Story by James Coburn, Staff Writer

Debbie Gordon likes helping patients stay away from hospitals by being where they want to be — at home.
“Our goal is to keep our patient in their homes as long as we can, so that they can stay there safely,” said Gordon, a licensed practical nurse at Companion Home Health in Guthrie. “They get to stay in their environment, their comfort zone.”
It was providence that led her to a nursing career, said Gordon, who had never dreamed of being nurse. But it was God’s will, she said.
She’s lent a compassionate hand to patient care at Companion for four years. Gordon also serves as a Companion hospice nurse when needed. And, she re-energizes by doing barrel racing.
This seasoned professional entered the nursing field in 1980 after graduating from Meridian Technology Center, located in Stillwater. Gordon said she likes the hometown feeling of working for Companion that connects with nurses and families without a big corporate image. (story continues below)

“They definitely care about their patients and I feel like they care about their employees,” said Gordon, who enjoys the one-on-one patient time that home health allows her to bond with patients. “You kind of get a closer relationship with your patients doing home health than in the hospitals.”
Home health transcends the simple definition of a job because it centers on patient care. Nurses help them become stronger and educate them about their medications. The staff ensures patients use medications properly without dangerous complications caused by combining non-compatible drugs.
“The patients are important to the nursing staff,” she said. “And they care what happens to the patients.”
Nurses see all walks of life and give everyone the same loving care. They make sure therapy is provided, that patients are dressed and bathed, and have nutrition on a regular basis.
“Every individual is different as far as what the need or might need,” Gordon added.
Diabetes is prevalent, so she teaches patients to monitor their blood sugar every day in order to prevent complications and co-morbidities that are common with the disease.
“It’s important to keep their sugars within normal range because if they don’t it affects all kinds of different functions in their body, their eyes, their kidneys, circulation and everything,” Gordon explained.
Patients can still go to church, get prescriptions and get their hair styled. However, they are not supposed to drive, shop for groceries or go to the mall.
“They don’t have to be tied to home, but they can’t be out running around,” Gordon said. “It’s a taxing effort for them to do that.”
Patients have not mentioned a lot about COVID and the new Delta variant that is spreading across the state, Gordon said.
“Their biggest question is ‘Have you been vaccinated?’ Surprisingly, I have not had a lot of COVID questions. I’ve actually dealt with more frustration from it than questions about it. I know the patients that we have in assisted living facilities — it was very difficult for them not to be able to see their family.
The nurses always wear masks to help prevent the spreading COVID. But several patients have said to her, “I don’t want you to wear that mask.”
Gordon explains to them that she’s required to wear a mask in order to protect them from contracting the disease.
Gordon is well seasoned as a nurse in her career of about 40 years. Experience brings wisdom.
She went to college on a rodeo scholarship. And she still performs at rodeos.
Family issues brought her back home from college. Her sister was a nurse. When she learned Debbie had quit school, she said, “Are you just going to be a bum?”
Those words crushed Gordon because she always wanted to make her sister happy.
“So, I just went home that night, and I was lying in bed crying. And I said ‘Lord, I’m lost, and I don’t know what to do. And I need you to guide me.’ And in six months I was in nursing school.”
She never turned her back on nursing or rodeo. Rodeo was in her blood since she started riding a pony at age 5.
“I started competing when I was about 8, and I still do it,” she said of barrel racing. “It’s kind of like a second job for me. I train on my own.”
She keeps five horses of her own and two from her sister that she rides north of Crescent.
Horses are large animals, and they can take advantage of that. But Gordon knows how to earn and keep their respect.
She learned when turning a horse loose, to never let them walk away from her. They stand their until she walks away from them.
They are creatures of habit, sort of like people, she said.
For more information visit:
http://www.companionhealthcare.net/

