by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

It’s been more than a decade since legendary entertainer Dean Martin passed away.
But for a few hours every Friday and Saturday night his infectious spirit and joy are alive and well inside the Yellow Rose Theater in Moore.
Impersonator Michael Cooper and a troupe of performers breathe new life into characters like Martin, Jerry Lewis and members of the Rat Pack at Oklahoma’s only full-time dinner theatre.
Cooper has been portraying Martin for 14 years now in what began humbly as a ministry outreach of the Revival for Christ Club.
Christian-based original plays and dramas came in the early days and are still scattered among the offerings.
A big fire destroyed the area that is now the Yellow Rose Theatre nearly 15 years ago.
During the rebuild the church’s contractor ran off with much of the repair money.
So guys like Cooper would work their regular jobs during the day and then come to the church at night to make repairs.
The church’s then-pastor asked what it would take to do a Rat Pack show.
Cooper wasn’t sure.
“We didn’t look like them, didn’t sound like them and didn’t act like them,” Cooper said. “We could just sing because we were praise and worship leaders. We decided ‘let’s see if we can’t ride this thing.’”
So Rat Pack boot camp began. The group read every book, watched every movie and read every snippet online about the famous entertainers.
They finally nailed it.
The group now travels around the country, stopping at Carnegie Hall and Hard Rock Casino.
Fifties, sixties, seventies shows began to pop up as did Motown and Country performances.
BECOMING DEAN
“I’ve read lots of books and watched lots of footage and just luck I guess,” Cooper said of becoming the persona of Dean Martin. “The first couple years I wasn’t very good.”
The group is now one of the four most recognized Rat Pack groups in the country.
“Now it’s just the experience of having done it thousands of times,” Cooper said. “I can fire up and do it any time. Some nights are better than others. I’ve been doing it for so long now it’s just natural.”
Cooper channels his inner Dean Martin on the weekends and during the the group’s most recent show run of The Colgate Comedy Hour, which featured standup, skits and original Colgate Comedy Hour commercials in between.
And it’s all done while guests are dining with friends or soon-to-be friends.
Executive Chef Kim Johnson handles the cuisine. A catering company also operates out of the theater, which can be rented during the holidays.
“The food is phenomenal. We’ve had people ask for recipes,” Cooper said. “When we started the dinner theater we traveled all over the country. One thing we knew was we would have good food. People aren’t going to get a sliver of shoe-sole meat, a slap of mashed potatoes and some corn on a plate. We give big portions.”
GIVING BACK
The shows are indeed a ministry for Cooper and his ensemble.
After every show Cooper and the performers greet the guests as they leave the building.
One night a woman came up with tears in her eyes.
“My husband has Alzheimers,” she said, her voice cracking. “Once the music started I had my husband back.” I danced with him. He recognized who I was.
We were all in here crying. Literally, once they got back in the car he was far away. But for two hours she had her husband back.
“Even though you might not have a Bible in your hand or be in the sanctuary we’re able to minister to people and that’s why we do it.”
All of the recent skits and standups are versions of the skits that the original group did on the Colgate Comedy Hour.
“Some of the humorous parts of it were because it was Dean and Jerry,” Cooper said. “As much as we try to portray them we’re not them. It’s almost harder for us than it was for them.”
“We knew from the beginning that we had them. We knew this was going to be a viable show.”
I laughed so hard my throat hurts. I haven’t laughed this much in years.
Both are just a sampling of the comments the group gets after every show.
Cooper will be busy again during the holidays.
For Christmas the group will put on Dean’s Very, Very, Very Merry Christmas. Jerry Lewis will be a part and possibly Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Durante thanks to Cooper’s friends.
But three Tuesdays and one Saturday in December will be dedicated to the Sharon L. Vanover memorial dinner.
Qualified families from Moore, South Oklahoma City and Lawton are treated to a show and each child receives a Christmas present.
It’s all about showing love for people.

