By: Jessie Motsinger, Iris Memory Care

As Thanksgiving approaches, we want to pause in gratitude for our seniors and express how much we value their place in our lives. For seniors, especially those individuals coping with Alzheimer’s and dementia, feeling important to the people they love can be vital for health and quality of life. Every moment matters, and the little things can make all the difference. Here are a few ways you can be proactive about showing your loved ones that you see and care about them! (These can be modified depending on your loved one’s mobility and interests.)

Take them out to lunch, or cook their favorite meal. Sharing favorite foods and treats can spark memories, creating opportunities for chats about treasured moments.

Make a scrapbook with them (or for them), and include letters, photos and other special mementos. This is a wonderful opportunity to research and learn more about your loved one, their friends and family, and their work, hobbies, and accomplishments.

Ask them to tell you a story (and be a patient listener!). One of the best ways to learn about our history is to listen to someone who has lived it. Having a loved one be genuinely interested in you feels so meaningful!

Go on a field trip – visit places that are familiar and have fond memories (childhood home, ice cream shop, an outdoor park, or a favorite store). Familiar sights, sounds, and smells often trigger cherished memories and help even the quietest individual share!

Take a family photo, frame it, and have family members sign the frame. Dusting off those old family memories sitting in a box or photo album shows your loved one that the moment in the photo has meaning to you.

Get crafty and make homemade decorations for their room. Putting forth time and effort on a loved one’s behalf to make their surroundings cheerier has the two-fold benefit of making them feel valued while also bringing a little life to their space!

Encourage them to participate in classes or activities at a local senior center or senior living community (and then join them). Staying active and engaged has been shown to increase longevity and quality of life. Let your loved one know about different activities in the community and offer to give them a ride or help arrange transportation. Show interest in what they are up to!

How can you tailor these ideas to meet your loved one’s specific health needs? For an expert opinion, please contact a personalized consultant from Iris Memory Care at (405)-330-2222.
11

7 Ways to Show Appreciation to Your Loved One
By: Jessie Motsinger, Iris Memory Care

As Thanksgiving approaches, we want to pause in gratitude for our seniors and express how much we value their place in our lives. For seniors, especially those individuals coping with Alzheimer’s and dementia, feeling important to the people they love can be vital for health and quality of life. Every moment matters, and the little things can make all the difference. Here are a few ways you can be proactive about showing your loved ones that you see and care about them! (These can be modified depending on your loved one’s mobility and interests.)

Take them out to lunch, or cook their favorite meal. Sharing favorite foods and treats can spark memories, creating opportunities for chats about treasured moments.

The residents at Iris Memory Care love when our home is filled with the smell of fresh cookies or warm bread.

Make a scrapbook with them (or for them), and include letters, photos and other special mementos. This is a wonderful opportunity to research and learn more about your loved one, their friends and family, and their work, hobbies, and accomplishments.

Philip’s favorite part of scrapbooking is preparing the pages for the pictures.

Ask them to tell you a story (and be a patient listener!). One of the best ways to learn about our history is to listen to someone who has lived it. Having a loved one be genuinely interested in you feels so meaningful!

Thanking Harry for his decades of military service. He has some stories!

Go on a field trip – visit places that are familiar and have fond memories (childhood home, ice cream shop, an outdoor park, or a favorite store). Familiar sights, sounds, and smells often trigger cherished memories and help even the quietest individual share!

Philip, an avid reader, loved visiting the library with Sylvia.

Take a family photo, frame it, and have family members sign the frame. Dusting off those old family memories sitting in a box or photo album shows your loved one that the moment in the photo has meaning to you.

At Iris Memory Care, our families make sure their loved ones’ memory boxes by their door are filled with pictures and mementos with wonderful memories.

Get crafty and make homemade decorations for their room. Putting forth time and effort on a loved one’s behalf to make their surroundings cheerier has the two-fold benefit of making them feel valued while also bringing a little life to their space!

Diane painting clay ornaments to decorate her room for fall.

Encourage them to participate in classes or activities at a local senior center or senior living community (and then join them). Staying active and engaged has been shown to increase longevity and quality of life. Let your loved one know about different activities in the community and offer to give them a ride or help arrange transportation. Show interest in what they are up to!

Doris enjoying the sunshine while she draws.