Friends of the Capitol was honored to be a part of the Celebration of the Life of Oklahoman, Robert Miner, by engraving his name at the Memorial Plaza at the Oklahoma State Capitol and meeting Miner’s friends and family who visited his paver. Nothing was going to stop Miner’s loved ones from celebrating his life, Covid-19, construction or heat, it did not matter!
Bob Nelson Miner, 77, of Edmond, Oklahoma was a very special Oklahoman. He leaves an incredible legacy of love for his country and his people. A graduate of the University of Kansas’ political science program, he held top management positions on Bob Dole’s U.S House of Representatives and U.S Senate staffs from 1962 to 1977. Bob was a business owner, golfer, photographer and strong health care advocate. He served in many leadership roles while volunteering for the American Heart Association. Bob retired in 2018 from the Oklahoma State Department of Health as the Clean Indoor Air Coordinator where he passionately worked toward a tobacco free Oklahoma.
“Friends of the Capitol” loves being a part of celebrating the life of a loved one by engraving a name on a granite paver at the Oklahoma State Capitol. “I have made so many friends though our non-profit when a donor donates at paver for a loved one”, says Amy Dillon, Executive Director.
Friends of the Capitol is a tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) corporation that is devoted to providing private funds to maintain and improve the beauty of the Oklahoma State Capitol building and complex and its works of art. It is the only tax-exempt corporation designated to receive private funds for this purpose.

Story by Darl DeVault contributing editor

What does nationally successful comedian Greg Schwem, 58, do when he hears a return performance at Tellico Village in Loudon, Tenn. set for October sold out in two hours? Realizing the power of comedy is important to his burgeoning senior audience Schwem looks at his busy national schedule and calls back to offer to do a second show because he wants to accommodate his fans.
“I’ve already written my opening line,” Schwem said. “Rather than say, ‘How many of you saw me last time?’ I’m going to say, ‘How many of you can’t remember if you saw me last time?”
Schwem has been writing a nationally syndicated comedy column appearing in Senior News and Living since 2010. Now that he has joined the active senior demographic, he realized it was time to start talking humorously about his own senior “experiences” as opposed to just writing about them. (story continues below)

Schwem joins a famous Oklahoman who realized he needed to include senior humor in his routine when Will Rogers quipped “When you are dissatisfied (with aging) and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.”
Schwem is grateful to his audiences as he secures more bookings speaking to this demographic. He has generated a good amount of interest with bookings at Sun City Austin, Texas and the Forest CC in Fort Myers, Fla. for next year. Many fans are joining the legion of Schwem devotees because they can watch his online videos of his national performances on his website www.gregschwem.com and via his social media channels. His followers have howled as Schwem recounts his battle with a kidney stone, the embarrassing sounds he emits during yoga classes and seniors who are building massive houses as opposed to downsizing.
“Why do you need a wine cellar?” he asked a recent audience. “At some point in your life, the only thing in your house that should be aging is you!”
Already hugely successful as a comedian writing and performing customized routines for some of our nation’s largest corporations, Schwem is enjoying the opportunity to add seniors to his national schedule. He says he is delighted seniors are such great laughers; they inspire him to write new routines to tickle their funny bone.
He has been writing comedy at the national level for many years. His column appears in the Chicago Tribune’s web edition and more than 25 other newspapers and periodicals around the world.
The Illinois native left a promising career as a broadcast journalist in 1989 to pursue his love of standup comedy. After several years traveling the country working comedy clubs, Schwem transitioned into providing humorous keynote presentations for the corporate market.
“I realized I had a knack for writing customized material about individual companies, whether it was making them laugh about their products or just their culture,” Schwem said last month. “It can be tricky; there is a very fine line when having fun with a company’s employees, so I am careful to make the business community laugh while also praising its work.”
Over the past 20 years, Greg’s corporate clients have included Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Southwest Airlines, McDonald’s and even the CIA. “If I can get America’s covert intelligence agency to laugh at itself, I think I am doing pretty good,” Schwem said.
And now seniors are squarely in his sights for humor. “It is such a joy to watch people who are clearly enjoying their golden years be entertained, and laughter is a big part of that,” Schwem said. “Since I am 58, I realized performing in front of active seniors would allow me to continue doing what I love. People love to laugh at their aches and pains and other issues associated with aging and I’m no different.”
He shared a joke in our interview that fits here: “I’m now playing Pickleball. The game begins with everybody meeting at the net and revealing what physical ailment drove them to play Pickleball.”
His humor reaches out from his audience to the communities they live in.
“Florida retirement communities always seem to contain an animal’s name in the title. And yet you never see that animal in the community. I stayed with a friend who lived in Panther Crossing. Trust me, any panther who attempted a crossing would have been nailed by a golf cart.”
Finally, knowing his audience is suffering from assorted maladies, he is happy to share his own.
“I threw out my back pulling weeds. I tore my retina shoveling snow,” he said. “At this point, I’m only two seasonal injuries from laying on the couch for the entire year.”
Schwem has booked dates at several Del Webb communities and now seeks out active retirement communities near the sites of corporate dates where he is to perform, “In February, I’m doing a date in Fort Myers, Fla. for a metals association and, the next night, I’ll be performing for 200 active seniors 10 minutes away. I hope I can keep the audiences straight,” Schwem quips.
Greg Schwem is a monthly columnist for Oklahoma’s Senior News and Living.

