by Bobby Anderson
Staff Writer

Weeks of political wrangling at the Oklahoma Legislature in November put the immediate future of 20,000 Oklahoma seniors in jeopardy with only a temporary fix agreed upon as the year draws to a close.
In mid-November the ADvantage Waiver program, designed to help them live at home instead of a nursing home faced elimination. By the end of the month a temporary reprieve was granted with the program’s future still uncertain in 2018.
Melissa Holland serves as the executive director of the Oklahoma Assisted Living Association.
She says her phone rang off the hook throughout the legislature’s special session.
“It shouldn’t have come to this point,” Holland said of the 11th-hour reprieve the waiver program received from Gov. Mary Fallin.
ADVANTAGE WAIVER
Financially, the ADvantage Waiver requires that applicants qualify for Oklahoma’s Institutional Medicaid known as SoonerCare.
The SoonerCare income limit for long term care services for a single applicant is $2,205 per month. The countable resources limit is $2,000.
Holland points out the program is actually a federal one through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Which means it was funded through taxes paid into Social Security.
“So Oklahoma receives funds for that and they should be disbursing accordingly,” Holland said. “The funds come from CMS.”
After learning of the Oklahoma Legislature’s intent to short the Oklahoma Department of Human Services $69 million in funding for the next fiscal year, DHS sent out a letter in October announcing that the ADvantage Waiver program would end Nov. 30.
The move would cover $39.44 million of the department’s $69 million funding shortfall.
State Rep. Pat Ownbey, chairman of the House Human Services Committee, said he believes the program will survive.
“The intent of the Legislature is not to allow the ADvantage Waiver program to be cut,” he said. “It’s not going to happen. … We will get that (budget) hole filled.”
Even though DHS was required by law to notify recipients of the impending cut it was criticized by legislators for fear mongering.
“What’s interesting was I started fielding calls from seniors that needed to go into communities that were looking for long-term care options and they had nowhere to go,” Holland said.
One of Holland’s members had to send out 26 eviction notices in one day. A pharmacy service called and said it would be forced to lay off employees.
“The thing is these residents, these seniors, have paid that to society,” Holland said. “Some are veterans. Most have worked hard and they deserve this. They’ve paid into the system and this is basically their money that should be coming back to them from the government from the taxes they’ve paid.”
“They’re not people who have never worked or are trying to live off the system.”
The program faced elimination in the new budget sent to Fallin’s desk.
But Fallin struck down all but five of the 170 sections of the budget plan. The measure did ensure the ADvantage program would be funded until January.
“House Bill 1019X does not provide a long-term solution to the re-occurring budget deficits, and within three months we will come back facing an estimated $600 million shortfall,” she said.
“This will preserve a safety net for core health and human services until legislators come back for a second special session, which I intend to call in the near future,” said Fallin.
Fallin said she vetoed most of HB 1019X because it came perilously close to using most of the state’s available one-time funds in various accounts and drawing down on available savings in the Rainy Day Fund. Signing the measure would have left the state with few available funds to deal with an estimated shortfall of more than $600 million in the next regular legislative session, which begins in February.
Senior Joan Dark is an ADvantage program member who lives in a Yukon assisted living facility.
She was one of thousands of Oklahoma seniors who spent an anxious November waiting for news.
“I turn the news on and turn it back off. It’s not pleasant but I pray a lot,” Dark said. “I honestly don’t know. I just don’t know. I love it here. I just don’t want the legislature to close us down. I like the people, both the residents and the staff. They are so good to us.”

