by Bobby Anderson
Staff Writer

Nearly 20 years ago, Lynn Haynes remembers her phone ringing at the American Red Cross with a worried voice on the other end of the line.
A volunteer with Meals on Wheels Norman was calling the social worker saying their client wasn’t coming to the door to receive their daily meal.
There was noise inside and what sounded like the client’s voice, but no one came to the door.
Haynes drove over and found a window open on the side of the house and went in to investigate.
As she entered she stepped over the elderly woman who had fallen eight hours earlier and had broken her hip.
After calling 911 Haynes sat with the woman and noticed she didn’t seem too worried.
“What she said to me was ‘I knew I would be OK because I knew Meals on Wheels would get to me,’” Haynes recalled. “That was my first experience with them and that made me realize this was a really good thing.”
“Meals on Wheels kind of helps people to stay independent and make sure they have food,” Haynes said of the program’s core mission.
Meals on Wheels America estimates that some 15 to 20 percent of Oklahoma seniors struggle with hunger.
Nationally, one in six seniors face hunger while some 233,000 Oklahoma seniors live in or near poverty.
It’s estimated that one year’s worth of meals for a senior costs the same amount as one day of a hospital stay.
Meals on Wheels of Norman operates on an annual budget of $575,000 with food costs ranging between $15,000 and $20,000 each month.
Haynes said special grants and donations also fund a pet food program.
Haynes is proud that Meals on Wheels has some volunteers who have been around nearly 30 years.
She shudders to think about what might happen if Meals on Wheels Norman went away.
“I think it would be very hard for our community,” Haynes says. “I think you would see people, especially seniors placed more in nursing facilities.”
Haynes says clients pay for their meals based on a sliding scale based on income. Some clients receive their meals for free while others pay from 81 cents to $6.25 per meal.
Haynes knows better than most the program’s deliveries go beyond just providing nutrition.
The friendly volunteers develop relationships and look forward to visiting clients each day.
The feeling is mutual.
The visits insure the health of loved ones and to see that they are receiving a nutritious meal each day.
History
The agency began serving the Norman community January 21, 1972 as the Norman Mobile Meals Council, under the direction of the late Tedo Prickett, executive director and co-founder.
Meals on Wheels has maintained the same basic philosophy to improve nutrition by providing meal service to the ill, disabled, and senior residents within the Norman city limits. The organization strives to improve the mental health of isolated recipients by providing visitation and to improve the wellbeing of senior citizens in coordination with existing services in the Norman area.
Currently, Norman Regional Hospital prepares all meals. Licensed dietitians determine the necessary meals to accommodate a client’s specialized dietary needs with confirmation from the client’s doctor.
Norman Mobile Meals Council changed its name to Meals on Wheels of Norman, Inc. in 1986.
The group’s annual poinsettia fundraiser is coming up in late November.
Ordering just 5 plants will help provide meals to an ill, disabled, and elderly individual for one week.
Fall is when Haynes needs volunteers the most.
Meals on Wheels of Norman delivers some 300 meals each day. A minimum of 100 volunteers a week are needed to get the meals out.
To learn more about Norman’s Meals on Wheels program, to sign up or to volunteer you can call them at 321-7272

