By John D. Doak, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner
Currently, more than 678,000 Oklahomans are enrolled in Medicare. Are all of those beneficiaries getting the proper coverage at the most affordable price based on their respective budgets? Unfortunately, the answer is likely no but there is a solution available during the Medicare Open Enrollment period.
The Medicare Open Enrollment period runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. During this time, beneficiaries can review their current medical and prescription drug coverage, as well as explore new options available to them that could provide better coverage at a reduced cost.
Did you know that last year there were 20 different prescription drug plans available to Medicare beneficiaries ranging in price from $17 to $166 a month? Most people would likely pick the cheaper option to save money. However, sometimes the cheaper option isn’t always the best option. For example, what if a beneficiary were to enroll in the cheaper plan option only to find out that a particular medication he or she was prescribed isn’t covered under the cheaper plan? In that scenario, it would mean that the cheaper plan wouldn’t cover any of the costs for that drug, which would result in the beneficiary having to pay the full price for that medication. Ultimately, the beneficiary in that situation could actually wind up spending twice as much or more for his or her drug costs that year.
Here are some other considerations for Medicare beneficiaries to think about each year:
* Did your physician prescribe a new medication for you in the last year?
* If so, will your current prescription drug plan cover that new medication or is there another drug plan available that will cover it and could help save you money?
* Have you noticed that the monthly premium or co-pay amount for your current drug plan, which does cover all of your prescribed medications, has increased significantly?
With so many different Medicare plans available, each with different monthly costs, co-pays and drug lists, how do you make the best decision for yourself?
That’s where the Medicare Assistance Program (MAP) at the Oklahoma Insurance Department comes in. MAP is a grant-funded program that offers free, unbiased counseling to Medicare beneficiaries concerning their different options for Medicare coverage. MAP counselors are available to meet with seniors in-person or on the phone to answer questions about original Medicare, Medicare supplement insurance, Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare prescription drug plans. Within that, MAP counselors can help Oklahoma seniors evaluate their current coverage and explore the options available to them for the coming year.
Last year, MAP counselors helped Oklahoma seniors save, on average, an estimated $2,100 per person. In addition, MAP can help Oklahoma seniors living on fixed incomes in applying for financial assistance to cover their medical and/or prescription drug costs.
There are trained counselors across Oklahoma available to assist and provide a more personal approach to Medicare coverage counseling. Please call 800-763-2828 to find a counselor near you.