How can you tailor these ideas to meet your loved one’s specific health needs? For an expert opinion, please contact a personalized consultant from Iris Memory Care at (405)-330-2222.
11

INTEGRIS broke ground on the health care system’s first micro-hospital. The ceremony was take November 1st at 10 a.m. at 3391 S. I-35 Service Road in Moore. While the event was held at one location, it signified and celebrated all four of the micro-hospitals INTEGRIS plans to build in Central Oklahoma.
Last October, INTEGRIS officials announced they would be working with Emerus to open small-scale, fully licensed inpatient hospital facilities in different quadrants of Oklahoma City, to bring high-quality care closer to home. “We want to provide local neighborhoods with more choice and convenience when it comes to health care,” said INTEGRIS President and Chief Executive Officer Bruce Lawrence. “Our micro-hospitals will offer 90 percent of the medical services many patients and families will ever need.”
Emerus is the nation’s first and largest operator of such hospitals and is a nationally recognized, innovative leader in the delivery of emergency, inpatient, and diagnostic health care. Each joint venture facility will be open 24-hours a day, seven days a week and will be equipped to respond to almost any medical issue a patient may present with; including those that may be life threatening or require complex, critical care.
“The benefit of these facilities is two-fold,” stated Emerus Chief Executive Officer Craig Goguen. “While they help relieve emergency rooms at large comprehensive hospitals by treating the non-emergent needs that can overcrowd such institutions; they are also quickly accessible to stabilize and in many cases even treat truly emergent patients in their own neighborhood when time is of the essence. We’ve seen it in every community we’re a part of, these hospitals make a huge difference in people’s lives.”
Emerus operates similar facilities across the country in places like Dallas, Denver and Houston. The INTEGRIS micro-hospital in Moore will total about 50,000 square feet and will include an emergency department, inpatient unit, laboratory, and imaging services as well as medical offices for physicians and other health care providers.
The new facility will offer expanded health care to the community with compassion, efficiency and excellence, while maintaining the highest standards for quality, safety and service.
All four INTEGRIS micro-hospitals will house between eight and 10 inpatient beds for observation and short-stay use, and include a similar number of emergency treatment and triage rooms, along with primary and specialty care physicians, diagnostic and other outpatient clinic services.
The three other planned locations are in Northwest Oklahoma City, Far West Oklahoma City and Del City. The Moore facility is scheduled to open in early 2019 and the remaining locations should be up and running by the end of that year. Additional INTEGRIS micro-hospitals could be on the horizon in the future.

The Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star presented the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation with a check totaling $10,175 at its annual conference on Sunday.
The donation will fund OMRF research on cancer and other diseases, such as lupus, heart disease and multiple sclerosis. With this donation, the Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star has now donated a total of $331,058 to OMRF research since 2002, when it selected OMRF as its charitable beneficiary.
The donation was presented at the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple in Guthrie.
Eastern Star members support OMRF through individual donations made at chapter meetings statewide, including marches and various donations made in memory of loved ones. Overall, 47 additional chapters have also made individual gifts to the foundation.
OMRF Vice President of Development Penny Voss described the Oklahoma Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star as the definition of philanthropy.
“The long-time support from the members of the Oklahoma Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star has a huge impact on OMRF,” she said. “Each year their gifts go directly to our scientists to help in their quest for new treatments and cures for diseases that affect all of us. We are truly grateful to every member for their belief in our mission to help people live longer and healthier lives.”
The Order of the Eastern Star is the largest fraternal organization in the world to which both men and women may belong. It counts approximately one million members across the globe and is dedicated to furthering charity, education, fraternity and science.
It has approximately 8,000 members and more than 90 chapters in Oklahoma, including groups in Bartlesville, Blanchard, Broken Arrow, Clinton, Enid, Guthrie, Hennessey, Lawton, McAlester, Muskogee and Woodward.