by Traci Chapman

Yukon’s annual Oklahoma Czech Festival is a celebration not only of heritage, but also of history and tradition. Perhaps more than anywhere else that is illustrated by a decades-long practice – the traditional Czech pastry known as Kolaches.
Those delicacies are made by a group of people known for their love of history and a passion for baking, men and women who have been part of the effort, in some cases, their entire lives.
Janice Van Brunt is one of those veterans. Always known as an organized person, someone who always gets the job done, Van Brunt is a major piece in the puzzle that is the “Kolache Crew,” a group of bakers who have worked for more than 38 years to make sure their Czech delicacy is ready for the October festival.
“Janice is so good at bringing us all together and she has always had so much enthusiasm and love for what we do – it’s really difficult to imagine doing this without her,” Gloria Hlinicky said, as she scooped Kolaches off baking trays and onto cooling racks at Yukon’s Oklahoma Czech building.
Van Brunt and Hlinicky have both been part of the Kolache Crew, officially known as the “Tuesday Night Baking Club,” for decades – “longer than I’d like to remember,” Van Brunt said. While younger crew members have joined the effort over the years, many of those involved are, like Van Brunt and Hlinicky, bakers who spend hours upon hours annually preparing their regional pastry.
It’s no small effort – the group creates more than 30,000 Kolaches in the months leading up to the Czech Festival each year.
Kolaches first begin as balls of dough which raise three times before being flattened and stuffed with fillings. They bake about 20 minutes and then are brushed with butter – a lot of it – while still hot out of the oven. From there, the Kolaches are cooled and put into an industrial freezer until October.
The group begins baking in July, completing 100 dozen creations each Tuesday night, Van Brunt said. Incorporating traditional Czech recipes, they utilize only fruit or cream fillings for their delicacies – 15 different varieties, ranging from peach and apple to cherry and raspberry and any kind of flavor imaginable in between, Van Brunt said.
“We have a specific list of how many of each kind we make and we have lots of people who come back every year to get their favorite kind,” she said. “While we have many of the same group making them year after year, we also have many return customers the same way.”
While bakers put hundreds of hours into creating their Kolaches, the consumption of them can be quite different, Van Brunt said.
“We start selling them in the morning and many times they are gone in an hour, maybe a little bit more and sometimes even less,” she said. “We are always amazed at the line that forms even before anything opens.”
“If you think about 30,000 – 30,000! – Kolaches and they are gone in such a short time – it’s really a little overwhelming to me that they are that popular every single year,” baker Shirley Reed said.
June Calahan has also been a staple of the group for years, working on any project that needs to be done – rolling the dough or putting in the filling, taking trays out of the oven, even washing dishes and just giving moral support.
“June is one of our backbones, she is someone who just always makes our effort more fun and enjoyable,” Julia Mason said. “She’s someone who I’ve always looked up to and so do my children, which is really something wonderful – we are bringing in a new generation who sees the older generation and all it has accomplished.”
Many crew members were part of the original effort 38 years ago. Back then, they didn’t work together in an organized kitchen, but rather created pastries at home, bringing them to the festival individually. While that got the job done at that time, they said it’s a plan that would never work today.
“There’s no way – it’s just too much,” Reed said. “And I really think it would take away from what we are doing, the companionship we feel.”
“We are a fun group, but we get a lot done and we work together very well,” Janice Van Brunt said. “We are very serious about getting this done right and making sure we have what we need each year.”
As this year’s efforts come to a close, the crew is already looking forward to next year.
“It does get tiring and it is a lot, but it truly is a labor of love, and we’re very lucky to do it,” Calahan said.