by Bobby Anderson,
Staff Writer

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for criminals looking to cash in on those just trying to spread a little holiday cheer.
In November, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Officer Corporal Kim Lopez celebrated 31 years in law enforcement.
And for the past several years she has served as the coordinator of the TRIAD program which pairs law enforcement and seniors together in an effort to reduce victimization of the elderly.
She sat down with Senior News and Living to share what criminals are looking for and how you can avoid being a target.
PARK AND RUN
Lopez says the parking lot and the cash register are the two most vulnerable spots for seniors.
“I didn’t get what I have from cop school,” Lopez said. “I went to the professionals and career criminals are very quick to brag about how they selected their victims. Seniors have this vague knowledge of why we always say parking lots are fertile ground. But they need to know which ones and why.
“What I always say is the parking lots you feel the most comfortable in – not good.”
Lopez explained that cops aren’t the only ones who watch people’s body language. When people lower their guard in places where they feel more comfortable their body language eases.
Contrary to what you might believe, parking lots that serve 24-hour businesses are hot spots.
“Career criminals tell me when the drug deal goes bad, the fight is on and the police are in pursuit they want to ditch a car by getting to a parking lot and steal a car,” Lopez said. “They understand something we don’t. Crossing many different jurisdictions in a wide variety of vehicles makes it impossible for us to catch them.”
So consider that the next time you go to a casino, gas station or big box grocery store open 24 hours.
But the No. 1 place to be on your guard, according to Lopez, is the hospital parking lot.
Someone who commits a crime in a small town wants to get to a bigger location as soon as possible.
“People at hospitals are the worst for awareness,” Lopez said. “You’ll see people zoned out of their mind. They’ve been sleeping in a chair, eating out of a vending machine and haven’t showered for two days. They’ve had it. They’re worn out, care worn, and have a laundry list of things of things they are worried about and they’re not paying a bit of attention.
“It’s easier to get someone’s car keys and steal their car in a hospital than anywhere else.”
SCENE OF THE CRIME
Wherever you checkout and pay for your purchases is another favorite spot for criminals.
Getting a shopping cart, even if you’re shopping for something small is a great way to put distance between you and someone looking to gain access to your checks or credit/debit cards.
Cell phones are able to take multiple pictures of the checking account information in seconds. Checks that are written and returned to be thrown away are favorite targets.
If you’re going to continue to write checks Lopez suggests using gel, liquid ink to write with. A criminal can use fingernail polish remover on a previously used check to “wash” it and reuse.
And criminals love to follow around senior men.
“Right there at the register, senior adult men are targeted because they carry way too much cash,” Lopez said.
Lopez has noticed an increase in criminals following senior men around and then using a razor blade to slice a hole in the bottom of the back pocket. The wallet falls, the criminal picks it up and is already several purchases down the road before anyone is the wiser.
Lopez also suggests:
· Getting your form of payment out in the “unmentionables section” of the store and not at the register is ideal.
· Carrying your purse in front of you, with your arm over.
· Use a lanyard wallet you can slip under your shirt.
· Turn your rings around at the register. Don’t advertise what you have so someone can target you.
· Use a pen when punching in your debit card number to prevent the use of criminals using clip-on, heat-sensitive cameras.
· Have your monthly Social Security check direct deposited to one account and set-up an auto transfer to an account linked to your debit card that you use to pay your bills. That way if the card and/or PIN is compromised thieves don’t have access to your entire account balance.

By Darlene Franklin

Merry Christmas? Not always. For many, it’s the loneliest time of year. Merry Christmas? Not always. For many, it’s the loneliest time of year. How do you read “Godisnowhere?” Many cheer that God is now here. Others wander in the darkness of “God is nowhere.” Some still wonder if Emanuel, God with us, has ever come. God not only makes promises. He transforms, fulfills, and perpetuates them. PROMISES GIVENIn the 21st century, Christians are tempted to question why people didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah at His birth. We don’t think about how long Jews had waited waiting for Emanuel to be born, ever since the birth of their nation, a promise that extended back to the Garden of Eden.Fifty-three years ago, my ten-year-old self said “I will” when the preacher asked, “who will go?” I fbelieved I was supposed to serve as a music missionary to Mexico.Our southern neighbor was pretty exotic to someone from Maine. I studied Spanish on my own until I got to high school and pursued advanced degrees in Bible and music.Did I ever get to Mexico? Yes, for eight glorious weeks one summer while I was in college. My dream of fulltime service ground down over the years. Financial and family difficulties intervened, and I found myself too old and unfit. I gave up, but God didn’t. When I moved west, Mexicans worked in fast-food restaurants, did my hair, and became my neighbors, friends, and co-workers. They accepted my halting attempts at Spanish with delight. When I didn’t get to Mexico, God brought Mexico to me. PROMISES TRANSFORMEDGod did more than bring Mexico to me. He turned the tables on me. A couple of weeks ago one of my nursing home aides, Maria Ochoa, helped me get ready for the day. Spanish Catholic music played on her phone, and I sang along. She showed me the lyrics on the screen. For ten minutes, we told the gospel through endless verses. It was a powerful time of worship. Maria had switched roles and ministered to me. The Lord took the promise to bring me to Mexico and transformed it into something even more beautiful.  Similarly, the Messiah who arrived didn’t match what people expected. Instead of a King to sit on David’s throne, God sent the Lamb who would take away the sins of the world and rule over a heavenly kingdom of people from every tribe and tongue and nation. PROMISES FULFILLEDThose first century Jews had it partly right. The Day of the Lord is coming and His Kingdom will be established on earth as it is in heaven. But they missed the bits about the humble servant who would suffer and die (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. Sometimes a promise happens in stages. The fact we didn’t get everything we expected doesn’t meant those things will never come to pass. Take the book I’m working on now. I’ve been to compose prayers from Genesis to Revelation. I’m jumping for joy because God called me, promised me, that I would be writing a devotional book over twenty-five years ago. After my nonfiction proposals got rejected repeatedly, I decided God wanted me to write fiction. I’ve been blessed with many novels, and have contributed devotions to books now and then. Over the past eighteen months, God has opened one door after another to write nonfiction. And now God gave me this this awesome, almost scary, gift and assignment. Praise Him.PROMISES PERPETUATEDGod gives every generation enough signs to believe the Lord is returning in their generation.  In my youth, we looked at the restablishment of Israel as a nation for the first time AD 70 (in 1948). I spent my young adult years watching for the Lord’s return. If it happened within a forty-year generation of Israeli nationhood, He would come in 1988. When it didn’t happen, I knew I had figured wrong. Perhaps the biblical promises to bless the righteous to a thousand generations works like that. That’s a promise that stretches beyond the family I can imagine, to places I’ve never been-until the Lord’s return. God will fulfill every one of His promises. It’s only a question of when.Sponsored by Darlene Franklin. Best-selling hybrid author Darlene Franklin’s greatest claim to fame is that she writes full-time from a nursing home. Mermaid Song is her fiftieth unique title! She’s also contributed to more than twenty nonfiction titles. Her column, “The View Through my Door,” appears in four monthly venues. Other recent titles are Christmas Masquerade and Maple Notch Romances Eight Couples Find Love You can find her online at: Website and blog, Facebook, Amazon author page