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

Travel is always an adventure and no more so than on a cruise where you are definitely not in control, as that is the responsibility of the ship’s Captain. With a Blount Small Ship Adventure you are sure to have an adventurous nature as their relatively small ships (80 passengers) traverse less traveled waterways and dock at destinations where only small ships can go. My trip aboard the Grande Caribe took me from Montreal (see Part One of this sojourn) up to Quebec, then back through the Saint Lawrence Seaway, along the trail of the Erie Canal via the New York Canal System, down the Hudson River and docking in little old New York City, after a farewell cruise by the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan while pausing at the Statue of Liberty.
This being my first time with Blount (it has about a 50% return booking of previous passengers) I have to commend the cruise staff from Captain John Hunnewell , to the all-important Cruise director, Lisa Pontarelli, down through all the seventeen support staff of housekeeping, galley servers and the deck hands who were all cheerful and helpful day after day of my twelve day cruise. A cruise ship company can have little control over weather, or tides, but when they pay special attention to passenger service, you know you have a good company and see why Blount has such a good return booking.
Blount is not so much about luxury accommodations as they are about informative and enjoyable destinations where many other cruise ships cannot go. Among other destinations my favorites (I have several favorites) include historic Hyde Park, home of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; the Impressive West Point academy; Cooperstown with its charming main street shops, the Baseball Hall of Fame, and nearby Fenimore Art Museum preserved in an historic house. The Grande Caribe also stopped off at the Wooden Boat Museum, the towns of Troy and Quebec, the Fredric Remington Art Museum and a tour of the Singer Castle. But most enjoyable was progressing at a leisurely pace along the waterway with its water side homes and mansions of the Thousand Islands and all along the fabled Hudson river valley. Traveling on the water gives you a tangible concept of the country’s geography and how it influenced the area’s history.
For true marine lovers the over thirty canal locks encountered from Montreal to NYC, is illuminating. Passengers continued to marvel at these engineering mechanisms and how adept the crew and captain was at navigating through them. These relatively short pauses gives one time to reflect on the communities they bolster as well as a glimpse into American culture.
A Blount Small Ship Adventure nurtures a leisurely pace of travel. While the day is structured with a 7:30 a.m. bell to call you to breakfast, and the following lunch and dinner, you never feel rushed, even though everyone on my cruise was eager for the delicious meal times. Breakfast offers a cold buffet of fruit, yogurt cereals, as the crew serves the specialty of the morning which might be eggs Benedict, fresh scrambles eggs, hot pancakes, muffins or waffles. If there is a special egg order it is gladly taken. Lunch usually consists of a soup of the day and a variety of sandwiches throughout the cruise. After a BYOB cocktail hour, dinner may start off with a salad, followed by an entre of the day, maybe a steak, Mahi Mahi, pasta or Game Hen. Complementary wines are served by the glass during lunch and more extensively at dinner. Of course a desert of ice cream or cake or pie tops off the meal. All meals are open seating and it’s fun to mix up your dining partners, or cling to the congenial folks you like the most. The hit of any of our meals was the variety fresh baked of breads.
As a single traveler I relished having one of the few cabins with an outside door to the walk around deck. While the sliding door often would not stay shut, when it was open during day cruising it was a joy to relax on the opposite bed with views out the door of the shoreline accented with a variety of homes and landscapes dotted with colorful autumn trees. My cabin was designed for two, and I might suggest for my tastes two persons might be one too many in any of the cabins, as elbow room in the cabins is at a premium. But such is the design of small ships. I did hear some first time passengers comment on the noise in the cabins of the individually controlled air system , the engine noise, and the challenge in taking a brief compact shower, but that has to be chalked up to part of the small ship adventure. Again, the Blount cruise is about destinations not accommodations.
The evenings offered a formal cultural lecture in the common area, by Frederick Stonehouse, author of thirty books which made him an expert on the maritime history we were experiencing. A personable gentleman who was just as interesting when joining him during the informal family styled meals. Other evenings there was on board entertainment. The best perhaps was the jazz trio of Skip Parsons who brought a Dixieland style to this ultimate river boat. As my trip was in the fall, when children would be in school, my cruise was made up almost entirely of senior citizens. I found all the fellow travelers well informed and well-traveled. Getting to know a portion of their knowledge was an added Blount Small Ship Adventures treat.
For your special interests sign up for email alerts and explore a variety of 2015 cruise destinations at: www.blountsmallshipadventures.com