story and photo by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

For 44 years now Norma Cartwright has showed up to work each and every school day to teach kids.
She’s never given a test, a quiz or even homework.
But tying on an apron at five in the morning, Cartwright gives every student what they need to succeed as Oklahoma City Public Schools’ longest-tenured cafeteria employee.
“I don’t know. I like to cook,” she said of what’s kept her in the kitchen all these years. “I like baking. I started out in the bakery department and it’s all I’ve ever done.”
In the early days she baked from scratch. Sandwich bread, hot dog and hamburger buns, cookies, cakes and cinnamon rolls all were made by Cartwight’s loving hands.
Things got a little easier through the years as the district moved to more prepared items. But she’s always put the same amount of heart into whatever she’s doing.
And as her career winds down she says it warms her heart to see the district offer free meals to every student in the district for the first time.
“I thought it was great,” she said. “When I was going to school, lunch hour was my favorite. I always looked forward to it. Now the kids can come in for breakfast or lunch and eat what they want off the menu and enjoy their meal. No stress, they can just eat.”
Breakfast at Roosevelt means preparing some 500 meals. Lunch balloons to over 700.
Carol Jones is Cartwright’s cafeteria supervisor. She’s amazed at the increasing numbers of meals coming out of the kitchen.
“It’s awesome and we don’t have to hound the kids for money and call and hound the parents,” she said. “It’s one of the best things (the district) has ever done.”
From the first day of school, cafeteria managers reported an increase in the number of meals served.
Gwen Thompson has been in the kitchen with Cartwright for 21 years.
“We love her,” Thompson said. “(And the free lunches) have been a blessing. I’ve always wanted that.”
Cartwright raised three kids and sent all of them through Oklahoma City Public Schools.
She stayed home until the youngest entered junior high.
A school schedule meshed perfectly with a family schedule.
Years later, she’s still in school even though her kids have kids of their own.
“I have never met any woman I haven’t liked all these years,” she said. “I’ve made a lot of good friends and I enjoyed working with them. Almost all of them had children like I did.”
Schools across the district report serving more meals.
Teresa Gipson works at Shidler Elementary located on the corner of SE 15th and S Byers.
She entered the district in 1982 at West Nichols Hills and moved into the kitchen 12 years ago.
“I like working with kids,” Gipson said. “(Working in the cafeteria) is still taking care of children. You’re feeding them and the most important thing for a child to eat is breakfast.”
On more than a few occasions Gipson and her fellow co-workers have gone into their purses to get money to pay for student lunches.
“I know we’re not supposed to do that but …,” Gipson said. “It’s not their fault and sometimes the parents just don’t have the money to pay for it. (Free meals) is a good idea – a good idea.”
“Every kid should get to eat.” Gipson explained that once a student’s lunch account balance reached a certain number a note would be sent home to the parents. The child could receive only a few more lunch trays before they were unable to choose what they wanted to eat.
From there, a sack lunch with a peanut butter jelly sandwich, a fruit and a milk would be their only option.
“(At Hawthorne Elementary) there was this one girl who had to get a sandwich. I could tell she was embarrassed. She took it but threw it away and I noticed she sat there for a while and then got up and walked off,” Gipson said. “I could tell that was really embarrassing.”
Kevin Ponce has spent his entire career in child nutrition. Oklahoma City’s school nutrition services director says the district could break even if not see a return on its investment through the USDA’s reimbursement program.
“Hopefully, universal feeding will go nationwide where we get away from keeping kids in categories,” said Ponce, who noted 53 of Oklahoma City’s 74 schools offered free meals prior to this year. “It’s great for the kids and great for the district. We support education so anything to get the kids ready for the classroom is a huge thing.”
Cartwright has six grandchildren – all within the OKC metro. She says she plans on spending at least one more year with the district.
She’s still got a lot of free meals to prepare.

By Darlene Franklin

How do I rest in God in a situation where drama occurs daily?
Five minutes at a time, that’s how
I lived for many years with a daughter who suffered from borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD is characterized by pervasive instability-moods, relationships, self-image. As her mother, I felt like she was a black hole that sucked me dry and spit my bones back out.
I struggled for twenty-four hour periods I could call good. Hours were easier to come by. Some days I settled for minutes. If I waited for a perfect day, I was doomed to disappointment. So I relished whatever time God’s love broke through the clouds.
That experience came to mind when I asked a cousin how she had survived the death of her mother and the breakup of her marriage, a month apart.
Her answer was profound “I.dont.know!” She begged God to bring her husband back, but she knew God never deserted her. “It wasa time of waiting and toughing it out, sometimes five minutes at a time.”
Each of her answers rang a bell deep in my heart
Resting in God didn’t mean the absence of difficulties. Both Jan and I tried to tell God how to fix the problem. Perhaps you do the same.
What changed was we knew where to take our problems. Only God knew every detail of every day. We talked to Him about we wanted, because only He could bring about that miracle.
In the process, we learned something else: we trusted God because He never deserted us.
Intellectually, few of us have a problem with that statement, but experience gives the knowledge weight. I sat in the balcony of my church, mouthing the words of praise songs, unable to sing because I was crying. Before and since, I tune to Christian music when in need of a praise fix.
In that holy, wordless place, God held when I fell apart. His constant, loving presence carried me through the years following my divorce, my son’s teenage troubles, my daughter’s lifelong troubles, the double whammy of my mother and daughter’s deaths, and more recently, my failing health.
My cousin learned a similar lesson when her teenage son nearly died in a traffic accident. After three days of the continuous bad reports, she told the Lord that He could have Macon. She not only thanked God, she also “drew a ‘line in the sand.’ Did I truly trust God?” Giving her child to Jesus was the hardest thing she had ever done.
She returned to the ICU late that same night, expecting nothing. A nurse looked at me and tilted her head as if she was puzzled. “He seems to be turning a corner.” Macon clung to life. Later she learned at that very hour a circle of nurses was holding hands and praying for him.
Friends and family continued to visit, all bringing a message of hope. Macon lived.
Powerful. Impossible. I can’t do that, we might say. That will never happen for me. I could never pray like that. A lot of her peace grew because during her divorce, she had already learned that resting in God sometimes meant toughing it out, sometimes five minutes at a time.
Life in a nursing home involves a lot of waiting, and I hate it. Lately God’s given me tons to write. I have plenty of time … if I felt better. If I didn’t need an aide to move my meal tray so I can set up me computer.
Of course, help comes eventually, but I still have to wait. Perhaps it’s time to make use of my old kitchen timer.
When I’m counting the grains of sand in the hour glass, it runs in a continuous supply in heaven.
Early in the morning, I pull the call light. “Just five minutes.” Half an hour later, no one has responded. I remind myself that God’s measuring cup is as full as ever. As the clock winds down to noon, I think, “Still five more minutes?” In the mid-afternoon lull, I tell myself, “it’s only five minutes.” By the time I’m ready to head to sleep, I pray, “You’ll keep me for five minutes.”
God gets me through the day, five minutes at a time.