The world is running out of antibiotics.
In a new report from the World Health Organization, research showed that too few new antibiotics are being developed to counter the growing threat of infections that are resistant to currently available antibiotics.
“Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest and fastest-growing health crises facing our planet,” said Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation immunologist Hal Scofield, M.D. The CDC estimates that 23,000 Americans die each year from infections that don’t respond to standard treatment with antibiotics. And this number is only going up.
Antibiotic resistance occurs when a bacteria, fungi, or parasite is no longer curable by medicines previously able to treat them. For example, if you give a patient antibiotics and it kills 99.9 percent of the bugs that are causing the disease, the 0.01 percent that survive can become superbugs that are resistant to the medication.
“This happens routinely, and we know it’s going to continue until protocols are established in medicine to minimize it,” said OMRF President Stephen Prescott, M.D., a physician and medical researcher. “Unfortunately there are a lot of forces working in the other direction.”
The primary cause for the surge in superbugs is excessive use of antibiotics. According to the CDC, healthcare providers write 47 million unneeded antibiotic prescriptions each year in the U.S. alone. “It’s routine for antibiotics to be prescribed for conditions that they can’t treat, things like sore throats, colds and other viral infections,” said Prescott.
Scofield emphasized that patients also bear some responsibility. “People often demand antibiotics from their healthcare providers in situations where they won’t help,” he said. “And for a variety of reasons—including the desire to please patients and to receive high customer-satisfaction ratings—the providers often reluctantly accept.”
Finding ways to administer antibiotics only when needed is important, said Prescott. But so is proper usage by patients once the drugs are prescribed. “This means never skipping doses or stopping treatment early, even if you feel better,” Prescott said.
He added that the use of antibiotics in animals like chickens, cattle and pigs may also be a culprit. “The drugs speed the animals’ growth and how much meat they have on them, but they are also very likely contributing in a significant way to the rapid rise of superbugs,” he said.
The new WHO report states that 51 antibiotics and 11 natural medical products are in development, but the fear is that it won’t be nearly enough, because many won’t make it all the way through trials to enter the market. The WHO also warns that many are only short-term solutions, as well, because most are just modifications of existing treatments.
“People in Oklahoma need to realize this isn’t a rare thing that only happens in third-world countries. It’s occurring all over,” Prescott said. “It’s a real problem and it’s not one that will be easily solved. There are big, wholesale structural changes that need to happen.”

stroy and photo by Bobby Anderson, staff Writer

Given the option, few people would turn down a good, home-cooked meal.
But sometimes circumstances just don’t make it possible.
That’s why Cynthia St. Peter decided to create Mealfull to give everyone – even those who can’t afford it – the opportunity to have comfort food.
“Even though I’ve turned 63 I have an entrepreneurial spirit,” the company founder said. “When I get bored I create something.”
After retiring from a 40-year music ministry career, St. Peter found she still had a passion to create.
“Food – it’s a win-win for everyone,” St. Peter said. “Feeding people is just a basic need. Whether they’re homeless and they can’t afford it we’re going to give it to them. If they’re shut-ins and can’t get out of the house we’ll get it to them.
“And if they’re millennials and they just wished something was on their porch when they got home it’s going to be there.”
Mealfull operates out of Earth Elements Kitchen in the historic Farmer’s Market District in Oklahoma City.
All food is locally-sourced, farm-to-table..
Breads are baked fresh at 4:30 a.m. by St. Peter’s chef, who then prepares that day’s offerings.
“My heart is in three special places,” she said when asked what the business looks like.
ON THE GO
With 15 years as a single parent, St. Peter knows first-hand there is a need for quality food for busy people.
“It would have been great if there was a food delivery service that actually cooked it, it was delicious and they brought it to you,” she laughed.
Busy people get up early and work late. There’s really no desire to shop then come home to cook.
All too often the drive-thru is the default first-choice for busy people.
“We stop at a fast-food place and pack on 40 pounds,” said St. Peter, who admitted even when she worked as a chef she would go through the drive-thru at the end of the day.
Today’s millennials encounter a job market like no other in history. St. Peter sees her own daughter’s embedded in the rat race, with little time to slow down between work and family.
Mealfull can have hot selections waiting for them on their front porch or can go inside and stow them away in the fridge.
STAYING IN
Another facet of the business is providing meals to seniors in their homes.
“They don’t feed themselves. They have the money but they make friends with the pizza guy so that’s what they order every night,” she said.
“Wonderful, comfort food” is how St. Peter describes her menu, which rotates weekly. And it’s not just a drop-off solution.
Another option Mealfull offers is going into a client’s home and cooking the meals on-site.
“I have a real passion for Meals on Wheels but it makes me sick they don’t have the time to visit,” she said. “It’s drop off and go.”
That allows for hot food and good company – something many seniors are starved for.
ZERO WASTE
At the end of the day, MealFull coordinates with local social workers. St. Peter prides herself on a zero waste policy.
“We deliver the food to the homeless at their under-the-bridge camp,” St. Peter. “We have so much waste in the food business. If we were a restaurant we would have to throw it away. But we’re not … so we can do whatever we want to do with our food at the end of the day.
“That’s a very exciting part of what we’re doing.”
For the past 10 years, families have hired St. Peter to go into their loved one’s homes to cook for them.
“Families would hire me because their parents wouldn’t eat,” she said. “They wouldn’t cook for themselves because they couldn’t. They wouldn’t eat because they would think they weren’t hungry – especially those with dementia.
“I would serve them and they would woof it down. It was just taking care of our brothers and sisters.”
St. Peter quickly became a part of the family, going into the home and serving not only as a provider of sustenance but a source of peace of mind for the children who worried about how their mother or father was doing living alone.
HOLIDAY DINNER
Mealfull is also offering the option of ordering an entire holiday dinner for as few as two to as many as 12. Feasts include slow-roasted turkey breast, sliced spiral ham and a cornucopia of sides and desserts.
Delivery is offered at no extra charge.
Orders are now being accepted through Nov. 17 or while supplies last.
Got to mealfull.com for more information or call 405-568-6684.