Mr. Terry Zinn – Travel Editor
Past President: International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association
3110 N.W. 15 Street – Oklahoma City, OK 73107
https://realtraveladventures.com/?s=terry+zinn
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By Nick Thomas

When the Los Angeles Hollywood Museum reopened in August, having closed its doors to the public during much of the pandemic, Claudia Wells was one of many guests invited to celebrate the event that included a “Back to the Future” exhibit (www.thehollywoodmuseum.com).
Wells appeared in the original 1985 movie as Jennifer Parker, girlfriend to Marty McFly played by Michael J. Fox who starred in the beloved movie trilogy. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 at age 29, Fox later established the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (www.michaeljfox.org) which was also presented with a $5,000.00 donation during the event.
“I’m a big cheerleader for the Back to the Future trilogy,” said Wells from Los Angeles (see www.claudiawells.com). “So, anything I can do to promote the movies and help support Michael I’m there with bells on.”
“Back to the Future” was Wells’ first movie role. Her scenes were brief but memorable, as was her first day on the set.
“It was the last scene of the movie with me, Michael, and Christopher Lloyd in the car,” she recalled. “I remember when he (Lloyd) got out of the car and raised up those metal glasses on his face, it ripped the old-age make-up on his forehead and we had to wait for hours for him to get the make-up redone to shoot again.”
She also recalls meeting Fox for the first time. “They were filming the Enchantment Under the Sea dance scene at a church and I was sent around to meet Michael. He came outside, gave me a hug, and told me he was looking forward to working with me. He was very positive, upbeat, kind, funny, natural, and great fun to work with.”
But when time came to reprise her role 4 years later in “Back to the Future Part II,” Wells was unavailable due to a family illness and was replaced by Elizabeth Shue in Parts II and III.
“I’ve met fans who remember watching Part II when it came out and didn’t even notice a different actress was playing Jennifer,” Wells said. “But others told me they were screaming at the screen wondering why there was a different Jennifer.”
Despite bumping into other cast members of the trilogy while traveling the film convention circuit over the years, ‘the two Jennifers’ have never met (who knows what that might do to the space-time continuum!). “I’d love to meet Elizabeth because I think she’s just a brilliant actress and I was actually quite flattered when they cast her in the role.”
After an acting gap of about 20 years, Wells returned to film and television. She also opened and still runs Armani Wells (www.armaniwells.com), a menswear store in Studio City. “The store will be 30 years old in December. I am so fortunate to have found two different careers that are completely fulfilling.”
Wells says she was thrilled to be included in the reopening of the Hollywood Museum, especially with its ‘Back to the Future” exhibit and its support of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
“Michael was able to hide the disease for a number of years and I was absolutely flabbergasted when I first heard he was diagnosed,” she said. “He was so good at physical comedy and so healthy. But he has not only been an inspiration to others who have Parkinson’s but has encouraged research that will hopefully lead to a cure one day.”
Nick Thomas has written features, columns, and interviews for numerous magazines and newspapers. See www.tinseltowntalks.com.