José M. Olivero
Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 65 million Americans will increase 0.3 percent in 2017, the Social Security Administration announced today.
The 0.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 60 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2017. Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2016. The Social Security Act ties the annual COLA to the increase in the Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Some other adjustments that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $127,200 from $118,500. Of the estimated 173 million workers who will pay Social Security taxes in 2017, about 12 million will pay more because of the increase in the taxable maximum.
Information about Medicare changes for 2017, when announced, will be available at www.Medicare.gov. For some beneficiaries, their Social Security increase may be partially or completely offset by increases in Medicare premiums.
The Social Security Act provides for how the COLA is calculated. To read more, please visit www.socialsecurity.gov/cola.

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer
John Koons has always volunteered. It’s in his DNA.
The summer he was 15 his parents urged him to go do something.
Too young to get a job he went to University Hospital and signed up for the Volunteen program as a candy striper.
“It was one of the greatest experiences I ever had in my life and I learned about life out there more than anything,” he said. “I just loved volunteering. Actually that turned into a part-time job my junior and senior year of high school.”
At 64, Koons recently celebrated his 44th year with OG&E and plans on holding his current title of community relations coordinator at least six more years to give him an even half century with the utility giant.
Maybe it’s no coincidence OG&E was one of the four founding companies of Junior Achievement when it came to Oklahoma City in 1966.
Junior Achievement inspires Oklahoma K-12 students by bringing the business world to life inside the classroom through memorable, exciting, hands-on learning experiences.
Established locally in 1966, JAOK serves more than 56,000 Oklahoma students in 68 school districts and 292 schools. Junior Achievement utilizes more than 3,800 dedicated members – like Koons – of the community to implement their programs.
In 1988 Junior Achievement was looking for volunteers to go into metro classrooms 45 minutes a week for six weeks to teach financial literacy.
“I volunteered and I fell in love with it,” Koons said. “I’ve never had any kids but I think I have a gift working with kids. It just took off from there and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
Jo Wise, OKC Regional Director of Junior Achievement, says Koons is now Junior Achievement’s No. 1 volunteer in the state.
“The fact that teachers constantly request John to return to their classrooms speaks volumes on the impact he has had on their students,” added Wise.
Koons is living proof that anyone can volunteer.
“Everybody has a story,” Koons said. “Being there in the classroom, that’s what’s important to these kids. They know you’re volunteering. They know you don’t have to be there. Just to show you care, there’s nothing better than giving.”
“It’s such a great feeling to see that you’re making a difference.”
In 2015, Koons was honored by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.
“John was born for this job,” said Madison Elementary math teacher Anne Luttrell Lawrence. “He has touched the lives of thousands of kids at Madison. He has taught them not to mess with electricity and how businesses are organized. He is Cat in the Hat every spring and Santa Claus every Christmas. Madison Elementary thinks the world of our friend and mentor, John Koons.” In addition to mentoring, Koons is past chairman of the Junior Achievement Board of Directors and an avid recruiter for new mentors.
One of Koons’ favorite volunteer stories happened just a few years ago. Teaching seventh graders financial literacy, he found himself at a Norman Chamber of Commerce banquet when some friends came up.
“They said he’s not into school at all … but he came home after you started teaching this and he’s excited and talks about it all the time,” Koons said. “What was really neat six years later I saw that couple again. The mom said (the son) was now at the Price School of Business at OU. It was Junior Achievement that started him in that direction.”
Junior Achievement makes it easy to volunteer in the classroom. Lessons are premade and all volunteers have to do is show up.
“I find that when I share the things I didn’t do well in my life that’s when the kids really sit up and listen,” Koons said. “I tell them my story and how it hurt me over the years.”
And Koons jokes he has lots of those experiences.
“I don’t have the best story in the world about education because I went to school for two years after graduating high school in 1970 and both years I did terrible,” he said. “My dad looked at my transcript and said ‘you’re wasting your time and my money. I think you need to go to work for a while and then see if you are serious.”
So Koons entered OG&E in the mailroom. More than four decades later he’s worked his way up the ladder. Years later Koons went back to finish his degree and then earned a master’s degree.
It’s a story that Koons enjoys telling and one that has made an impact on literally thousands of Oklahoma school children.

