Ready to get outside and enjoy fall? Hikers and walkers of all levels are invited to join foresters from across the state for the annual “Walk in the Forest” event held at Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area in southwest Tulsa from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on October 22. Foresters and natural resource professionals from across the state will be stationed along the trail to provide information about the forest, which is located in Tulsa’s backyard. There will additionally be special activities for kids at each station.
“This really is a great opportunity to plan a fun day outdoors with friends and family,” said George Geissler, director, Oklahoma Forestry Services. “Foresters enjoy being on hand to answer your questions and tell you about all of the benefits that our Oklahoma forests provide, some of which may surprise you.”
Hikers should dress appropriately for the weather and wear sturdy, comfortable shoes. The Walk in the Forest will take about an hour if participants stop at each educational station. Kids will receive a special booklet with activities to do along the way and prizes for completing them. Participants will receive a loblolly pine seedling and other giveaways while supplies last.
The Walk in the Forest program is part of a national campaign coordinated by the Society of American Foresters (SAF) and the American Forest Foundation. The Oklahoma walk is being hosted by the Oklahoma Division of SAF, in partnership with Oklahoma Forestry Services; Oklahoma State University (OSU) Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management; the OSU Student SAF Chapter; and the City of Tulsa’s River Parks Authority. Event sponsors include Weyerhaeuser Company, International Paper, Winlectric and the Oklahoma Forestry Association.
For more information about the Walk in the Forest, contact Oklahoma Forestry Services at 405-522-6158 or visit www.forestry.ok.gov. For information and directions to Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area, visit www.turkeymtn.com.

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

More than two years of work and planning by multiple AllianceHealth Midwest departments culminated recently in a prestigious accolade that will benefit patients throughout the metro.
For the first time, the hospital received full Chest Pain Center with PCI (Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) Accreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care.
To receive accreditation, AllianceHealth Midwest demonstrated its expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and completing on-site evaluation by a SCPC review team.
AllianceHealth Midwest is the only hospital in the state of Oklahoma to receive this level of accreditation.
“This accreditation is another large step in our commitment to providing superior emergency and cardiac care to the residents of Midwest City and Eastern Oklahoma County” said Damon Brown, CEO, AllianceHealth Midwest. “This accreditation was made possible because of the dedicated work and commitment of a multi-disciplinary team that included employees, physicians and paramedics.”
Cardiology Director and Chest Pain Coordinator Mark Macklin, RN, BSN has spent the last 12 of his 22 years in nursing in cardiac care after an emergency medicine and trauma background.
“The most important reason to pursue this is it’s the right thing to do for patient care,” Macklin said. “It’s a standardized system for evaluating and treating patients from the lowest risk patients to the care and treatment of the STEMI patient.”
“It encompasses the entire gamut of cardiology and chest pain.”
It is estimated that over 60% of all cardiac arrests are directly caused from an acute myocardial infarction.
The addition of the Resuscitation designation to Chest Pain Center with PCI accreditation enhances outcomes because the facility will have initiated early strategies such as early recognition, CPR and defibrillation, early intervention with Primary PCI simultaneously with post arrest hypothermia treatment.
“It standardized our practice, making sure we used evidence-based practice, best practice protocols and we’re all doing it the same way, every time with no deviation,” said Amy Baden, RN, BSN, MBA, and AllianceHealth’s network director of cardiology services. “It’s our roadmap that every patient will be given the exact same care no matter who their cardiologist is.”
Baden said that resuscitation element is one all employees are trained in.
“Any type of employee is also educated in the signs and symptoms of an early heart attack,” Baden said. “From a kitchen worker to a nurse on the floor – even the valets – have all been educated. It’s a multi-faceted education process.”
That education has been introduced to the surrounding communities. AllianceHealth Oklahoma, in partnership with the American Heart Association, donated CPR kits to high schools throughout Oklahoma.
Locally, AllianceHealth Midwest donated one to the Mid-Del School District and one to the Choctaw school district.
Nurses are also going into the schools and educating students and teachers on how to properly perform CPR.
Macklin said each week the board room was filled with representatives for nearly all departments.
“We were empowered to do that,” Macklin said. “Our administration and the board signed off … and we went in there every Monday with a sense of empowerment that we need to get from here to there and who’s best to drive the bus to get there.”
“Some days it was our Chief Nursing Officer (Gloria Ceballos, PhD, RN) who could roll out to all of nursing what needed to be done. Sometimes it was the Chief Medical Officer (Dr. Rockey Talley) who needed to get our hospitalist team on board with the protocols we were rolling out. It changed from Monday to Monday to get from where we started to where we ended.”
“It really kind of brought our whole hospital around that table with a single focus.”
By achieving SCPC’s Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI with Resuscitation Accreditation status, AllianceHealth Midwest demonstrated expertise in the following areas and others:
– Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system
– Effectively treating patients at low risk for acute coronary syndrome and no assignable cause for their symptoms
– Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack
Baden said with the help of AllianceHealth Midwest’s EMS service door-to-balloon intervention time has dramatically decreased.
“We’ve had STEMI’s that come directly to the cath lab,” she said. “There’s a lot of elements … and we’re trying to rule in these patients quicker. We’re decreasing the amount of damage and decreasing the length of stay.”
“Through this we’re all doing it the same way and the patients are happier. We’re all talking the same talk. Patient satisfaction scores in these units have elevated as well so we’re excited about that.”
The SCPC is the accreditation services arm of the American College of Cardiology.
AllianceHealth Midwest, located in Midwest City on the eastern edge of Oklahoma City, is a 255-bed acute care facility with nearly 300 primary care and specialty physicians.