story and photos by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

A few years back, Kim Peterson faced the classic mid-life crisis.
Bad marriage, bad health, altogether bad outlook on life.
So she truly had reached a crossroads.
Option one was to continue down the path she knew for what she already had.
Option two was make some radical changes and roll the dice and see what happens down the road.
Peterson quite literally sprinted down that road and hasn’t looked back, finishing the Boston Marathon earlier this year and securing a new lease on life.
“(Running) has improved my health, my mood and every part of my life,” Peterson said. “I have more patience, more tolerance. I feel better and when you feel better you interact with others better. You see the world more optimistically. I can turn any negative into a positive.”
That’s a plus for anyone but particular someone in her line of work.
Peterson is a licensed alcohol drug counselor with a mental health endorsement who has worked for AllianceHealth Midwest more than five years.
She’s the longest-tenured mental health counselor in the building.
Searching and hoping for change she began running.
She started with 5k runs for the first couple years.
Her sister, who worked for 7-11, called to ask if she wanted to run in the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.
The options were 5K, 10K and half marathon.
“Being a smart aleck I said ‘I’ll do the half marathon if you will,’” she said. “She signed us up so I had to start training.”
Peterson had no idea how to train for a distance of 13.1 kilometers, which translates to slightly more than eight miles.
She just ran it. And she’ll be the first to tell you she botched it.
“I hit the wall,” she said. “I didn’t get anything to eat or drink and that is an amazing experience. I think it might be worse than a heart attack. I finished and I remember laying on the asphalt … I was crying and I thought I was going to die.”
She had depleted pretty much every electrolyte in her body.
And she almost depleted her will to ever run again.
It took her a couple months for her mistake to really set in.
She thought maybe she could prepare differently.
So she decided to try another run.
“Then I got addicted to them,” said Peterson, who was an All-State runner at Western Heights growing up. “I started getting pretty decent then I ran a full marathon.”
Coalgate was the site of her first marathon.
The mud-covered course was laid out over a mustang ranch.
She’ll never forget the herds of wild mustangs that ran beside her. For nearly two hours she was as free as they were.
She’s been hooked on the adrenaline ever since.
Earlier this year she tackled the vaunted Boston Marathon.
The trip resulted in a personal record time.
“Probably one of the things that stood out to me was the amount of Olympians that were there … it was just amazing,” she said.
Running hasn’t been the only change she made.
She decided to enter a bikini contest.
“I just get craziness in my head,” Peterson laughed. “I want to practice what I preach to patients. I always tell them not to limit themselves. If you want to set your mind to do something do it. Every day things happen that I don’t believe. I never would have believed I could have run a half marathon.
“You couldn’t have told me I would put on a bikini and get on a stage and I got a fourth-place trophy.”
Now Peterson is a fit, fabulous and fetching woman in charge of her life who inspires others every single day.
She’s become the official health mascot among hospital employees. Everyone wants to know what she’s eating for lunch that day or what she’s going to do after work.
It’s no strange occurrence for Peterson to get up and run eight miles. She averages 30 miles a week. Her next goal is to run first place in her age-group at next April’s Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.
“Anybody in the hospital who wants to get on a health kick, whoever wants to do it I’m more than willing to help them,” said Peterson, who is also a certified equine therapist.
And Peterson is living proof that sometimes a crossroads in life can be the opportunity for something amazing.