What are you looking forward to this holiday season? Integris Canadian Valley Hospital volunteers

Having my family come from Washington State and St. Louis to visit. That will be the highlight.  Carolyn Furgeson

A visit from Santa Claus would be wonderful. Becky Horn

My son lives in OKC and I’ll be here with him and his family. Eleanor Fuller

My family is having a reunion in Colorado so there will be 14 of us traveling to Pueblo. Morna Martinez

Oklahoma Forestry Services announces the retirement Forest Ranger Jack Fain on November 1, after 29 years of service. Fain, who is based out of Oklahoma Forestry Services’ northeast regional office in Tahlequah, has assisted on wildfire suppression across the state as an engine boss.
“Jack is an extremely competent leader who always knows how to improve situations and prevent accidents in hazardous wildfire conditions, said George Geissler, director, Oklahoma Forestry Services. “We appreciate Jack’s service and will certainly miss his wildland firefighting experience and expertise. We wish him well.”
A cattle rancher in the Chewey community, Fain’s retirement plans include ranching and helping his children and friends with their business ventures as needed.

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer
Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve realized that hospitals are being scrutinized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services like never before.
Care standards such as core measures are by now commonplace and improving Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems scores are keeping hospital executives up at night.
But for the first time this year hospitals in America who excelled in these areas were eligible for the coveted CMS five-star rating.
Community Hospital CEO Debbie Kearns, RN, recently learned her hospital received five stars.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Kearns said. “It reflects the hard work and commitment all of our team members have to providing safe, quality care.”
Community joins select company in Oklahoma with only Oklahoma Heart Hospital, McBride Orthopedic Hospital and Oklahoma Surgical Hospital in Tulsa earning five-star status.
“Community Hospital is committed to providing safe, quality care for every patient,” Kearns said. “Our physicians, nurses and other clinicians are committed to continually improve care. We appreciate the trust patients continue to place in our ability to meet the highest standards of care and are pleased that Community Hospital has achieved the top rating of five stars.
“The five-star rating is a direct reflection of the hard work and dedication of our team members and shows their true commitment to providing our patients with the best experience possible.
Our work doesn’t stop with this ranking, instead it serves to reinforce our mission of becoming the premier hospital in the country specializing in surgical care.”
The Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating is designed to help individuals, their family members, and caregivers compare hospitals in an easily understandable way. Over the past decade, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published information about the quality of care across the five different health care settings that most families encounter.
The new Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating summarizes data from existing quality measures publicly reported on Hospital Compare into a single star rating for each hospital, making it easier for consumers to compare hospitals and interpret complex quality information.
The methodology for the new Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating was developed with significant input from a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) and refined after public input.
CMS will continue to analyze the star rating data and consider public feedback to make enhancements to the scoring methodology as needed. The star rating will be updated quarterly, and will incorporate new measures as they are publicly reported on the website as well as remove measures retired from the quality reporting programs.
For Kearns and her hospital, which includes a new campus in North Oklahoma City, the five-star ranking was validation of what she sees every day.
“Our culture in our organization is one of hiring the best staff, the best team and to have the best group of doctors,” Kearns said. “Our goal of being a premier surgical hospital, if you don’t continue to maintain those quality initiatives and focus on the customers you can’t maintain that rating.”
Kearns has been notified that Community will receive the quarterly five-star rating again for the next quarter.
“Every employee has to be committed to providing that five-star experience for our customers,” Kearns said. “We don’t have any opportunities to sit back and provide less than an exceptional experience. When we hire employees we set that expectation and raise that bar really high.”
CMS collects the information on these measures through the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program and Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program.
Hospitals are only assessed on the measures for which they submit data. Some of the measures used to calculate the Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating are based only on data from Medicare beneficiaries and some are based on data from hospitals’ general patient population, regardless of payer.
“Today, we are taking a step forward in our commitment to transparency by releasing the Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating,” CMS said in a statement. “We have been posting star ratings for different facilities for a decade and have found that publicly available data drives improvement, better reporting, and more open access to quality information for our Medicare beneficiaries.
“These star rating programs are part of the Administration’s Open Data Initiative which aims to make government data freely available and useful while ensuring privacy, confidentiality, and security.”