story and photo by Traci Chapman

Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs administrators say a lot has improved in the VA’s reboot, but there is a long way to go – for patients and employees alike.
“We are very much on a learning curve, working to make the VA experience the best we possibly can for our veterans and their families, while we make sure our employees are happy and fulfilled, because that’s the way to make sure they are dedicated to giving the best care possible to our patients,” Oklahoma City VA Medical Center Director Wade Vlosich said.
The director’s comments were made during a Sept. 21 Town Hall, attended by dozens of veterans and staff members. Aimed at addressing both patient and staff concerns, the meeting was part of an effort to help move beyond years of bad press involving long wait times for care, employee concerns about hospital leadership and more at VA centers across the country. And, while the Town Hall gave individuals a chance to air ongoing issues, it was also a sign of a change in philosophy at the center, staff said.
“We are all working to make sure we are an active part of what we’re calling the ‘New VA,’” said Darrell Long, hospital specialty clinic float nurse. “We all know there is a bad perception out there, and we’re working to change that.”
Vlosich is a big part of that change, staff said. Joining the Oklahoma City VA facility in May, Vlosich is the first “permanent” director named in more than four years. With staff having no stable leadership to look to or lean on, Vlosich said it was difficult to provide both the kind of atmosphere needed for happy and quality employees, as well as the best in patient care.
“You just can’t make it work without stable and dedicated long-term leadership,” Vlosich said. “The quality of care we do offer is a testament to our employees – but now we owe them more too.”
That staff cares for more than 61,000 veterans annually, this year that number jumping by more than 3,000 over the number of patients seen two years ago, Vlosich said. The center’s $460 million budget funds a 192-bed hospital and emergency room operations, as well as a myriad variety of specialty clinics, including extensive mental health facilities. The VA also administers community centered outpatient clinics in north Oklahoma City, Lawton, Ada, Wichita Falls, Blackwell, Ardmore, Altus, Enid and Stillwater.
Employees have worked hard to address issues with wait times in all areas of the facility, something that’s been a longtime problem, Vlosich said. But, while the director has his work cut out for him in his new position, the challenge isn’t anything new. Before coming to Oklahoma City, he served as director of Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in Columbia, Missouri, for more than two years – a facility that before his arrival had been under “significant” fire for serious patient care issues.
“It was certainly a challenge, but we made some real improvement, and I know we will do the same – and better – here,” Vlosich said.
Like the Missouri facility, Vlosich said Oklahoma City has a major asset, its employees, and they are the primary key in hastening the forward strides needed to improve service.
“We are very lucky to have people with amazing dedication and talent, people like our specialty clinic chief, Terri Sharp,” the director said. “She and her staff have elevated our nursing services and make a huge difference in the lives of their patients.”
Those efforts have made a difference, with primary care waits dropping from seven days to three days, mental health from three days to two days and specialty care decreasing from 12 days to 11 days, Vlosich said.
“Obviously, that’s an improvement, but we have lots of room for more advancement,” he said.
Another frustration has been aged facilities, including inadequate parking for both staff and patients. Crews are working on a first and second floor clinic expansion, which will add 8,000 square feet and renovate another 16,000 square feet. A major parking addition should add 300 spaces and ease a situation that causes headaches on a daily basis, Vlosich said. The clinic project is slated for completion March 2017, while the new parking spaces should be ready by May 2017.
“We are also working to improve our facilities, which are a direct patient benefit but also is positive for our staff,” Vlosich said. “That allows us to keep the excellent employees we have happy, while allowing us to appeal to quality staff because, of course, we are only as good as the quality of our nursing/medical and other staff.”
That is an area that has seen forward momentum, staff said.
“There is a lot of excitement, a lot of commitment to the VA family,” said Leann Denney, a chemotherapy nurse navigator. “We have the greatest patients, and we are so committed to them because there is that additional component that they have served, they’ve sacrificed for all of us.
“That’s always been there, but there is also a new feeling that we are more of a coordinated team, that we will be able to better work together for the good of our patients,” she said. “We are a family here, all of us – nurses and staff, patients and their families – and we’re looking for things to just get better and better.”

