What do you mean, ‘see aliens?’” my oldest said.
“On September 20, we are going to Groom Lake in Nevada, specifically to storm Area 51,” I said. “The event is on Facebook, and I’ve already responded ‘interested.’ Along with 1.4 million others.”
“Sounds like we’ll have no problem getting a hotel,” my wife said.
I gave my daughters a brief history lesson on Area 51, a highly-classified Air Force facility that, for years, has been the subject of conspiracy theories, most related to the housing and study of UFOs and other extraterrestrial beings that may have landed in this country.
The site returned to the news recently when California resident Matty Roberts created the “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” Facebook page. Roberts admitted the site, and the event itself, is a joke, but that hasn’t stopped 1.8 million people from insisting they are attending, including five of my Facebook friends.
“I’m going because I’m interested in history, and there are a lot of historical files at the base,” said Facebook friend Stephen Haas, 29, a New York City stand-up comedian. Then, he added, facetiously, “I’m not some conspiracy nutjob looking for aliens. I just want to know which Apollo 11 astronaut killed Kennedy.”
I pulled up Google Maps on my phone and began plotting our route. “If we fly, we should probably go to Las Vegas and rent a car,” I said. “Area 51 is about three hours away.”
“Can you just pick me up on the way back?” my wife asked. “I’ll hang out at the Mirage pool, and you can send me texts of the three of you cavorting with your new Martian friends.”
“Are you really going to uses the bolt cutters, Dad?” my oldest asked. “I’m interviewing for jobs now, and I don’t want ‘felony trespassing’ to pop up on my background check.”
I assured her I would only use them as a last resort.
“Or we could just borrow a pair,” my youngest said. “With over a million people in attendance, odds are pretty good that somebody has a spare set.”
“Let’s talk attire,” I said, changing the subject. “We may have to walk about 50 miles before we actually reach the gates, particularly if our flight is late. So sensible shoes are a must. And sunscreen.”
“We need as many portable phone chargers as we can carry,” my youngest said. “Can you imagine finally seeing an alien and not being able to put it on Instagram because your phone is dead? I. Would. Die.”
The three of us continued our checklist, adding and subtracting items at will until we were satisfied we were totally prepared to, as the Facebook page states, “see them aliens.”
“What if we get captured?” my oldest said.
“By aliens or the military?” I replied.
“Either.”
“Say nothing,” I commanded. “At least not without a lawyer present.”
“What if we get taken to a spaceship?”
“We’ll worry about that if it happens.”
“Ask them if their spaceship can fly to St. Louis,” my wife said. “Then you call all make $3,500 and spend 10 days with only each other as company.”
Sounds like a great vacation for next year.
(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.)
(c) 2019 GREG SCHWEM. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

Dear Savvy Senior, What can you tell me about electric bicycles? A friend of mine, who’s almost 70, recently got one and absolutely loves it. He told me he rides more now than he ever did his regular bicycle. Interested Boomer
Dear Interested,
Electric bikes have become very popular among U.S. baby boomers over the past few years because they’re super fun to ride and easier on an aging body.
Electric bikes, also known as e-bikes, are conventional bicycles with a battery-powered “pedal” or “throttle” assist. When you saddle up and push the pedals or throttle, a small motor engages and gives you a boost, so you can whiz up hills, ride into headwinds and cruise over challenging terrain without gassing yourself or taxing your knee joints.
Many older e-bike owners say that they ride more frequently and go further and longer than they ever would with a traditional bike. Here’s what you should know about e-bikes, along with some tips to help you choose one.
What to Know
E-bikes are more complicated and expensive than regular bicycles, so you need to do some research before you purchase one. For starters, you need to know that there are three different types of e-bikes to choose from:
Class 1: “Pedal-assist” electric bikes that only provides assistance when the rider is pedaling, and only up to 20 miles per hour. These are the most common type of electric bikes.
Class 2: “Throttle-assist” e-bikes that let you use the electric motor without pedaling, like a motorcycle or scooter, but only up to 20 miles per hour.
Class 3: “Speed pedal-assist” e-bikes, similar to Class 1, except that the motor will assist with bike speeds of up to 28 miles per hour.
Because they’re electrically powered, states and local communities have varying regulations regarding the use of e-bikes. In many states, class one and two e-bikes are allowed to be ridden wherever a traditional bike goes, while class three are generally allowed on the street due to their higher top speed. For more information on your state’s e-bike laws, visit PeopleForBikes.org/e-bikes.
You should also know that e-bikes come in many different styles – commuter, cruiser, mountain, road, folding, etc. – just like traditional bikes to meet different riding needs. They also run on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and their motors are either hub-driven mounted on the front or rear wheel, or mid-drive motors that are mounted to the frame at the bottom bracket between the cranks.
The only downsides of e-bikes are weight and cost. Because of the battery and motor, e-bikes are much heavier than traditional bicycles weighing 50-plus pounds, so it can be more challenging if you have to manually lift or maneuver your bike a lot. And e-bikes are expensive, typically range between $2,500 and $3,500.
E-bikes are made by many of the same established companies that make traditional bikes like Specialized, Electra, Schwinn, Trek, Giant, Cannondale and Felt, along with a number of upstarts like Juiced Faraday, Pedego, Elby and Hi Bike. To shop for an e-bike, find some good bike shops in your area that sell them so you can test ride a few.
If you’re interested in a cheaper option, there are also e-bike kits you can purchase at places like Walmart, Amazon.com and eBikeKit.com that can convert your regular bike into an e-bike for a few hundred dollars.
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.