Story by Darl Devault, Contributing Editor

In his sermons and in person Terry Hill, pastor of the Canadian County Cowboy Church in Yukon, tells his congregation and this writer our church is in a good place. He says things are better than ever because God is sending them more good people.
The board recently has been kicking around the idea they may need to expand the non-denominational Cowboy Church on East Main, on property donated by the Yukon Round-Up Club in 2013.
“You do not have to be a cowboy to worship with us,” Hill said. “We just want our visitors to know we are not overly formal in our dress and our fellowship includes many who are not cowboys or wear cowboy hats.” (story continues below)

Hill is grateful for all the new people seeking fellowship in God’s name who are attending the church since it shut down for eight weeks during the height of the COVID-19 surge in the area.
He wonders if the availability of their extensive online ministry is attracting more people to come in person. He thinks some of his early congregation members are watching the sermons online.
The ministry streams services both on YouTube and Facebook.
Hill shares a story about how he got back to his roots as a cowboy and pastor during their eight-week shutdown for COVID-19. He and his wife Evelyn took their video camera down to the Holy City of the Wichitas in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, northwest of Lawton. He was inspired to record his sermon on the 66-acre area that looks much like Israel during Biblical times. A few weeks later, trying to change this up, Hill did his sermon on horseback in his round pen. These sermons can be found in the church’s Web site archives.
The church has a practical ministry giving away Cowboy Bibles and Bibles for all ages to whomever wants one. The church supports local, state and foreign ministries. Hill say their mission is “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ: Galatians 6:2.”
Every Sunday the service begins with the presentation of the American and Christian flags. The congregation stands with hats removed as they sing God Bless America, followed by their theme song, Yes Lord, We Will Ride with You.
Another direct service to the flock is providing spiral notebooks on each row for the recording of prayer requests or a praise report if God has done something for members. The church prays over the needs expressed in the requests later in the service.
Again Church websites have become the new front doors of any church. Before visitors step inside the church itself, they can get a sense of the community and determine if they would belong. When a church streams its services online, it invites potential newcomers to join the service from afar to see how the sermon resonates with them.
Pastor Hill credits streaming for bringing many new families to the church within a few months. He happily says streaming “has been a huge success and we hope to have even more families join.”
Hill thinks the congregation attends services on Sunday and then some watch the archived stream later to deepen their understanding of that week’s lesson.
Founded in 1947, the Yukon Round Up Club owned the 13 acres now the church campus. The rodeo arena still emphasizes the cowboy heritage with club’s name part of the original metal archway over the road leading to the arena. The church has made the venue a part of the ministry, offering community events.
On Sunday mornings, CCCC kicks off their services at 550 E. Main Street with fellowship, coffee and doughnuts at 9 a.m.
Sunday school classes for all ages start at 9:30 a.m. The church service begins at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday evenings they serve a fellowship dinner from 5:30pm to 6:30pm for a voluntary donation. Bible study classes for all ages begin at 7 pm.
They now offer a LIVING FREE class, small group sessions for those who need inner healing and help to stay away from life controlling problems.
Hill, owner of El Reno Steel, along with his wife Evelyn, founded the church in 2010.
“We welcome you to our weekly Cowboy Church Service, where hats are welcome but not required,” Hill said. “We pray you will be blessed as we worship and fellowship in the “Cowboy Way”.”
For more information on this “Cowboy Ministry”, find them on Facebook and YouTube or visit: www.canadiancountycowboychurch.com.

