Former OK Governor Frank Keating shares cancer diagnosis; records message of support for ACS

The days following the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, were some of the most chaotic in Oklahoma’s history. Governor Frank Keating and his wife, First Lady Cathy Keating, were on site moments after the blast, and proved to be the calming force an uneasy state, and nation, needed at that time.
Today, the Keating’s are lending their voice to another critical need, and that is support for Oklahoma’s American Cancer Society. While much of the headlines this year have focused on COVID-19, every day 23 Oklahomans die from cancer.
“I have a high level of admiration for the American Cancer Society,” Keating said. “I think the non-profit community and organizations like ACS are some of the most essential services in the nation. They provide services the government could not provide, and it’s vital to support them during these times.” (story continues below)

Keating is a cancer survivor himself and knows first-hand how devastating a cancer diagnosis can be.
“I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 2017,” he said. “I am a product of the ‘50s and ‘60s generation and we never thought about sunscreen. Back then when I was at the Culver Military Academy, I wore my naval officer’s uniform, and I had a hat, but I didn’t wear it that often. All those years of sun exposure are what directly led to my melanoma.”
The Governor first noticed the spot on his forehead a few years ago while still living in Virginia. He went to a dermatologist, who said it was nothing to worry about.
“So, I covered it with a little makeup, and went on with my life,” Keating said. “When Cathy and I moved home to Oklahoma, my doctor here said it looked suspicious and biopsied it. Sure enough it was melanoma, and it was aggressive. My surgeon removed it and said he got it all. But I still wanted a second opinion, so we went to MD Anderson, and the doctors there confirmed the cancer was gone. They praised the doctors here in Oklahoma, and that made me feel proud.”
Recently, the Keating’s recorded a public service announcement for the American Cancer Society of Oklahoma. It will begin airing on the organization’s social media channels on December 1, which is known nationally as #GivingTuesday. Other notable Oklahomans participating in the campaign are Oklahoma County Clerk David B. Hooten, and former news anchor Cherokee Ballard. Singer Pam Tillis, who has Oklahoma connections, is a cancer survivor and recorded a message of giving.
“We see Oklahomans die from cancer every day,” said Katie VanFossen, ACS Cancer Control Strategic Partnerships Manager. “One thing COVID-19 has taught us is to take preventative measures like washing our hands and wearing a mask. If we can learn to do that, we can learn to listen to screening guidelines and get more people tested for cancer. We work every day to get this message out to our friends and neighbors; maybe now this will get their attention.”
Throughout its 107-year history, ACS has made significant progress in attacking cancer. A vaccine for HPV, for example, has been proven to be an effective cancer barrier. Breast cancer deaths declined 40 percent from 1989 to 2016, largely due to improvements in early detection and treatment.
“We can continue this progress and reduce the daily number of cancer deaths if we approach cancer the same way we approach COVID,” VanFossen added. “Most people would be okay with getting a COVID test every day, yet many react with fear at the thought of a colonoscopy, lung scan or even a mammogram.”
This year, mammograms are down 87 percent due to COVID-19, and part of that is related to the mandated shutdown last spring.
“Mammograms are just one example,” she says. “Other screenings have been affected too. So that means when a person is diagnosed with cancer, their disease will likely be at a later stage, and ultimately we will see the mortality rate increase.”
Looking farther down the road, VanFossen says it’s difficult to imagine what the “new normal” will be. Hospital systems are now understaffed, she says, along with increased costs for healthcare.
“We understand COVID is scary,” she says. “Most of us have never seen anything like this in our lifetimes. But we want to get the word out that cancer remains a very real threat. Talk to your physician about any issues you may have and listen to their advice. As a society, we cannot forget about cancer even during a global pandemic.” The former Governor agrees.
“Cathy and I shot this video for the American Cancer Society because we believe it’s so important to let people know ACS needs help,” Keating said. “We all have people in our family or circle of friends who have been touched by cancer. When you hear the word ‘cancer,’ it can be very scary. But it is reassuring to know you’re not out there on the lake without a paddle, and ACS will be there on your journey.”
More information on the American Cancer Society can be found at Cancer.org, or by phoning the HelpLine at 1-800-227-2345. Look for the Keating’s #GivingTuesday message beginning Dec. 1 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @ACSOklahoma.