INTEGRIS Health and its employees have once again donated turkeys from their annual Turkey Toss to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. This year, 865 turkeys were donated and distributed to fellow Oklahomans who have inconsistent access to nutritious food.
“We consider ourselves blessed to work for an organization that values our employees and is willing to reward them in this special way,” said Bruce Lawrence, president and CEO of INTEGRIS Health. “Donations made to the Regional Food Bank allows INTEGRIS to live our mission by supporting our community through giving to those in need this holiday season.”
INTEGRIS Health traditionally hands out turkeys to their employees in November as a way of ‘giving thanks’ for their hard work and dedication throughout the year. Many employees ‘pay it forward’ by donating their turkey to the Regional Food Bank.
“Having a meal to share is often out of reach for many of our Oklahoma neighbors,” said Katie Fitzgerald, chief executive officer of the Regional Food Bank. “There are too many of our neighbors – people you may even know – who are quietly living with hunger. Thanks to INTEGRIS Health and all of their wonderful employees, hundreds of families will now enjoy a nutritious holiday meal together.”
This year alone, INTEGRIS, and its employees, donated 25,850 pounds of food through its Turkey Toss and Gov. Mary Fallin’s Feeding Oklahoma Drive. In total, 7,626 turkeys have been donated to the Regional Food Bank since INTEGRIS Health began the partnership in 2010. The majority of Oklahomans served by the Regional Food Bank are chronically hungry children, seniors living on limited incomes and hardworking families struggling to make ends meet.
It’s not too late to make a difference this holiday season. Thanks to a generous matching challenge from APMEX.com, the Cresap Family Foundation and Chesapeake Energy Corporation, every gift we receive through Jan. 15 will be matched, dollar for dollar – up to $600,000 – for a total impact of $1.2 million. To make a donation call 405-600-3136 or visit regionalfoodbank.org/donate.

What do you hope is under the Christmas tree this year? Heritage Assisted Living Center

Just time with my family and friends. Joan Dark

Could I get new eyes? I can work with my hearing, but not my eyes. Jane Carter

I would like to get a chair lift that mounts to a car so I can travel more. Ron Kirby