Join the Museum for a unique happy hour experience, featuring wines from Boardwalk Distribution and a tasting class from expert Adam Rott. Guests will enjoy new and exciting themed drinks while mingling inside the Museum. Admission is $25 online or $30 at the door. Admission includes live music featuring 2015 The Voice contestant, Chase Kerby, a drink flight, tasting class, featured “Six Shooter Sangria” cocktail and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets may be purchased at https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/event/saloon-series-4/
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 Northeast 63rd Street in Oklahoma City.
Patrons must be 21 years or older to attend.

Story by Susan Slater

How Seniors Can Trust They’ve Found a Reputable Roofer

A lot of companies say they specialize in working with seniors. But Dennis Helm, of Smooth Finish Roofing & Construction, shows it.
Dennis is an industry partner and a member of OKALA (Oklahoma Assisted Living Association). He also has industry partnerships with several important senior organizations: The Oklahoma Senior Journal, Senior GuidePost, and The VillagesOKC. When Dennis says he enjoys working with seniors and wants to help them, he means it!
Dennis has been a senior advocate for as long as he’s been a business owner of Smooth Finish. He came about this from a place of caring for those who may be vulnerable to scammers because of difficulties he faced as a child (see article page ?? – in main section).

How Smooth Finish can help seniors

1) If you are working with a senior who would like to stay in their home, Smooth Finish can install a good-quality roof on their home that will last.
They can also help with other repairs and modifications on the homes of seniors who want to age in place. Besides roofing, Smooth Finish can do ceiling leak repair, guttering, siding, garage doors, fencing, painting, and more.
2) If you have a client who is moving into a senior living center and needs to sell their home, they may likely need a new roof or other repairs. Smooth Finish will do excellent work at a fair price, so your client’s home can pass all the inspections required for a sale.
3) Smooth Finish is not only certified and licensed* to do roofing for residential homes, but for senior living facilities as well.
Owner Dennis Helm—a true senior advocate

With his sincere desire to help seniors, Dennis always works to encourage people to use only local, licensed, and insured roofing contractors with hundreds of verifiable references. There are just too many terrible stories of things going wrong when people don’t.

Warning: roofers may not be who they seem to be!

“I’ve heard it many, many times,” Dennis says, “most people don’t trust roofers. That’s because in this industry there are a lot of fly-by-night roofers. They come in town, start a ‘company,’ get magnets on their car, and in 24-hours they look like a legitimate business. But they’re not.”
Unreliable scammers always rush into town after a storm has hit to solicit people who need roofing services. These unscrupulous “companies” many times will claim to be local, even though they’re not, and may go to great lengths to look like they’re hometown guys.
Dennis tells about having a man from out of town contact him after a bad storm hit the Oklahoma City area. This man wanted to “buy” the Smooth Finish company name, and use Dennis’s address and phone number for six months. He offered a good price, too! He wanted to appear to be a local, established company when soliciting roof jobs.
Dennis warns people to not be fooled. He says, “I wasn’t about to go for that deal, but other companies will.” He continues, “I want people with roofing needs in Oklahoma City to rest at ease. I want them to know that when they use Smooth Finish Roofing & Construction, they’re getting an honest, reputable company. I’m a lifelong resident and have 32 years expertise in this business.”
Ask for licensing numbers and for references, and then check them out! Dennis explains that reputable roofers live and work in the same city where their business is located. “We don’t go out of town, except for previous and existing customers. There is always more than enough work for us right here in the 620 square miles of Oklahoma City.”