INTEGRIS General Surgery Yukon is proud to welcome Jason Brown, M.D., to the team.
Brown received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and completed his General Surgery Residency at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. He finished his Fellowship in Surgical Critical Care at the University of Hawaii, Queens Medical Center. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons, Society of Critical Care Medicine and the American Medical Association.
“The most gratifying part of what I do is having the opportunity to offer a surgical solution to a person with a surgical need and having the privilege of witnessing the positive impact on their life.”
His areas of interest include: Laparoscopic surgery, endocrine surgery, hernia surgery, colorectal surgery, breast surgery and gallbladder surgery. Brown offices at INTEGRIS General Surgery Yukon, 1205 Health Center Parkway, Suite 100, in Yukon. Call 405-717-5400 for more information or to make an appointment.

When Mary Schneeberger’s 100-year-old pecan tree snapped during October’s ice storm, part of her heart broke right along with it.
“It lost a major portion of its trunk and its future is in jeopardy,” said Schneeberger, who lives in Oklahoma City’s Mesta Park neighborhood. “It’s just a beautiful tree that adds so much to the house and the property. I was devastated.”
But her boyfriend, Adam Cohen, offered up a silver lining thanks to coworkers at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. Cohen, OMRF’s senior vice president and general counsel, knew that foundation scientists Patrick Gaffney, M.D., and Michael McDaniel had decades of experience as woodworkers. (Story continues below)

“I called Pat and Mike and they hurried over to look at the tree,” said Cohen. “They each told Mary they thought they’d be able to make her keepsakes from the wood.”
Gaffney said he thought he could fashion some tables, while McDaniel would aim for a selection of salad bowls and vases. “We’re very excited, because we’ve seen their work, and they’re both incredibly talented craftsmen,” said Cohen.
But Schneeberger’s silver lining will take time. Like science, woodworking has its roots in patience.
Gaffney and McDaniel recently wrapped two years of work on nearly 30 original tables, bowls and vases from an ailing sweetgum tree. The diseased tree belonged to Gaffney’s senior lab manager, Kiely Grundahl.
“Sweetgum is a challenging, unpredictable wood to work with,” said McDaniel, whose work from the tree is on display at The Art Hall in Oklahoma City through Nov. 30. “But once I saw it had a fungus, all kinds of possibilities and options started racing through my head.”
Under the right conditions, fungal growth in wood results in a sought-after feature called “spalting.” The natural decaying process develops unique coloration, dark lines and patterns in lumber. Art, meet science.
Divided between the artisans, the wood from Grundahl’s tree was stored for a year to allow spalting to continue and for the lumber to dry. For Gaffney and McDaniel, the wood proved a boon for all the extra time spent around the house in 2020.
Like most of OMRF’s workforce, Gaffney spent the early days of the pandemic working from home. If he got stuck on a research problem, he’d head out to the small woodshop in his garage to do some thinking while sanding slabs or treating the wood from Grundahl’s sweetgum. “I think it even made me more productive with my science. It was the perfect place to think,” he said.
McDaniel also finds respite in the craft. A self-taught woodworker, he fell in love with the hobby when a storm knocked down several Kentucky coffeetrees on his property.
“Every step is rewarding and peaceful in its own way. It’s honestly not too complicated, just time-consuming and requires creativity when things don’t go as planned. Part of the fun is finding the beauty in the chaos,” McDaniel said.
Gaffney and McDaniel’s garages are now full of future projects. Oklahoma City officials estimate the recent ice storm generated 100,000 tons of debris, and the pair got plenty of calls.
OMRF’s Cohen said he knows it may be years before he and Mary see what beauty can be found in the storm’s damage, but it will be well worth the wait.
“If Pat and Mike are able to take a moment of loss and transform it into something beautiful Mary can treasure,” he said, “that will make her immensely happy.”