In an effort to provide transparency regarding the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma, four Oklahoma City health systems are joining together to provide regular updates on COVID-19 case counts and bed availability.
The health systems will provide a joint update every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until our health care community begins to see relief from this current surge.
As a reminder, these numbers are constantly changing as our teams work to discharge, transfer, and admit patients throughout the day.
INTEGRIS Health: INTEGRIS Health currently has 210 COVID-19 patients in our hospitals, with 173 of those patients in the metro. INTEGRIS Health has no available ICU beds.
Mercy: Mercy currently has 118 inpatients with COVID-19 in Mercy hospitals across Oklahoma, with 66 of those patients at Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City. Mercy has no available ICU beds and three patients waiting in the ER for an ICU bed.
OU Health: OU Health hospitals (all three, including Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health): 42 inpatients with COVID-19. OU Health has no available beds for COVID-19 patients.
SSM Health St. Anthony: 140 inpatients with COVID-19 in SSM Health St. Anthony hospitals. No ICU beds are available.
Information as of Aug. 27, 2021.

In 1946, a polio vaccine was still years away. DNA was just a group of letters. And no one had any idea cigarettes caused cancer.
But in Oklahoma, a group of citizens recognized that it wasn’t enough for physicians to work each day to treat illnesses like tuberculosis, heart disease and cancer. To make real headway against disease, medicine had to do more.
So, they created an institute where scientists could devote their entire careers to rooting out the causes of human disease: the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
Saturday marks OMRF’s 75th anniversary. On Aug. 28, 1946, Oklahoma’s Secretary of State granted the charter of the new foundation that would, in the words of an early fundraising brochure, conduct “scientific investigations in the field of medical research to attack killing and crippling diseases about which little is known by science.”
“Oklahoma is a young state, so we sometimes find ourselves playing catch-up,” said OMRF Interim President Adam Cohen. “But when it came to creating an independent research institute, we were on the cutting edge.” (story continues below)

To fund the construction of OMRF, which would become one of only a handful of independent biomedical research institutes at that time, Gov. Roy J. Turner led a drive that spanned all 77 of the state’s counties. The state’s physicians organized one fundraising campaign, and pharmacists, dentists and nurses followed suit with their own efforts. When Turner declared a statewide “Research Week,” organizers held 137 meetings in 42 cities and towns over seven days.
“This is one of the finest things we of Oklahoma ever have attempted,” said Grace Marlow of Shawnee in 1947, when she and her husband donated $26,000 to the new foundation in memory of their late son. “Such a wonderful movement cannot fail.”
All told, 7,000 Oklahomans gave more than $2 million to build the foundation. And what began as an 18-person scientific staff has since grown into an internationally recognized research institute.
OMRF now employs 450 staff members who study cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disorders and diseases of aging. Their discoveries have yielded hundreds of patents and three lifesaving drugs now available in hospitals and clinics worldwide. Most recently, Adakveo became the first targeted therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration for sickle cell disease, which affects an estimated 100,000 Americans.
OMRF scientists made crucial insights that paved the way for powerful protease inhibitors that transformed the therapeutic landscape for people with HIV/AIDS. The National Institutes of Health has designated OMRF an Autoimmunity Center of Excellence, one of only 10 in the country, for its work on conditions such as lupus, where OMRF researchers have played a role in identifying or confirming more than 60 genes involved in the disease.
OMRF has also taken on emerging challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s now serving as the lead clinical site for a nationwide clinical trial sponsored by the NIH to study why immunocompromised patients fail to respond adequately to Covid-19 vaccines.
“The goal of every medical researcher is to make discoveries that improve people’s lives,” said Rodger McEver, M.D., OMRF’s vice president of research. “OMRF scientists have done that, and they’re continuing to do so.”
OMRF’s founding donors could not have foreseen the advances their gift would make possible. Still, said McEver, “I hope they’d be proud.”