The annual pecan harvest is shaking up orchards across Oklahoma. Nuts are falling from Miami to Idabel as orchard owners shake their trees and fire up their pecan shelling equipment. The state ranked sixth in the nation for pecan production in 2014 with a harvest of 12 million pounds.
Pecans grow naturally across central and eastern Oklahoma. The nuts are favored by wildlife and people alike. Pecans provide nutritional benefits in addition to edible enjoyment. They add protein and fiber to our diets and are low in cholesterol and sodium. Pecans are often recommended as a source of healthy fat. In a nutshell, pecans are a treat with their buttery, rich flavor.
Gift shops at pecan orchards have lots of creative ways to enjoy these health benefits. Bags of pecan halves or pieces are available for holiday recipes. Pecan oil is another gourmet option for cooking with heart healthy flavor. Irresistible sweets include chocolate-covered pecans, praline pecans and other flavors like jalapeno and pumpkin spice. Pecan honey butter and pecan brittle also make great gift options.
“There are many pecan orchards to visit in Oklahoma,” said agritourism coordinator Meriruth Cohenour. “Each one has a different selection of products and some will shell and crack your own pecans for you.”
Examples of the diverse pecan products available include whole pecans in the shell, papershell or native pecan halves, pecan oil, and gift tins of flavored pecans. For those who love grilling or smoking meat, pecan firewood and pecan smoking chunks are perfect choices.
The Oklahoma agritourism website, www.oklahomaagritourism.com, is an easy way to find a pecan orchard near you. An interactive map on the Specialty Crops page shows the locations of pecan orchards and links to their websites.

by Jason Chandler
Staff Writer

There is something different about assisted living at the Heaven House, a state licensed group home for assisted living in Oklahoma City, said the owner, Diane Timmerman-O’Connor.
O’Connor also serves as the administrator for all four Heaven House locations in OKC.
Heaven House began with one residential state licensed home for assisted living in 2010. The growth of the Heaven House locations is complimentary to the quality of O’Connor’s legacy for senior living.
“They are all just the same. They offer all the same things. They’re just located in different neighborhoods,” said O’Connor, who was recently married.
Heaven House gives the elderly a choice as to where they might like to live, she said.
“This is more of a family atmosphere. It’s in a home, it’s in a lot smaller environment than the bigger places, the institutional places,” she explained.
O’Connor cared for her mother at home for 13 years. Heaven House reflects the only type of environment she would have agreed to have her mother live if needed, she continued.
“But she ended up living with me until she passed away,” O’Connor said.
Her mother was part of O’Connor’s inspiration to create Heaven House. But it was really a calling.
“God just put it on my heart to do something for the elderly,” O’Connor said.
So she proceeded to do all the necessary research needed for assisted living by visiting every group home in Oklahoma County. O’Connor began all the training needed to become a licensed administrator.
She purchased and remodeled a fine house not to far from Nichols Hills so that every resident there would have their own bedroom and private bathroom, she said. Each house has five and a half bathrooms.
Michelle Freeman, an advanced medication aide and a supervisor, has been in her field for about 25 years. She said knowing that she makes a quality difference in the lives of the elderly keeps her intent on serving them.
“I love the elderly,” she said. “I love taking care of them and make sure they are taken care of.”
O’Connor said the residents have formed a close bond with Freeman. That attachment is common in all of the Heaven Houses. O’Connor is blessed to be able to retain her staff for a long time.
“At first I was doing at-home daycare,” Freeman said of her career. “At first it took some getting used to. But when you feel like you are making a difference in somebody’s life, it just keeps you coming back. I love it.”
Freeman said all the resident’s have different personality traits that are endearing to her life. They make it easy for her.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to keep going,” she said of the continuum of care offered at Heaven House. “It’s like when I come in, Ted says, ‘Oh, you’re so beautiful.’ Everybody has their own different thing.”
There is always a certified nurse aide at Heaven House or a trained and certified medication administration technician at Heaven House. All of the houses have two staff members present in the mornings for a five-to-two ratio.
O’Connor also provides a registered nurse, Vicki Bogartis, to serve residents at all of the houses. She has both scheduled hours and PRN hours and is in charge of all of the CNAs and ACMAs.
“She has certain duties during the month that only she can do,” O’Connor said. “She does all of our assessments and all of our care plans.”
Freeman was hand-picked by O’Connor for her staff when she met her at a funeral. O’Connor knew her sister and was getting ready to open her latest house.
“I went up to her at the funeral. Just talking to her at the funeral reception, you could just tell that she was intelligent. She was caring and sort of soft-spoken.”
“And I didn’t know anything about her organizational skills, but I was really ready for her to try. She came to work here and she has never ever disappointed me. She has stayed the course. She is organized and she is great with the residents. She’s just a loving, caring person who also has some office type skills that are required in keeping the paperwork straight.”
Each house has a supervisor similar to Freeman who is in charge of their staff. O’Connor and her son both serve as administrators of the four houses.
As for Bogartis, O’Connor said she is “straight-forward and tells it like it is.” O’Connor likes that quality and needs it as part of the structured environment of Heaven House.
“The other night we had a bit of an emergency and she got out of her bed and pajamas and came to the emergency,” O’Connor said. “She is just very dedicated.”