Oklahoma man battling rare disease inspires others

For many families, COVID-19 has changed the way we celebrate Thanksgiving this year. Still, a young father of four in Elgin, Oklahoma shows others that gratitude can exist even in the face of adversity.
Tyler Fikes is not one in a million, but he is one in about 100,000 people each year who develop a rare condition known as Guillain Barre Syndrome, a disorder in which the body’s own immune system attacks its nerves. The cause of GBS is not clear, but it is preceded by a viral infection in some people. Fikes recalls he had just gotten over a cold when he first noticed symptoms.
“It was Thursday about noon. I’d been working at my computer. It had kind of the same sensation as if your arm or something went to sleep and it was waking up, that little pins and needles feeling. I thought well maybe I’m holding my hands against the side of the desk or something and I didn’t really give it much thought,” he said.
Within days, though, he was in the hospital, paralyzed from the neck down.
“So, from Thursday at noon to early Monday morning, that’s how long it took. I went from being able to do whatever I want to literally not being able to scratch my own nose,” Fikes remarked.
Doctors prepared Fikes and his wife Savannah for the worst. The disease was progressing fast and there was a very real possibility that Fikes would lose the ability to breathe without the help of a ventilator. Still, Fikes did not lose his faith or his determination.
“You do what you do. This is the hand that I was dealt, and God said, ‘Do it.’ and we said, ‘Okay.’ I had a lot of prayers. I actually had people praying for me from the Philippines, India, you know all over the world. By the next morning, they said, ‘it looks like it has stopped progressing. It should be all recovery from here. And here we are two years later still recovering,” he said with a smile.
That was two years ago. Today, at Valir Physical Therapy in Elgin, Fikes continues to do the hard work of recovery. Physical therapist Stephani Chambers has been at his side month after month, witnessing firsthand his true grit in action.
“He doesn’t have that give up factor. He’s like, ‘No, let’s try it again even when he is purely exhausted,” Chambers said. “He would always be like, ‘No, let’s give it one more, come on we can try it again.’ I’m like, ‘OK, let’s try it again.’ You could throw a lot at him and he’s going to give it every ounce of effort he’s got. He’s going to give it everything plus some.”
Steadily, Fikes made progress. He experienced wins. First, getting out of the wheelchair, then the ability to dress and feed himself. The road to recovery was not without setbacks, but those never phased Fikes. For him, it was just part of the process.
“You’re working, you’re making progress, leaps and bounds and then it just stops for a while; and then all of the sudden, it’s like, I haven’t tried that in a while. And you try it, and it just works. It’s like, hey, that’s motivation to get to the next plateau,” he explained. Chambers says Fikes has always had the right combination of commitment and belief.
“I always tell patients therapy is 50 percent what you put into it and 50 percent what you believe about it. He’s got both components. He’s got the mind component and the effort component. So, his process is 100 percent his to gain,” she said.
Fikes has definitely seen gains over the past two years at Valir. He regained not only the ability to walk, but the ability to drive again too. He struggles still to regain full use of his hand; but when his fourth child was born, he cut the cord himself – another meaningful victory for Fikes. His newest goal is to regain the ability to pick up his children.
“Right now, I can kind of cradle them in my arms and use my shoulders and my core to kind of pick them up, but being able to pick them up with my hands and do stuff would be really nice. But we work around what we got,” he said.
Fikes’s never-say-never attitude is inspiring to all who know and meet him.
“To see the different milestones he’s hit each time is really rewarding. We’ve all cried with him when he’s cried and Savannah’s cried, and we all have those happy tears when we hit those other milestones,” Chambers said. Through it all, both the ups and the downs, Fikes and his wife Savannah stay rooted in faith, always looking to the future with optimism. Although it is not the path he would have chosen to take over the past two years, Fikes believes there is always light even in dark times. He explained that were it not for the tests done when he developed GBS, a nodule on his thyroid might have been missed.
“You know, if I hadn’t had this, I would be walking around with potentially deadly cancer and I wouldn’t know it. So, you know, it’s all going to work out and my job is to just keep working,” he said.
And in a year that has pulled the rug out from under many people everywhere due to COVID-19, Fikes shared this perspective:
“You with deal with what life gives you. You keep on going and the sun comes up in the east and sets in the west. That’s what you do.”