Photography and Text by Terry “Travels with Terry” Zinn t4z@aol.com
As seniors we have grown up and through the space race with its many accomplishments, many made by Oklahoma Astronauts. Once such celebrated Oklahoma astronaut is Lt. General Thomas P. Stafford. The Stafford Air Space Museum is a destination not to be missed if in or near Weatherford, Oklahoma. It is next to Interstate 40, at 3000 Logan Road.
You are greeted even before entering the museum with the Pathway of Honor exhibit. Here you can buy a customized brick around the foundation of the Apollo boilerplate exhibit in front of the museum. A 4 x 8 inch brick with two lines of text is $70, or the larger 12 x 12 inch brick with the option of a Company Logo with text, for $225.00. Your named brick will be in the company of astronaut legends of Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan, and Jim Lovell among others. For further information and to contact the Pathway of Honor and museum call 580-772-5871.
The museum was named a Smithsonian Affiliate in 2011 as it houses over an acre of exhibits representing the evolution of aviation and space flight. They have worked closely with the Smithsonian Institution, NASA and the U.S. Air Force Museum assembling one of the best collection of aerospace artifacts in the central United States.
While there are some artifacts that are samples or replicas, many are the actual item used in space. This includes Stafford’s 1969 flown Apollo 10 pressure suit, space shuttle main engine, the mission control console, a disarmed Mark 6 nuclear warhead and an F-86 “Sabre” Fighter. Besides American artifacts are Soviet examples like the Soviet Mig-21 “fishbed” fighter, one of the most produced jet fighter aircraft in history as the front-line fighter during the Cold War. There is also the actual V-2 Rocket Engine, as the only remaining actual V-2 rocket engine left in existence which was developed by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Replicas are also on display including: the Bell X-1 rocket plane that punched through the sound barrier in 1947, Hubble space telescope in 1/15 scale, and the full scale replica of the Gemini Spacecraft flown by Stafford in the Gemini 6 and 9 missions.
Stafford was born in 1930 and raised in Weatherford, graduating from Weatherford High then on to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1951. In 1962 he was selected in the second group of NASA astronauts and would go on to fly four space missions. In 1979 after retiring from the Air Force, he has flown nearly 130 types of aircraft and helicopters and logged near 508 hours in space. Today Stafford maintains a home in Oklahoma City and one in Florida near the Kennedy Space Center.
When in Weatherford a lunch or dinner at Benchwarmer Brown’s Sports Grill, at 108 East Main, is a delicious choice. A sports type bar/restaurant with video screens, offers several menu items, including a juicy Chicken strip entre. Other offering are fresh burgers, hand breaded onion rings, other sandwiches, and brick oven pizza. At just over a year old, Benchwarmer fills a dining option welcomed in Weatherford.
If your road trip is not rushed an overnight at the clean and comfortable Days Inn might be your economic destination. Complete with a warm do it your self-breakfast area, pool and plenty of parking, it fills the needs of the average traveler. It is an easy off and on from the Interstate and less than a mile to downtown, at 1019 East Main.
Why spend time and a money consuming trip to the Washington DC’s Space Museum – although it is amazing – when you can conveniently get an in-depth sample at the Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma? More information at www.staffordmuseum.org

Mr. Terry Zinn – Travel Editor
Past President: International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association
http://realtraveladventures.com/author/zinn/
www.okveterannews.com – www.martinitravels.com