I’d like a brand new outfit to go to town. Mary Brunnert

Salmeron career a combination of nursing and education

by Traci Chapman, Staff Writer

Oklahoma City University Dean of the Kramer School of Nursing Lois Salmeron has ascended the heights during her life – as a nurse, an educator, a wife and mother and as a professional who successfully navigated a journey few women of her generation did.
“I have always wanted to be a nurse – my father encouraged me to go into medicine,” Salmeron said. “However, in those days to combine being married and having a family for women was a rarity.”
Despite that fact, the young woman decided to follow her instincts – Salmeron first attending nursing school at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, Kansas. Graduating in 1962, she and her husband married while she was a nursing student and he was completing his residency in anesthesiology.
With a diploma from St. Francis that allowed Salmeron to pass the state board and become a registered nurse, her first staff position was in the maternity acute care unit of the hospital where she attended nursing school. But, while she had a good start at the Wichita facility, it was only the start.
Her path veered in a different direction when Salmeron’s husband was offered a staff position at then-Baptist Hospital; the couple and their two children moved to Oklahoma City. It was after that move that Salmeron’s career really began to blossom.
She began her Oklahoma healthcare career as a staff nurse in Deaconess Hospital’s labor-delivery and mother-baby units – and, later, as nurse educator for Deaconess personnel hospital-wide.
That position showed yet another facet of nursing that would become a passion – education. That would be very important in the late 1960s when Mercy Hospital approached Oklahoma State University-OKC with a proposal.
It was a time when, like with Salmeron’s own experience, hospitals were the source of nurse education. Mercy’s idea to transfer its program to OSU-OKC helped spur a major change in the way nurses would obtain their degrees, and Lois Salmeron would be on the forefront of that movement.
“I was one of the first three faculty to begin that program,” she said. It was a program she would remain with for more than three decades, the last nine of her 31 years at OKC-OSU as division head of health services. While there, Salmeron also in the late 1980s spearheaded a nursing distance learning system for the Oklahoma panhandle area and based at OSU-OKC.
The now established nursing educator never stopped learning herself. Salmeron earned bachelor’s and masters of science degrees from University of Oklahoma; she obtained a master’s of arts in teaching at Oklahoma City University and Oklahoma State University Doctorate of Education with adult education focus.
In 2001, Salmeron was at a turning point, however. She retired from OSU-OKC, but the ongoing nursing shortage convinced her to remain in the field. Oklahoma City University’s Kramer School of Nursing had room to grow – and a place for Salmeron to help it do just that. For four years, she served as an adjunct professor, but that was far from the extent of her contribution to OCU.
“As KSN was growing in numbers of nursing students, I was asked to apply for the assistant dean position – I was chosen for that position in July 2005,” Salmeron said. “I advanced to be the associate dean in two years.”
When the dean took a semester off in the spring of 2013, Salmeron was named senior associate dean in charge. In June, when longtime Dean Marvel Williamson retired from the college, Salmeron was appointed interim dean.
Salmeron became Kramer School of Nursing Dean in January 2014, becoming responsible for the entire nursing department – “budget, enrollment, recruitment of students and faculty, hiring staff and faculty, working with the other schools on campus, service to the university and the community, fund raising for the department, strategic planning, awareness of state and national guidelines that must be followed for approval and national accreditation, continuing education for faculty and staff, maintaining a positive culture for faculty, staff and students to succeed,” Salmeron said. “These are just some of the responsibilities of the dean.”
While her position meant a full spectrum of responsibilities, it didn’t diminish the dean’s love of nursing and teaching – something she said she didn’t want to completely relinquish. She therefore chose to retain a part of what brought her to Oklahoma City University in the first place.
“I teach one PhD course every Fall semester called Nursing Education Administration,” the dean said. “It is rewarding and challenging to work with these adult students sharing some of the components of what is required to lead a nursing education program.”
Salmeron’s wide-ranging experience has served her – and the college – well. Last year, OCU began a distance learning program in Duncan that harkened back to her 1980s panhandle experience.
Like much of Salmeron’s career, the Duncan program is just one of several milestones of the past that have inspired achievements in the present. And, Salmeron herself has been a source of inspiration for thousands of students who know how much she has achieved in a world very different from today’s nursing opportunities – and her work has spurred countless awards, including the Distinguished Professional Service Award from the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, a nonprofit aimed at promoting the health of women and newborns.
Salmeron was also the first nurse to ever receive the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Graham White Award and was in 2003 inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame.
Salmeron has achieved as much in her personal life as she has in her profession – she and her husband have been married for 57 years and live in the home they built and moved into in 1968. The couple has three grown children who understood their mother’s education advocacy – a son and daughter are PhDs, while a second son earned his MBA and has his own financial management company. His siblings are a researcher in plant molecular biology and a clinical psychologist in private practice.
“My husband grows orchids, has his own greenhouse, is retired, but supports my passion of educating the next generation of nurses,” Salmeron said.
At 77, while many people would be looking to slow down or take an easier path, those around her said Salmeron shows no sign of doing that. Juggling a myriad of responsibilities at work, the dean also gives back to the community – she volunteers on several state and national nursing committees and serves on several boards, including Mercy, Oklahoma City-County Health Department and Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society; she is also an Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing peer reviewer.
Salmeron’s hands on approach shines through in all of her endeavors – her work, charitable and volunteer endeavors and her personal life – and it’s something illustrated by her view of the school and its culture, what she called the Kramer Way.
“My priority at KSN is to create the positive culture in which the faculty and staff can guide the nursing students to be successful and ready for the professional responsibilities that they will have,” Salmeron said. “The Kramer Way means we all try to live a life that values caring, kindness and respect.”