By Nick Thomas

Many performers have recorded videos of encouragement for fans throughout the COVID-19 pandemic months. But few, if any, have been as prolific as Neil Sedaka.
With more than 150 mini-concerts posted since April on his YouTube channel NeilSedakaMusic, the singer, pianist, and composer of 60s hits such as “Calendar Girl” and “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” continues to churn out the casual performances from behind his home piano several times a week and plans to continue into the Christmas season and beyond. (story continues below)

“The response from people all over the world has been unbelievable, even those who were never really Neil Sedaka fans before,” said the 81-year-old singer from Los Angeles. “They can’t believe my body of work.”
Sedaka’s repertoire would impress any artist.
“I started writing songs when I was 13 and have composed over 800,” said Sedaka who, in late March, was one of the first entertainers to post a video of hope during the early pandemic days in the US in the form of rewritten lyrics to “Oh! Carol,” his hit from the late 50s.
A week later, his first mini-concert – filmed by his wife on a cellphone from their New York home with the family parrot in the background – consisted of a medley of a half-dozen Sedaka hits.
“I just thought the music could be therapeutic for people locked down at home,” he recalled. “Then people began requesting songs on my Facebook page, so I decided to continue the mini-concerts.”
For Sedaka, too, the performances have helped get through the months of isolation after moving to the family’s Los Angeles home earlier in the year.
“I’ve continued to play all the big hits, but I’ve also done a lot of my lesser-known songs that I like to call my forgotten or neglected children,” he said. “Some of them I wrote 60 years ago and haven’t played for years, so it can take a while to relearn the lyrics along with the chords and rhythms. But it’s been very enjoyable for me as well.”
Trained as a classical pianist at New York’s Juilliard School, Sedaka discovered pop music as a teen and teamed up with lyricist Howard Greenfield to co-write the songs mentioned above and many more. In later years, other hits were written with Phil Cody (“Laughter in the Rain,” “Bad Blood”) but Sedaka’s love for classical music never waned.
“There are not many singer-songwriters of my era who can play Chopin, Debussy, and Bach!” he said. “I’ve even performed a few piano pieces during the mini-concerts.”
Like other artists, Sedaka’s live tours have been postponed until 2021 (see www.neilsedaka.com) and he says the mini-concerts have helped fill the void all entertainers are experiencing this year. He’s also been appearing monthly on the Sirius XM channel ‘50s on 5’ with his program “In the key of Neil.” While he’s looking forward to returning to live concerts next year, don’t expect to hear any new Neil Sedaka songs since he stopped composing several months ago.
“I felt if you can’t top it, you should stop it,” he said. “I think the reason I’ve been around so long is I’ve always been able to raise the bar, reinvent Neil Sedaka, and to develop and grow. It’s still very gratifying to hear my music played on the radio – the songs will outlive me.”
Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 850 newspapers and magazines.

Story and photos by Darl Devault, Feature Writer

Some outdoor activities come with social distancing, such as hiking, kayaking, bicycling, while Jeeping is an everyone activity because your effort is as simple as driving. Jeeping offers the automatic added benefit of a COVID-19 safe recreational outing enforcing social distancing.
You can travel far to Jeep off-road or as close as nearby country roads. At Outdoor Powersports Offroad Park at Crossbar Ranch near Davis, Okla., drivers have many trails to choose from within the 6,500-acre park. While touring road and trails of Crossbar’s granite canyons you realize there are many places to enjoy being outdoors away from people.
Edmond, Okla. resident, and retiree, Rob Walker, 65, wants to increase his Jeep activity. He explains you do not have to rule the off-road world. You can simply take advantage of what it offers, immersion in nature and social distancing. He insists seniors who take up the 4-wheeling off-road lifestyle will likely continue it long after vaccines make traveling safe again.
“Isolated in your vehicle, a person driving a Jeep cannot get close to anyone without intending to get close,” Walker said. “I took a five state Jeep tour in June to Moab Utah with caution, finding if you camped in the outback you had to consciously work to get within social distance of someone. This, and it being the area’s offseason, made it safe to have a wonderful outing.”
Jeep travel and exploring provides enthusiasts with plenty of opportunities for recreation. Seniors looking for a zero COVID-19 risk reality on vacation can enjoy camping and the outdoors. (Story continued below)