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.

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.

On Tuesday, November 7, 2017, Oklahoma City’s Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble will present its second concert of the 2017-18 season, “Masterworks for Three,” featuring chamber works by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century composers, all of whom wrote extensively in the genre. The Ensemble will present trios by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Brahms. The Mendelssohn trio is one of his most popular chamber works and is recognized as one of his greatest. The sweetly-melancholic Brahms trio commemorates the death of his mother earlier that year and was the last chamber work he would write for the next eight years. All three compositions on the program of this Jeannette Sias Memorial Concert are masterworks by three of classical music’s greatest masters. The works on the program are: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Trio in G Major, K. 564 (for violin, cello and piano) Felix Mendelssohn, Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, op. 49 (for violin cello and piano) Johannes Brahms, Horn Trio in E-flat Major, op. 40 (for horn, violin and piano).
Brightmusic musicians performing are: Gregory Lee (violin), Meredith Blecha-Wells (cello), Kate Pritchett (horn) and Amy I-Lin Cheng (piano)
The performance will take place at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 7 at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 127 NW 7th Street (at Robinson). Individual concert admission is $20 per ticket. Children, students and active-duty military personnel are admitted free with ID. More information about this concert is available on Brightmusic’s website at http://www.brightmusic.org.

The Board of Health (Board) met at 7 p.m. today in emergency session and accepted the resignation of the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) Commissioner, Terry Cline, Ph.D., effective immediately. Dr. Cline has served as the OSDH Commissioner since June 2009. The Board appointed Director and Secretary of Finance, Preston Doerflinger, as Interim OSDH Commissioner. Director Doerflinger will assume his new responsibilities on October 31, 2017.
The resignation of Commissioner Cline came on the heels of information received by the Board that OSDH is faced with an immediate financial loss predicated upon multiple years of over-expenditures and fiscal mismanagement. In addition to Commissioner Cline, the Board acknowledges the resignation of Julie Cox-Kain, OSDH Senior Deputy Commissioner, effective immediately.
“The Board takes these matters very seriously and is prepared to take all steps necessary to ensure that OSDH continues its important work in the area of public health” said Board President Martha Burger.” Burger wants to assure the employees that the Board is committed to the critical work they perform for the citizens of Oklahoma.
OSDH is taking steps to address the problems head on and put OSDH back on sound financial footing. In addition to steps previously taken to address the shortfall, OSDH signed an engagement letter today for a special audit by the Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector’s office to address the issues that have led to the current financial situation.