Oklahoma City ballet dancers Valerie McDonald and Christina Wornick are the recipients of Watermark for Kids scholarship awards. The scholarships are presented by The Fountains at Canterbury and Watermark for Kids, a non-profit organization committed to empowering underserved kids, helping them pursue their passions and thrive. Watermark for Kids was founded by Watermark Retirement Communities, which manages The Fountains at Canterbury.
McDonald, a 17-year-old ballet dancer, will use the scholarship award to continue her Level 5 classes at the Dance Center of Oklahoma City Ballet. The school provides classical ballet technique instruction and prepares dancers for a professional role in the arts. McDonald hopes to pursue dance on the professional level after her formal training.
Wornick is a previous recipient of the scholarship award who has been dancing since the age of four. The 12-year-old dreams of becoming a famous ballerina. The Watermark for Kids scholarship will allow Wornick to continue her training at the Dance Center of Oklahoma City Ballet as a Level 4 student.
“Watermark for Kids is an amazing program that The Fountains of Canterbury is proud to facilitate in support of local students,” said Jim Story, liaison for Watermark for Kids at The Fountains at Canterbury. “Our community is passionate about Watermark for Kids because it provides children an opportunity to pursue their dreams. We are looking forward to watching our two recipients thrive while working towards their long-term goals.”
Residents and associates at The Fountains at Canterbury host fundraisers throughout the year to donate funds to the Watermark for Kids program.
For more information about Watermark for Kids visit www.watermarkforkids.org. To learn more about The Fountains at Canterbury please call (405) 381-8165 or go online to www.watermarkcommunities.com.

Tis the season for toy shopping, but Easter Seals Oklahoma has a request for special toys for their boys and girls. Therapeutic and sensory toys help students with disabilities work on hand-eye coordination, fine and gross motor skills and social interaction. It can also be used to help increase attention and focus during instructional time.
“Teaching a lesson while a child’s hand is actively engaged in a fidget has been shown to result in more information being retained by the child than if the same lesson were taught without the sensory element”, says Mia Dianda, Director of Medical Rehabilitation.
Easter Seals Oklahoma is accepting donations of therapeutic toys such as koosh balls, light up toys, and fidgets. Social and turn taking improvement items are also needed like: Twister, Chutes and Ladders, Mouse Trap, Head-band, toy cars, super heroes, baby dolls, and related items. Donations may be brought to 701 N.E. 13th Street, Oklahoma City, Ok 73104 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday or donate by calling 405-239-2525.
The Medical Rehabilitation Program at Easter Seals Oklahoma helps individuals with disabilities gain greater independence some thought to be unachievable. It is our goal to empower children with atypical development by helping to build their self-esteem and self-efficacy through therapy services.
For more than 90 years, Easter Seals Oklahoma has provided services to children and adults with disabilities and other special needs and support to their families. Services include an early learning and inclusion academy, adult day health center, medical rehabilitation, and financial assistance. For more information, please visit www.eastersealsok.org.