From the increased sale of four-wheel drive off-road vehicles, insiders say this contingent of outdoor enthusiasts has been growing fast for many years.
Although magazine and television ads often portray Jeep owners as young and affluent, many retirement privileged seniors are learning the skills needed to enjoy what many see as rugged car camping.
Jeeping, also called off-road four wheeling, is the predominant name for the activity in America. Every year new enthusiasts create more demand for the continued strong growth in the already phenomenally large number of places to go off road.
Although you will occasionally see high-end Jeeps on the trails, the usual choice for locals is stock models These have enticed many new adventurers into the sport.
They enjoy the feel of control over rough roads. Jeeps allow them the stability and ease of getting up and over rugged obstacles. Every area has trails of with varying degrees of difficulty.
These off-road activities began soon after WWII with advances in the machinery became high tech. This has revolutionized the quality and lowered the need to be outstanding drivers for the recreational Jeeper. Jeeping provides opportunities for all ages, shapes, and sizes of folks, no matter their physical ability or driving level.
Jeeps have gone from being bare bones, WWII surplus workhorses, to having versatile number of uses. Many Jeeps are now used for a weekend, week, or longer, self-supported camping trip in the rugged parts of America.
Although using the word Jeep because they are often called Jeep trails, readers need to know many vehicles are every bit as rugged. Honda Ridgeline, Chevy Blazer, Honda Element, Toyota 4Runner, Subaru Outback, and Nissan Pathfinder, just to name a few, will work just as well.
All these rugged vehicles are easy to maneuver and stable. They all provide the feeling of being in control of something that glides effortlessly through the outdoors. This gives even the newbie the confidence to slip into the seat and go off road.
With all the automobile builders offering Web sites with tours of their products, you can comparison shop. Look around, do not buy the first vehicle you try.
For seniors, the attraction of doing what they have been doing for five decades or so, driving, has prompted many to try the sport now.
Everyone knows how to drive. Seniors can create haunting memories of their adventurous experiences off road, immersed in nature and enjoying the comforts of home while camping in the evening. The vehicle allows for the effortless hauling of all the camping gear needed to make a campsite as comfortable as you care to make it. Remember, you are not backpacking. You can bring along a small generator to combine the experience of camping with a little glamor and you have Glamping with spatial distancing.
If you choose to rent a Jeep at your adventure area, you can still pack your vehicle full of camping luxury for transfer at the rental site.
If you are brand new to the world of glamorous camping, search the Internet for ideas. In a world where public transportation is being shunned for its tight quarters with other people, you are in charge of who and how you associate with others.
“I advise anyone planning to go off road and camp in an area to first go online to the many web sites detailing the area and weather predictions,” Walker said. “Our national weather service provides this info to help promote its weather awareness agenda.”
Walker says fellow seniors who go off road need to slow down, let some air out of the tires at your destination to make the going smoother and admire the scenery.
As newcomers to the activity, many seniors can easily find out if they enjoy Jeeping by renting one for a day trip.
Seniors are living longer and have time to do things. Retirement is a time to explore. Figure out if this activity interests you. Is this how you want to spend your free time?
Walker recommends that seniors set some short-term goals and be thinking about their long-term goals. The short-term can be a trip to Crossbar. The long-term is perhaps a multi-day trip to Big Bend National Park at our southern border in Texas. You can think of both simultaneously.
All the major Jeep destinations offer Web sites describing rentals and trails. Canyonlands Jeep Adventures provides a complete overview of the sport. The U.S. National Park Service has a site allowing you find a place to go car camping and can help you get permits for certain camping spots.
Ending on a safety point, when in doubt, back out! If you are traveling on a trail or trying to maneuver around something that you are not comfortable with, do not do it. For more information visit www.rideyourlifestyle.com.