The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) announced the first two deaths caused by the flu in the state. Both deaths occurred in patients who were over the age of 65. There have been 105 influenza-associated hospitalizations reported statewide.
The number of flu cases is relatively high for this time of year, and public health officials are concerned there will be a high risk of spreading the flu during the holiday season. The highest number of flu-related hospitalizations has occurred among those who are older than 50 years of age, as well as children younger than 5, which are both groups at greater risk of experiencing severe illness and complications due to flu.
The OSDH reminds the public that there are still several months left in the flu season. The single best way to protect against flu and its consequences is to get the flu vaccine. Many local county health departments, pharmacies and health care providers have vaccine and health officials urge everyone 6 months of age and older to get the vaccine to protect themselves and those around them from influenza, especially babies too young to receive a vaccination. It takes about two weeks after getting a flu shot for a person’s immune system to respond and provide defenses against influenza viruses.
Those who already have the flu can spread it to others even before they feel sick. One may have the flu if they have some or all of these symptoms: Fever, Cough, Sore throat, Runny or stuffy nose, Body aches, Headache, Chill, Fatigue
It is important for those experiencing flu-like symptoms to consult with a health care provider as soon as possible. Antiviral drugs may be prescribed to treat the flu. These drugs work better for treatment when started within 48 hours of noticing symptoms. Influenza antiviral drugs may also be indicated as a prevention measure to protect those who have just been exposed to someone diagnosed with influenza and are especially vulnerable.
Certain people are at greater risk of serious flu-related complications. Young children, elderly persons, pregnant women and people with some long-term medical conditions are reminded to contact their health care provider as soon as they develop flu symptoms.
OSDH recommends staying home for at least 24 hours after a fever is gone. Avoid going to work, school, social events and public gatherings as well as traveling and shopping. The fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine, such as acetaminophen before returning to a regular routine. To prevent the spread of the flu, the public is reminded to cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue and wash hands often.
For more information about influenza and activity updates, visit the Ok Flu View at flu.health.ok.gov.

Q. My husband and I are both self employed and have Obamacare (aka The Affordable Care Act,ACA). Even though we make a good income, it fluctuates but we do not qualify for any subsidies. Our premium has jumped to over $1000 per month with a deductible of $6500!! There is nothing affordable about raising our premium 76%. Our stress level has also jumped 76%. What is happening to hard working people whose incomes do not jump even close to 76%.
Janet and Kyle

A. Oklahoma has only one health care provider, Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS). All the other insurance carriers have left Obamacare. When losses exceed premiums, the only options are to stop doing business with this group of Oklahomans or raise premiums.
According to John Doak, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner, since the 2014 implementation of the ACA, BCBS combined losses are more than $300 million. So they can exit this group of people, leaving them with no coverage or they can skyrocket the premiums.
Subsidies sound great but not everyone qualifies for them. It sounds like you and your husband fall into the group of people that will have to find a way to make more money on your own. As if you didn’t have enough stress, now this.
Oklahoma is an unhealthy state. According to Business Insider, Dec 2013, Oklahoma ranks #7 on the 10 Unhealthiest States List. Obesity rates are high in our state. The amount of public funding available for health care has dropped 40% in the past two years. Addiction rates are high.
Options for those on Obamacare are limited but the following are: suggestions:
1. Check to see if you qualify for any subsidies.
2. Don’t have insurance and pay the penalty at tax time.
3. Spend less – can you modify your budget?
4. Work more – not good for mental health/physical health
5. Lower stress by staying as healthy as possible
*exercise–get out and move your body *nutrition–choose healthy options, avoid impulse eating *laugh — there are funny moments — seize them *sleep — most people are sleep deprived.
Maybe you can motivate the unhealthy Oklahomans to put down their fork and put their walking shoes on. This is a serious issue with a serious consequence and a domino affect that could be disastrous.