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

The presidential election isn’t the only thing voters in Oklahoma will have a chance to decide this November.
A penny sales tax for education, the right to farm and selling wine in grocery stores are just a few of the issues that will also be decided when voters go to the polls on November 8.
Seven state questions have made their way to the ballot and several are being hotly contested by the different sides.
Here’s a quick look at both sides of each issue.
State Question 776
This state question involves Oklahoma’s right to exercise the death penalty.
The language allows the Oklahoma Legislature to be expressly empowered to designate any method of execution not prohibited by the United States Constitution.
Opponents argue a state question to amend the constitution is unneeded.
State Question 777
One of the more hotly contested items on the ballot, SQ 777 has been touted as the right to farm bill. Opponents call it the right to harm bill.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau, the Oklahoma Cattleman’s Association and the Oklahoma Pork Council are three of the largest supporters of the question.
“SQ 777 will protect our ability to use science based production methods to humanely produce food and fiber,” said Terry Detrick, president of the American Farmers & Ranchers/Oklahoma Farmers Union. “We are in a daily struggle with adverse weather conditions, burdensome regulations and contrary markets. SQ 777 will lend stability to our industry by encouraging younger generations to be involved in agriculture without worrying about outside influences with an anti-agriculture agenda.”
Opponents of 777 call it a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and are backed by the Sierra Club and the Humane Society of the United States.
The Edmond City Council formally passed a resolution opposing State Question 777 earlier this year and former University of Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer has also announced he is in opposition.
State Question 779
Oklahoma has one of the worst-funded education systems in the nation. State Question 779 looks to help remedy this by creating a limited purpose fund to increase funding for public education through a penny sales tax.
The revenue to be used for public education shall be allocated: 69.50% for common school districts, 19.25% for the institutions under the authority of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, 3.25% for the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, and 8% for the State Department of Education.
It also requires teacher salary increases funded by this measure raise teacher salaries by at least $5,000 over the salaries paid in the year prior to adoption of this measure.
Opponents don’t like the idea of taxing Oklahomans further under any circumstances
State Question 780
This measure amends existing Oklahoma laws and would change the classification of certain drug possession and property crimes from felony to misdemeanor. It would make possession of a limited quantity of drugs a misdemeanor.
Proponents say it will ease prison overcrowding. Opponents fear lower charges would be less of a deterrent.
State Question 781
This question piggybacks on the above question.
This measure creates the County Community Safety Investment Fund, only if voters approve State Question 780, the Oklahoma Smart Justice Reform Act. Any savings realized by the state would be distributed to counties for community rehab programs.
State Question 790
After the removal of a Ten Commandments statue from the Oklahoma Capitol grounds, this question arose.
If this measure repealing Article 2, Section 5 is passed, the government would still be required to comply with the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, which is a similar constitutional provision that prevents the government from endorsing a religion or becoming overly involved with religion.
Oklahoma’s constitution currently prohibits the government from using public money or property for the direct or indirect benefit of any religion or religious institution.
State Question 792
This question would allow the sale of wine in grocery stores and convenience stories while also allowing liquor stores to sell items other than alcoholic beverages in limited amounts.

Sen. Clark Jolley is a supporter for a number of reasons.
“It means tremendously increased convenience for (seniors),” Jolley said. “I think that’s something that will really appreciate and enjoy having.”
The issue is also one of modernization for Jolley, who terms Oklahoma liquor laws as oftentimes “fuddy duddy.”
“For Oklahoma to modernize our laws to really come into conformity with the rest of the country … will have a great impact on us having our young people want to be in Oklahoma,” Jolley said. “I think that’s a huge testament to why we should modernize our laws.”

Holiday Grief Support
Free program offers help for those recovering from loss of loved ones
The holiday season is usually a wonderful time filled with happy memories. But you may find it more difficult when experiencing grief. INTEGRIS Hospice offers this program especially for those who may benefit from additional support during this time of year.
Normal grief responses include appetite loss, difficulty sleeping, feelings of guilt or regret, lack of concentration, mood changes, numbness or crying.
Date Tuesday, Nov. 8
Time 6:15 to 7:30 p.m.
Place Bethany First Church of the Nazarene
6789 NW 39th Expressway • Bethany, OK 73008

To enroll Call Marla Mercer-Cole, M.S., 405-603-1708
Program is free of charge; space is limited. Reservations are required.

The session is facilitated by Marla Mercer-Cole, M.S., licensed professional counselor certified in thanatology: death, dying and bereavement. As current vice president of Mercer Adams Funeral Service in Bethany, she directs the aftercare program for families they serve and oversees community relations. Mercer-Cole also conducts six-week grief support programs throughout the metro Oklahoma City area for INTEGRIS Hospice.