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

Travel is a gift. Under current Health conditions, Travel is sadly not advisable.
Perhaps come Summer 2021 world health will be safe or safer than present.
But this delay in physical travel should not negate planning a future travel adventure.
It might also be wise to plan a car trip relatively close to home. There are many enjoyable and interesting destinations in our own back yard. One such is Dodge City, Kansas.
Dodge City has developed its own PR catch phrase: “Get Into Dodge.”
Of course that is a ironic take on the wild west phrase of a lawman to an outlaw of, “Get Out Of Dodge.” I say, referring to one of the City’s hero’s, “Wyatt Earp Never Had It So Good.” This popped into my brain during my trips final dining experience at Prime on the Nine restaurant, while reflecting on the good experiences in Dodge. (story continues below)

Overlooking a golf course, the Prime on the Nine restaurant, offers the highest of service and food to informed tourists and locals. http://primeonthenine.com
If you have followed my articles for some time, you know I like the traditional dining experience of Martini, and perfectly cooked tender local steak to medium plus. This elegant venue filled these requirements to perfection and the perfect closing meal to my three day visit to Dodge City. Truly Wyatt Earp in his short stay in Dodge, “Never Had It So Good.”
Another outstanding dining experience is the Central Station Bar & Grill, https://centralstationdc.net/ where you have the option of dining in an authentic 1950 railway car. With a salute to the rails that opened up Dodge City to the cattle markets, it’s only proper to order a steak as well. I devoured a rib eye steak, side salad, sweet potato fries with onion rings. With four kinds of steaks to be mesquite grilled or with other choices including chicken varieties there is something to satisfy your western appetite. Despite being there on a very popular night, the service and quality of my meal did not suffer. To top of the entree the apple cobbler delight dripping with caramel and ice cream was an exquisite and unexpected finale. This venue also offers a dance floor and sports bar amenities as well as guest entertainers.
For a quick casual fix, the homemade pizza while you wait is offered at Dodge City Brewing, www.dodgecitybrewing.com, but closed on Monday and Tuesdays. To hear how vodka and gin is distilled, visit the Boot Hill Distillery, www.boothilldistillery.com with tours and tastings available. More interesting than the process is the building’s history and location on top of Boot Hill cemetery. The Vodka is mild and mixes well while the Gin is heavy on botanicals and sold at a premium price.
You must save time to tour the Boot Hill Museum, www.boothill.org, where a large new museum building is near completion. www.boothill.org/construction-update The Museum hosts an extensive gift shop with artifacts and memorabilia. The best part of admission is being able to walk into a replicate of the Old Dodge City wooden store fronts, including the Long Branch Saloon, complete with bar and piano. Other stores offer remembrance of shops that might have been in old Dodge City on front street. Walking back and forth on the wooden board walk you might feel a moment in old west time.
A walking tour of the town takes you by many of the bronze statues remembering many celebrities made famous by the Myth of Dodge city. Of cores there is Wyatt Earp and even Matt Dillon.
I drove up from Oklahoma City on what is casually called the Northwest passage on state highway 270 and 183. While the online map suggested a drive time of 4 and 1/2 hours its more like about 6 hours,but worth it for the destination and a chance to see the unspoiled landscape of Oklahoma, accented by a few wind farms. A mirage when fist approaching Dodge City you see a large hill covered in black. At first you wonder what causes the blackness, and soon see it is a massive panorama of black cattle, the prime resource of Dodge. All of this can be explained if you take the trolley tour, which also goes through the remaining inhabited buildings of Fort Dodge.
I happily stayed at the conveniently located Best Western North Edge Inn, where my first story room had an exit just feet away from my automobile parking. Of course they offer all the amenities you expect from a Best Western including the free morning breakfast to start your sight seeing off right.
So much to see and do in Dodge City so please check out more at: www.visitdodgecity.org