Growing up in the Holland province Fryslan, Anita Van der Laan never imagined she would one day have an 8,000 head dairy in Oklahoma.
Van der Laan’s love for dairy began at a very young age on her family’s 90-head Holstein dairy back in Holland. She is a 5th generation dairy farmer, with farmers on both sides of her family.
A defining moment in Van der Laan’s life occurred when she was graduating high school. Because she was a woman, the family dairy went to her brother, and her father told her it was time for her to find somewhere else to work.
“It really hurt,” Van der Laan recalled. “It still hurts 30 years later. But it made me want to encourage other women to go into the dairy industry.”
Van der Laan made the decision to move to the United States and start dairying here. Her life took another twist when she attended a Thanksgiving dinner in Texas with neighboring dairy farmers. A young man named Pieter Van der Laan had a birthday on Black Friday, so the friends decided to decorate his house for his birthday while he was out milking.
Little did Van der Laan know, Pieter grew up about 30 miles down the road from her in Holland, also on a dairy farm, though the two had never met before coming to Texas.
“I met him that day and the rest is history,” said Van der Laan. “We’ve been married 27 years, 7 months and 8 weeks. I’m still counting the days because we are still in love. Can’t help it.”
After the two were married on January 26, 1990, they combined their small herds, got a loan from the bank and started their dairy with 40 cows. Both kept their other jobs to pay off the loans so they could buy more cows. Their herd slowly and steadily began to grow. Today, they have grown to 8,000 head of dairy cattle.
“We never imagined in our wildest dreams we would milk this many cows,” laughs Van der Laan. “Our kids call us cow hoarders.”
They have two dairies in Frederick, Okla., Van der Laan Dairy, milking 2,900 cows and Sunshine Dairy LLC, milking 1,500 cows. Van der Laan is proud to say they are 100 percent owned by her and Pieter. Sunshine Dairy LLC sells their milk to Lonestar Milk Producers, and Van der Laan Dairy sells their milk to Select, which sells milk to Hiland Dairy, a popular brand seen in grocery stores across Oklahoma and surrounding states.
But no success story is without its trials. Sometimes many.
One morning when Van der Laan was out feeding calves, one particular Brown Swiss calf named Gemma butted during feeding, causing the bottle to painfully bump Van der Laan in the chest.
A very tender lump appeared within days, and after several weeks of no improvement, she finally went to see a doctor. Her fears were confirmed when the doctor diagnosed her with breast cancer.
Van der Laan says if it had not been for Gemma, the cancer would not have been found.
“I had never even held a bottle that way,” Van der Laan said, “It was just meant to be.
“I really believe that God doesn’t send angels in the way that we think of them,” Van der Laan said, “He sends them in the way we need them. I really believe she was my angel.”
Though Gemma sadly passed away during Van der Laan’s chemotherapy treatments, Gemma’s bloodline lives on at the dairy. She has three siblings on the farm—Gloria, which means glory to God, Gertrud, which means glory to God in Dutch, and Grietje, which means pearl of God in Dutch.
“Her mama is still around too,” Said Van der Laan. “Every time I talk to her I tell her she’s the mama of an angel.”
Van der Laan will forever hold a special place for Gemma in her heart.
“She saved my life,” Van der Laan said. “In all the dairy farming, you would never imagine God would send you an angel like that—but He did.” Difficult times did not stop with Van der Laan’s fight with Breast Cancer. 2011 proved to be a very challenging year, bringing severe weather such as extreme heat, drought, and tornadoes.
In June 2011, their dairy was hit by a small tornado. The contractor had just completed the remodeling and repair work in October when an EF-4 tornado devastated their dairy on November 7, 2011. They lost over half of their baby calves, 450, and many more cattle were injured.
“People we didn’t even know came to help,” Van der Laan recalled. “They took our injured calves that I couldn’t care for and took care of them, we got them all back in December.”
A farm they frequently did business with came with a large trailer and took the remaining healthy cattle back to their farm to allow the Van der Laans to rebuild and recover.
“We still to this day have cows that limp or have scars,” Van der Laan said. “They are our tornado victims, but they are still here.”
Van der Laan says despite the hard times, Oklahoma has been good to them, and she can’t imagine dairying anywhere else, especially because of the way their neighbors came to their aide in the time of need.
“Oklahoma is home to us now,” Van der Laan said.
Today dairies across the country are selling out and going out of business, so one can’t help but wonder what makes the Van der Laans continue to dairy. It is certainly not an easy life. Dairying is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year— it never stops. But Van der Laan simply laughs and says she understands it is not for everyone.
“I love the industry, I love the people, I love promoting our wonderful product,” she said. “That’s just what I love to do. It doesn’t matter where you are—in the grocery store, talking to a stranger, we have to promote our product. When someone finds out I’m a dairy farmer and they tell me they drink the other types of milk, I love to tell them why they have to drink the real McCoy.”
The Van der Laans have three children, Eric, Wilma and Liza, who have all come back to work and help with the family dairy.
Most recently, Wilma and her new husband have joined the family’s operation. Wilma’s husband is an engineer and now heavily involved in their 6,000 acre crop farming, and Wilma continues to help out with the dairy.
“I wanted to raise my daughters to know there is no difference between them and brother—they can dairy too,” Van der Laan said, “Especially because of what happened to me. I’m so proud of her [Wilma] for saying she wanted to go back to the family farm and dairy.”
Van der Laan says working with their three children is very special, and describes it as a beautiful life.
“I don’t know what I would do without it,” she said. “I have 25 heifers in the back yard right now, just because I can. I have plenty on the dairy, but I love to bring some home. These are my pets.”