Oklahoma forester, Kurt Atkinson, is a recipient of the Society of American Foresters 2016 Fellow Award, a prestigious honor that recognizes long-standing service to the forestry profession.
“Kurt is most deserving of this honor,” said George Geissler, director, Oklahoma Forestry Services. “Now retired, Kurt had a stellar career of service with Oklahoma Forestry Services for over four decades. He was a leader, not only within our agency, but also in several statewide and regional professional organizations, including our state’s chapter of the Society of American Foresters.”
Atkinson received his forestry degree from Oklahoma State University in 1974 and began his career with Oklahoma Forestry Services, serving 33 years as Assistant Director and Management Chief. Under Atkinson’s leadership “Best Management Practices” were initiated. He also had a significant impact on forest management activities statewide, including stewardship, forest health, nursery operations, forest inventory analysis and the Forest Heritage Center Museum.
“Kurt has always been an insightful, respected, and visionary leader, and has served as a mentor and role model for many foresters in Oklahoma,” said Dr. Thomas Kuzmic, Oklahoma State University and District IX SAF Fellow Committee Representative. “I was honored to present Kurt’s nomination during the SAF committee proceedings earlier this year and was delighted with his selection to this year’s class.”
According to the Society of American Foresters, the rank of Fellow is one of the highest honors for members and signifies exceptional recognition by his or her peers for outstanding contributions and service to the organization and profession. Only 23 Fellows were chosen from across the nation for the 2016 class, with Atkinson being the only Oklahoman.

Dear Savvy Senior,

After a recent hospital stay, I have a stack of confusing medical bills at home I need to decipher. I’ve heard these bills frequently contain mistakes. How do I spot them to ensure I’m not paying more than I need to be? Cautious Carol

Dear Carol,
Medical billing errors and overcharging is not uncommon. According to the American Medical Association, 7 percent of medical bills in 2013 had errors, and other groups estimate that figure to be much higher. Unfortunately, untangling those mistakes is almost always up to you. Here are some tips and tools that can help.
Check For Errors
To help you get a grip on your medical bills and check for errors, you need to familiarize yourself with what your insurance does and doesn’t cover. Then you need to carefully review the explanation of benefits from your insurer, and the invoices you receive from your doctor, hospital and/or outpatient facility providers.
These invoices need to be itemized bills detailing the charges for every procedure, test, service and supply you received. If you didn’t receive an itemized invoice, request it from your health care providers. And if the invoices contain any confusing billing codes or abbreviations that you don’t understand, ask them for an explanation. You can also look up most medical billing codes online by going to any online search engine and typing in “CPT” followed by the code number.
Once you receive and decode the invoices, keep your eyes peeled for these mistakes:
· Typos: Incorrect billing codes, a misspelled name or a wrong policy number.
· Double billing: Being charged twice for the same services, drugs, or supplies.
· Canceled work: Charging for a test your doctor ordered, then canceled.
· Phantom services: Being charged for services, test or treatments that were never received.
· Up-coding: Inflated charges for medications and supplies.
· Incorrect length of stay: Most hospitals will charge for the admission day, but not for day of discharge. Be sure you’re not paying for both.
· Incorrect room charges: Being charged for a private room, even if you stayed in a semi-private room.
· Inflated operating room fees: Being billed for more time than was actually used. Compare the charge with your anesthesiologist’s records.
To make sure the charges on your bill are reasonably priced, your insurance provider may offer an online price transparency tool, or use the Healthcare Blue Book (healthcarebluebook.com) or Guroo (guroo.com). These are free resources that let you look up the going rate of many procedures, tests or services in your area.
Make Corrections
If you find errors or have questions about charges, contact your insurer and your health care provider’s billing office. When you call, be sure you write down the date, time and name of the person you speak to and a summary of the conversation, in case you need to refer back to it at a later time.
If there’s a billing code error or some other mistake that’s easily correctable, ask your health care provider to resubmit a corrected claim to your insurance company.
Get Help
If you aren’t able to resolve the dispute on your own, you may want to consider hiring a medical billing advocate to work on your behalf. To find someone, try sites like billadvocates.com or claims.org. Most advocates charge an hourly fee – somewhere between $50 and $200 per hour – for their services, or they may work on a contingency basis, earning a commission of 25 percent to 35 percent of the amount they save you.
If you’re a Medicare beneficiary, another resource is your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). They provide free counseling and can help you understand your medical bills and Medicare coverage. To find a local SHIP counselor visit shiptacenter.org, or call 800-633-4227.
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.

What do you hope to find under the Christmas tree? Salvation Army Central Oklahoma

I hope to find a new cast iron skillet with a lid.  Jeff Lara

Just to be home. That will be my only day off. Maj. Carlyle Gargis

Really, I’m not looking for gifts. I’m just the type of person who enjoys serving and doing for others.

James Dixon

I have everything I need. God has blessed me with everything. Meiing Ong