73 year old Side Saddle Sisters of Oklahoma member makes trip to Kentucky

Jo Rench a savvy 73 year old senior and her horse, Snapper, recently returned from a 12 day trip to Kentucky with the Side Saddle Sisters of Oklahoma. The SSSO is an equestrian drill team of 6 horses and riders, who ride the old fashioned, elegant way-aside. Jo has resided in Edmond for the past 36 years.
The “girls” who range in age from 9 to 73 started their trip by attending the Rolex, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington for the 1st 3 days. The Rolex is the only 4 Star 3 Day Event held in the western hemisphere. International and U.S. riders and their horses try to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. They then traveled to Louisville, where they worked at the Pegasus Preview, and rode in the Kentucky Derby Pegasus Parade, with their parent group, the American Sidesaddle Association. On Friday, they were back at the KHP to start their performances at the Breeds Arena. In the evening they attended the ASA awards banquet, where the girls won numerous awards for their activities during 2015. The Saturday and Sunday performances were well received by the audiences. It was a tired but happy group that made their way back to Celtic Cross Equestrian Center in Norman, Oklahoma, with dreams of another trip in the future. They will be appearing in local parades, rodeos, and other exhibitions.

Dear Savvy Senior, What can you tell me about incentive trusts? I have two adult children that are financial disasters. Before I die, I want to put some type of requirements in place that they will need to follow in order to receive their portion of my estate. Otherwise, they’ll blow it all in the first year.
Troubled Parent
Dear Parent,
If you want to influence your family members even after you’re gone, an incentive trust is definitely an option to consider. Here’s how it works, along with some tips to help you create one.
Incentive Trust?
An incentive trust is an estate-planning tool designed to help prod your heirs in a direction you desire when you’re no longer around.
With an incentive trust, some or all of your assets are passed to your trust when you die rather than directly to your heirs. Your trustee is empowered to distribute funds from the trust only if and when your beneficiaries do whatever it is you have specified in the trust.
For example, an incentive trust might encourage a beneficiary to graduate from college, enter a particular profession, get married or even have children. They could also reward beneficiaries who do charitable work, or supplement the incomes of those who choose low-paying, yet meaningful careers like teaching or social work. Or, they could penalize beneficiaries who don’t work by cutting off or decreasing distributions, or placing restrictions on heirs with addictions by requiring that payments go directly to rehab centers.
But be aware that these types of trusts can also have drawbacks. A poorly constructed incentive trust can have a high risk of unintended consequences. For example, if your trust provides a financial incentive for your children to be employed full-time, but one of them gets sick or seriously injured in a car accident and can’t work, they would be punished unfairly.
You also need to know that incentive trusts aren’t cheap. You can expect to pay an attorney $2,500 to $5,000 to draft one.
There are also legal limits on what you can do with an incentive trust. While state laws vary, incentive trusts that encourage a beneficiary to join or leave a particular religion, or leave a spouse or not marry at all, can be challenged in court and possibly struck down.
How To Make One
To create a solid incentive trust that accomplishes what you envision, tell your estate-planning attorney that you want to include precise instructions that clearly spells out your wishes, but you also want to include language granting your trustee the right to use his or her discretion and that the trustee’s decisions should be final and binding.
This allows your trustee to make common sense rulings, which will reduce or eliminate the chances of unintended and unfair consequences. It also makes it very difficult for beneficiaries to successfully challenge the trust or trustee in court. When a trust grants final decision-making authority to its trustee, it becomes almost impossible for beneficiaries to successfully argue that this trustee is not correctly implementing the trust’s terms.
The key is to select a trustee who’s smart enough to interpret your intent and has sufficient backbone to stand up to beneficiaries when necessary. You also need to select a successor trustee too if your first choice can no longer serve. Fees paid to a trustee vary widely depending on the state’s fee schedules, the size and complexity of the trust, and conditions laid out in the trust.