Due to an unforeseen medical issue, Kurt Russell is not able to attend the 60th Western Heritage Awards on September 17-18 as previously planned. Kurt and his father, Neil Oliver “Bing” Russell, will now be recognized during the 61st Western Heritage Awards as 2022 inductees into the Hall of Great Western Performers.
“I’m having hip surgery,” said Kurt Russell. “I had hoped it could wait, but my doctors said it needs to be this September. As much as I hate missing this year, I’m grateful to the Museum for being willing to move our recognition to 2022 so I can be there in-person to accept this great honor.” This year’s ceremony will recognize honorees and inductees from both 2020 and 2021. At this time, all other inductees, including Academy Award winner Robert Duvall and American country music singer George Strait, still plan to be in attendance. (story continues below)

“While we’re disappointed that Mr. Russell will not be here this year, we’re glad accommodations could be made for 2022,” said Natalie Shirley, Museum President and CEO. “This year will still be a star-studded event, and 2022 is already shaping up to be just as special.” Due to the overwhelming support of our Inductees, Honorees, their families and sponsors, tickets to the 2021 Western Heritage Awards Induction Ceremony are sold out, but tickets for a special livestream remote dinner held in the Museum’s Annie Oakley Center are available for purchase and includes access to the cocktail reception preceding the induction ceremony, Saturday, September 18.
The full list of Western Heritage Honorees and Inductees for 2020 and 2021 are listed below. For more information about the 2021 Western Heritage Awards, visit:
https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/western-heritage-awards.
The 60th Annual Western Heritage Awards supporting sponsors are Arvest Bank, The Chickasaw Nation, Cresap Family Foundation, Wrangler and Mr. and Mrs. Lenny Sadler. Promoting sponsors are Hall Capital, Fred Jones Family Foundation and Greg and Bekki Kowalski.

The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation is recruiting healthy volunteers to study whether a diabetes drug can slow aging.
OMRF scientist Benjamin Miller, Ph.D., is investigating how metformin impacts insulin sensitivity and its link to the biological processes of aging. The 12-week study will take place at the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center in Oklahoma City and is open to adults between the ages of 40-75 without chronic disease.
“Aging is the leading risk factor for all chronic diseases. If we can slow the process, we may simultaneously slow or prevent the onset of conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and dementia,” said Miller, a physiologist in OMRF’s Aging and Metabolism Research Program.
Metformin is the world’s most prescribed diabetes drug and is believed to be effective at slowing aging. In a 2019 study, Miller found the drug to be less impactful for this purpose when combined with exercise in sedentary adults. By understanding how metformin impacts the cellular function of healthy volunteers in the absence of exercise, Miller hopes to further show who it can — and cannot — benefit.
Volunteers will undergo a health screening prior to enrollment. Those with known heart disease, diabetes, bleeding disorders, cancer or other major illnesses do not qualify for the study. Strict Covid-19 protocols will be followed to ensure participant safety.
Once admitted, visits may range from 10 minutes to five hours and will include blood draws, muscle biopsy, a bone density scan and an insulin sensitivity test. Participants will be compensated for time and travel, and metformin or placebo will be provided at no cost.
To participate or for more information, contact Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resources at 405-271-3480 or osctr@ouhsc.edu.
Funding for the research is provided by National Institute on Aging grant No. R01AG064951, a part of the National Institutes of Health.
The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. IRB 10699