Most of us have heard the phrase, “Don’t count your chickens until they hatch” or “Don’t put the cart before the horse.”
In Louise Bryant’s world, the saying goes, “Don’t count pecans until you have them in the sack.”
The Bryants’ existing family tree is loaded with pecans.
Louise, 76, husband Carrel, 79, son Randy, 56, and daughter Lisa, 45, make up Bryant Pecan Company of Ada.
“Mother Nature dictates much of whether the pecan crop is good or not,” Louise said. “Rain at the right time is critical. For instance, when nuts are filling out, they need water, but when they are pollinating, they need dry weather. An early freeze in the winter or a late freeze in the spring can also destroy the crop. A few years back we had a freeze on Halloween. It got the crop for that year and also the buds for the next year. Even when the tree is filled with nuts, rain can keep you out of the field from harvest or wildlife can destroy a crop.”
Thus comes the saying, “Don’t count pecans until you have them in the sack.”
Family business
Louise was raised on a Jersey dairy about four miles south of Ada. She witnessed, from early on in life, a family operation.
Their dairy delivered door to door, and occasionally, in the case of her brother Albert, beyond.
“Sometimes, Albert would go into houses and put the milk into the refrigerator for them,” she said.
Louise met Carrel through 4-H Club, but they didn’t start dating until her first year at East Central University in Ada.
In college, they came across each other one night while dragging Main Street. They had a lot in common and shared many of the same values. Carrel and Louise married in 1960 on his parent’s wedding anniversary, April 13.
Carrel grew up northeast of Ada in the Francis and Cedar Grove area, and the family has passed down the story that his father, A.A. Bryant, cut down many of the native pecan trees, “but he kept enough to pay his taxes from pecans each year.”
When they married, Louise and her husband moved to Carrel’s dad’s place and that’s where they continue to live. He and his dad farmed together as long as his dad was able to farm.
“After we got married, my dad gave us a Jersey heifer which we kept until she got sick,” she said.
The Bryants now own about 690 acres with almost 2 miles of river bottom on the South Canadian River. In the early years of their marriage, cattle and hay were their primary products but they still picked up native pecans.
Today, son Randy oversees much of the daily operation, which focuses on pecans and a herd of purebred Horned Hereford and primarily Angus commercial cattle from which they raise black baldies. Daughter Lisa handles the marketing and promotional products of the family business.
“We have always had some pecans,” Louise said. “We started focusing more into the pecan industry in about 1981. A big crop that year changed our focus. We got mechanical harvesters and it looked like a way to increase our farm income.”
Louise said they probably have upwards of 4,000 trees now. In addition to the native pecans, the majority of their trees are improved varieties.
The more you shake this family’s tree, the more you learn just how much each member is involved, such as Louise.
Through the years on the farm, Louise has raked hay, brush hogged, fed and worked cattle and grafted, harvested and cleaned pecans.
“We also have a retail store where we market many of our pecans as well as candy, pecan oil, Amish products and gift items,” she said.
These days, that retail store occupies most of her time. She manages the daily operations of doing the paperwork, ordering supplies, shipping orders and running the retail space.
There have never been lulls in Louise Bryant’s life.
Besides helping on the farm, she taught at Byng Schools for 21 years.
“When I taught, I brought farming to the classroom through Ag in the Classroom,” she said. “For example, I hatched chickens in an incubator for the children to watch.”
She has also taught a Sunday school class, been a 4-H leader and was president of Pontotoc County Home Demonstration Council. Bryant was secretary/treasurer of the Pontotoc County Fair Board for 11 years.
She served nine years on the Farm Service Agency board.
“I followed Carrel on the board, and Randy replaced me,” she said.
Bryant also has served on the Pontotoc County Farm Bureau women’s committee and as a director for the Oklahoma Hereford Women.
From tree to pie pan
“Take 1 1/2 cups of pecans, 1 unbaked pie shell, a 1/2 cup of butter…”
That’s the way Bryant’s recipe for “Mama’s Best Pecan Pie” – the 2014 Oklahoma Pecan Food Show Grand Champion Pie – starts off.
Bryant is not only a pecan producer. She’s a fan from tree to pie pan.
“I find it interesting that pecan trees rarely die of old age. They either die from disease or damage such as lightning, wind, drought or ice,” she said. “I also find it amazing that something as good as pecans can also be so good for you.”
That comment led to the question of, “What makes for a good pecan pie?”
“I’ve never seen very many bad pecan pies,” she said. “A good pecan pie starts with quality pecans. I like for my pecan pies to be firm with lots of pecans.”
October sunshine
Recently while out among the pecan trees, Bryant looked up at some of the weighted branches, bowing with pecans that will soon be harvested. As she did, the October sunshine in Pontotoc County seemed to just reflect off her face, highlighting her smile.
During their 57 years of marriage, Carrel and Louise have both survived cancer and other illnesses, “and feel extremely blessed to still be able to function and help keep the farm operating.”
In addition to the phrase about waiting to count your “pecans until you have them in the sack,” Louise, when facing the challenges of daily life, often reflects on what her grandmother Canzada Newton, often repeated.
“When things get hectic, I think of her saying, ‘a hundred years from now it won’t make any difference anyway,’” Louise said, “and it helps put things in perspective.”