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.

by Traci Chapman
Staff Writer

Nursing has always been a way of life for Tina Singleton, her chance to bring healing and comfort to others.
With a heart for helping seniors, Singleton has always drawn on a personal experience more than two decades old, a painful memory that has spurred her to do everything she could for those in the twilight of their lives.
“What faces so many seniors is so awful – they want to stay in their home, but they might not be able to, assisted living can be so expensive and so impersonal, then there are nursing homes, something I will never forget,” Singleton said. “My grandmother went into the nursing home and in less than a year, she was gone – she just gave up.”
Singleton’s wish to give others the hope her grandmother lost was what spurred the Oklahoma LPN from the start; now, a new concept called Home Choice, aimed at bringing that comfort home could change Oklahoma’s home health care landscape.
“This is a completely different way of looking at things, a way to give more people an opportunity to have a real home, while they still get the best quality care,” Singleton said.
To get to Home Choice, Singleton had her own path to follow. After working for private care agencies, she in 2009 founded Right Choice Personal Assistance, a company offering traditional home health services to seniors and other home-bound patients. With more than 50 employees serving about 90 home health patients, caretakers assist individuals on a daily, weekly and as needed basis.
“The service is completely tailored to each individual need,” Singleton said.
Helping those who needed Right Choice’s home health services has been gratifying, a way of providing not only medical services, but also a helping hand to others – but something was always missing, Singleton said.
“It just seemed like there was so much more, something beyond the services we have been providing all along,” she said.
As Singleton thought and prayed about it, she was joined in April 2015 by Rhonda Baze, who would join the Right Choice team as community liaison. It was then a plan slowly came into focus – a house that could be turned into the home so needed by many seniors.
“It can be so difficult for seniors to remain independent – if they don’t have someone to help, there is so much to keeping up a house or even an apartment,” Baze said. “The maintenance, the cooking and then the healthcare they might need.”
“This is a solution, something that is not just a service but a home,” Singleton said.
Home Choice is just that, a home located in northwest Oklahoma City, large and specially fitted and ready for seniors to move in. While the house features some amenities found in assisted living facilities – things like 24-hour common area video monitoring, fire sprinklers, emergency lighting, an above-ground storm shelter and even a small salon – it is a private house with large living areas, private, fully accessible bathrooms and a sunny patio and backyard.
“It really is a home, like any home, where everyone has their own room – couples together or in adjoining rooms, if they like, roommates, singles on their own,” Singleton said. “They can garden if they like, play games, have companionship or just be on their own when they like – but they will always have the medical care and support they need, every hour of the day.”
Because the home houses only nine people, that means caregivers can give everyone everything they need, Singleton said. From nursing services to help with everyday issues like hygiene, exercise, transportation, meal preparation, housekeeping and more. Costs will include rent, utilities, home and yard maintenance, food and all care.
“It really is completely their choice,” Baze said. “They can be part of meal planning and cooking if they like, or they can be pampered and served.”
“Everyone needs to feel useful, to feel needed and some people will want to do things like gardening, like helping with other aspects of the house, they might want to volunteer somewhere, they want to be independent as long as they can, and that’s all possible here,” Baze said. “From the most independent of seniors, those who can drive and are very active to those bed-bound – everyone is welcome.”
Caregivers will be on duty 24 hours a day and will be chosen from long-standing Right Choice employees with a proven track record.
“In fact, anyone wanting to be part of this had to submit a separate application and go through a separate interview process,” Baze said. “We want people who are on the same page as us and who truly understand what is expected of them.”
“It’s always been most important to me that caregivers treat those we serve the way they would expect to be treated,” Singleton said. “We provide companionship, care and what they need to have a full and happy life – and that’s what’s important.”