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

COVID cases are on the uptick and our healthcare community is exhausted. What a great way to give back to those that have done so much for our community while supporting small business! It’s a two-fer!
Many in our communities are looking for ways to give back to our frontline healthcare professionals and, while food deliveries are great, we have an idea that will last long after the next meal is served. How about pre-paying for the required training of a healthcare professional? These professionals have to recertify every two years at a minimum in CPR (known as BLS Provider); many, depending on specialty or area of expertise, also have to take ACLS and/or PALS as well. Heartland CPR presents the “pay it forward” frontline fighter scholarship that allows appreciative community members to pre-pay for a healthcare professional’s training – either by assigning that payment to a particular individual – or by letting us apply it on a first donated-first requested basis. We’ll let you know how your $100 training “scholarship” was used and who the recipient was (if you haven’t pre-selected); likewise, we’ll let the recipient know who funded their training (unless they prefer to remain anonymous, of course).
Heartland CPR wants to help be part of the solution to keep our healthcare professionals trained and working on the front lines and let them know how very appreciated they are in their communities! Reach out to us if this program is of interest to you or your place of business. Thanks for choosing Heartland CPR! Call 405-603-6666 or email Contact@HeartlandCPR.com.

Hospice nurse grateful to help COVID-19 patients

Story and photo by James Coburn, Feature Writer

Candy O’Neal’s biggest challenge in today’s nursing environment of COVID-19 has been the transition of caring for home-bound patients to those living out their final days in a nursing home, she said. She had to give up her previous patients up to another nurse to only work in one facility.
But O’Neal is used to being flexible in her career with a history in medical surgical care, emergency room care, and clinical nursing. Hospice is all about comfort and quality of life.
“Right now to me, this COVID stuff has kind of put people into a depression,” said O’Neal, RN case manager at Companion Hospice in Guthrie.
O’Neal understands the need to quarantine COVID patients to a room. But it has caused them more weight loss and cognitive changes. (Story continues below)

“It’s not getting out in the dining areas — not getting to have activities — not seeing their loved ones. Having a parent or a child come visit through a window that you can’t open is not the same. They’re lacking that though, and so that’s been pretty hard on them.”
O’Neal wouldn’t change being a nurse. She knows that she is making a difference in life the best she can. Helping families cope with their loved ones facing a terminal illness is heartfelt for O’Neal.
“This team here works well together. We all get along — all of us. And that’s hard to find,” said O’Neal, who has worked as Companion hospice nurse for nearly three years.
A friend of hers who is now a nurse practitioner had been trying to recruit O’Neal to Companion for a couple of years before she accepted an interview. At first she was hesitant to accept being a hospice nurse who answers families’ hard questions about an impending death. After three weeks she accepted her new journey in life.
“Something just told me to do it,” she said. “And so I did, and honestly this has been the best decision I’ve made. It changed my outlook on life. I feel like I’m the one that feels rewarded from this. It kind of makes me emotional. I feel like we both end up at peace if that makes sense.”
Oftentimes people ask O’Neal how she endures being a hospice nurse every day. She is helping people make a transition in life during a profound time of need in their lives.
“I’m helping them comfortably pass over. But you not only care for the patient — you care for the families a lot,” she explained. “We do a lot of close interaction with the families.”
Helping families brings a continuity of care that O’Neal cherishes. She learns so much about their lives and what brought them to their present point in life, she said.
Hospice care does not focus on waiting for a family member to pass on. It’s more of a celebration of life and what life has meant. The nurses meet their patients in whatever state of mind they are experiencing in life.
There are some patients that she has had a few years. They are re-certified for hospice as long as they continue to decline, she said.
“I get really attached to my patients. It’s hard not to,” O’Neal said. “But it’s almost like losing a family member. You get close to them when you see them two or three times a week, and then as the disease progresses you may see them every day.”
Her endurance in being a nurse stems from when she decided to become a nurse during her early twenties. She was studying to become a veterinarian when her grandparents became sick. She was told her grandfather was dying of cancer.
“I thought I already like doing it for animals. I think I want to do it for people,” she said.
O’Neal was auditing courses in nursing school when her grandfather passed away. She took a break from her nursing studies after he died and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in veterinary school. She had a baby. Her family needed her, so she shifted her career to work as a medical assistant in the office of Dr. Todd Krehbiel, who persuaded her to go back to school to earn a nursing degree. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at Langston University.
During the holiday season, O’Neal says she is thankful for life itself and that her family and friends are all healthy during a time of uncertainty.
“Right now, it’s uncertain even though we wear masks everywhere, you still don’t know,” she said. “I’d say I’m grateful for holidays but I’m really just thankful for life because right now there’s a lot of people that are struggling.”