Your clients will thank you for a Smooth Finish recommendation

You can feel confident in recommending Smooth Finish Roofing & Construction to the clients you’re helping. For the homeowner, Dennis can work on the rooftop, the floor, and everything in between. He’s licensed General Contractor for the City of Oklahoma City* and has been in business for 32 years.
Since 1987, Dennis has been helping customers with decisions concerning their homes. Many times, he’s found simple solutions for complex problems. He works to keep the costs fair and reasonable, and lives by the Smooth Finish motto: “Where quality craftsmanship meets fair pricing.”
Give Dennis a call on his personal cell phone at (405-923-5127). He’ll be happy to come visit you for a free consultation, inspection, and estimate. And he’ll be glad to give you references so you can check with people who have used his services! Dennis adds, “We are proud of and enjoy our solid reputation. We enjoy serving seniors, military, and single mothers—and we only move forward with a job when you’re comfortable.”
*Oklahoma CIB #0242 and City of Oklahoma City license #13705

A single lung transplant in 2010 allowed Enid native Harold Holden to share a funny quip with a large audience in 2017. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum was inducting Holden into its Hall of Great Westerners.
As the first artist from Oklahoma to be so honored, he said “Seems a little strange to be receiving one of my own sculptures here.”
That quip brought a positive response from the audience. They saw the irony in one of the most revered sculptors of horse and rider in the West to receive as his award his own iconic sculpture. What else would the Hall of Great Westerners give their honorees except a small Holden bronze of a cowboy sitting a horse?
In 2009 the world-renowned sculptor and painter of horses and cowboys was not taking on new work. The U.S. Navy Vietnam veteran’s pulmonary fibrosis lung disease was getting the better of him.
Medical experts at the time said it was not advisable to give a 69-year-old a lung transplant. The staff at the INTEGRIS Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute at the INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, said they were wrong.
Conventional wisdom questioned the aging cowboy’s survivability. Luckily the folks at the Zuhdi Institute saw something different. They saw a viable candidate for a lung transplant. They saw a wonderful support network, headed by a devoted wife Edna Mae, and Holden’s vital philanthropic spirit that was busy supporting many of Oklahoma’s worthy causes.
So, from that live saving surgery in 2010 until now, Holden, known as H to everyone, has proven them right. The Western artist has outlived the idea of survivability to become a model of thrive ability as he went on to create some of his largest works as an artist.
And now, at 80, he opens a new chapter in thriving by sculpting three heroic size bronzes to grace the Oklahoma State University campus. These three larger than life statues will round out his total of 25 monuments around the country and be his largest impact on any one location, his alma mater.
Holden sculpted his first bronze statue for OSU in 2012. Only 18 months after his life-changing transplant, he donated his creation of the “We Will Remember” memorial of a kneeling cowboy with his hat in his hands, staring at a black medallion of OSU’s Spirit Rider surrounded by 10 stars.
He donated his design of the plaza with three walls holding the images of the 10 men who died in an airplane crash on January 27, 2001 in Colorado. The images of the 10 men associated with the OSU basketball team have their families’ tributes etched into the same black Indian granite as a memorial at the crash site.
OSU players Nate Fleming and Daniel Lawson; pilots Denver Mills and Bjorn Fahlstrom; broadcaster Bill Teegins; publicist Will Hancock; radio engineer Kendall Durfey; trainer Brian Luinstra; manager Jared Weiberg; and director of basketball operations Pat Noyes died in the crash. Again, Holden donated the rights to create 50 small replicas of the memorial for the families and donors. Now almost a decade after being given a new lease on life Holden is sculpting OSU royalty.
He is creating a one-and-a-half life size bronze T. Boone Pickens, a one-and-a-quarter life size historically correct Frank Eaton (Pistol Pete’s namesake) and a one-and-a-half life size Barry Sanders. OSU’s athletic director Mike Holder has commissioned the series.
Holden still mentions the seven-person team in conversations about his transplant. “To wake up after surgery with a new lung…and essentially be given a second chance at life is overwhelming” Holden said recently.
His gratitude to God and the medical team is memorialized by a six-foot bronze sculpture he donated in appreciation. His “Thank You, Lord” recasting of a cowboy thanking the heavens just outside the INTEGRIS Baptist emergency room entrance was unveiled in 2012.
He has started the Pickens and Eaton pieces, but his studio size will not allow him to do all three together. He hopes to complete the Pickens statue this year and the Eaton sculpture by Spring of next year. The Holdens live on a small 65-acre ranch outside of Kremlin, Okla. His studio is one of the most prominent buildings on the property. He still owns horses and raises cattle, as ranching and riding was the lifeblood of his art career.
“I became a Western artist because I was raised in the life style, riding horses and being a cowboy.” Holden said recently. “Paint and sculpt what you know and I loved everything about the West and being a cowboy.”