Dear Savvy Senior,
What are the eligibility requirements to get Medicaid coverage for nursing home care?
Caregiving Daughter

Dear Caregiving,
The rules and requirements for Medicaid eligibility for nursing home care are complicated and will vary according to the state where your parent lives. With that said, here’s a general, simplified rundown of what it takes to qualify.
Medicaid Eligibility
Medicaid, the joint federal and state program that covers health care for the poor, is also the largest single payer of America’s nursing home bills for seniors who don’t have the resources to pay for their own care.
Most people who enter nursing homes don’t qualify for Medicaid at first, but pay for care either through long-term care insurance or out-of-pocket until they deplete their savings and become eligible for Medicaid.
To qualify for Medicaid, your parent’s income and assets will need to be under a certain level that’s determined by their state. Most states require that a person have no more than about $2,000 in countable assets that includes cash, savings, investments or other financial resources that can be turned into cash.
Assets that aren’t counted for eligibility include their home if it’s valued under $560,000 (this limit is higher – up to $840,000 – in some states), their personal possessions and household goods, one vehicle, prepaid funeral plans and a small amount of life insurance.
But be aware that while your parent’s home is not considered a countable asset to determine their eligibility, if he or she can’t return home, Medicaid can go after the proceeds of their house to help reimburse their nursing home costs, unless a spouse or other dependent relative lives there. (There are some other exceptions to this rule.)
After qualifying, all sources of your parent’s income such as Social Security and pension checks must be turned over to Medicaid to pay for their care, except for a small personal needs allowance – usually between $30 and $90.
You also need to be aware that your parent can’t give away their assets to qualify for Medicaid faster. Medicaid officials will look at their financial records going back five years to root out suspicious asset transfers. If they find one, their Medicaid coverage will be delayed a certain length of time, according to a formula that divides the transfer amount by the average monthly cost of nursing home care in their state.
So if, for example, your parent lives in a state where the average monthly nursing home cost is $5,000 and they gave away cash or other assets worth $50,000, they would be ineligible for benefits for 10 months ($50,000 divided by $5,000 = 10).
Spousal Protection
Medicaid also has special rules for married couples when one spouse enters a nursing home and the other spouse remains at home. In these cases, the healthy spouse can keep one half of the couple’s assets up to $120,900 (this amount varies by state), the family home, all the furniture and household goods and one automobile. The healthy spouse is also entitled to keep a portion of the couple’s monthly income – between $2,030 and $3,022. Any income above that goes toward the cost of the nursing home recipient’s care.
What about Medicare?
Medicare, the federal health insurance program for seniors 65 and older, and some younger people with disabilities, does not pay for long-term care. It only helps pay up to 100 days of rehabilitative nursing home care, which must occur after a hospital stay.
Find Help
For more detailed information, contact your state Medicaid office (see Medicaid.gov for contact information). You can also get help from your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (see ShiptaCenter.org), which provides free counseling on all Medicare and Medicaid issues.
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.

Mercy continues to fulfill the promise of expanding health care services in south Oklahoma City with the opening of a new family medicine and pediatric care clinic at 1060 SW Fourth St. An official blessing with ribbon cutting is scheduled at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 4.
“We’re always looking for ways to better care for and cater to our patients,” said Di Smalley, Mercy regional president in Oklahoma. “Mercy already has a strong presence in north Oklahoma City and Edmond. We’re ready to provide that same level of patient care to those in south Oklahoma City and the surrounding communities.” The clinic includes family medicine physicians Sarah Cox, DO; and Misty Hsieh, MD; pediatrician Cerissa Key, MD; and Lara Rodkey, APRN-CNP. Imaging and lab work are also offered at the clinic. The newly constructed 11,800-square-foot clinic includes 24 exam rooms with space to accommodate an additional four providers as health care needs in the community grow.
Clinic hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
All providers are accepting new patients. For an appointment, call 405-378-5491.