PASS THE POPCORN: MAY MOVIES

Posted on May 1, 2012 by justin

By Bud Elder

Recently, one of our readers contacted me to rave about Twilight Time, a video company about whose praises I sing on a regular basis. For those of you new to the routine, Twilight Time searches the world for lost movie masterpieces and restores them to their original brilliance. But here’s the rub – they only make 3,000 of these films available to the public. Last month, I mentioned the great work the group did on “Bite the Bullet,” and there are three more this month – “Demetrius and the Gladiators,” which is the long lost sequel to “The Robe; “Bell, Book and Candle” with Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak; and a real curio, 1954’s “Desiree,” with no less than Marlon Brando playing Napoleon. “Desiree” has been restored to a shimmering Blu-ray and is a must-have. Go to www.screenarchives.com and get these films while you can.

Warner Archive has recently released a new film noir set of rare thrillers – “Homicide,” starring Robert Alda and “The House Across the Street,” with Wayne Morris.

I’ll reiterate how much I enjoyed “The Muppets” Blu-ray from Disney. It kills me when people complain that there are no real family movies, when this delight should make everyone from babies to grandparents happy.

Avengers Movie

“The Avengers”

The Plot: Based on the British series starring Patrick McNee … oops, Nick Fury and the international agency SHIELD bring together a team of super humans to save the earth.

The Players: Far too many to mention, but I don’t think Ed Norton is the Hulk anymore.

The Prediction: People are already lined up and it’s a month away. Big time box office.

 

 

 

 

“Men in Black 3”mib 3

The Plot: Franchise re-boot – Agent J travels back in time to stop an alien from assassinating his friend, Agent K.

The Players:  A lot of people who need hits, most notably Will Smith and director Barry Sonnenfeld.

The Prediction: Script problems have been reported since the start of production. I’m wary of this one, although the first MIB was a hoot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Battleship”Battleship

The Plot: A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an armada of unknown origin in order to discover and thwart their destructive goals.

The Players: Liam Neeson – need anyone else?

The Prediction: The previews make this look pretty sturdy, but it could really go either way. Neeson’s last attempt at a blockbuster was “The A-Team” dud.

 

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From One Loss, Many Lives: The Modern-Day Miracle of Organ/Tissue Transplants

Posted on May 1, 2012 by justin

 

By Staci E. Hensley

 

For David Cary and his wife, Valerie, the nightmare began in 1995, only a few months after their son, Trenton, was born, when they learned that the baby needed a heart transplant right away.

 

Meanwhile, for Mary Blankenship Pointer and her 30-year-old son, Nicholas, an uncertain future is unfolding as she prepares to give him life a second time via one of her kidneys.

 

These two families – and thousands of others across the country – are coping each day with the physical and psychological ramifications of organ transplantation.

 

The good news is that today’s transplant patients have more life-saving options than ever. Organs and tissues that can be donated include: hearts, kidneys, lungs, livers, the pancreas, intestines, corneas, skin, tendons, heart valves, bone marrow/stem cells and umbilical cord blood. Donations can come not just from someone who is deceased, but increasingly through live donations such as the Pointers are planning. Live donations between non-related individuals are also on the rise.

 

In Oklahoma, the vast majority of transplant patients are treated at the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Center, part of the Integris Healthcare Network. The center acts as both a state and regional resource, providing not just medical procedures, but also psychological support, educational programs and other assistance.

 

Dr. Vivek Kholi

Dr. Vivek Kholi

“We have been doing transplants since the late 1980s,” said Dr. Vivek Kholi, associate director of the Zuhdi Center’s Abdominal Organ Transplant Division. “We do complex procedures and the most high-risk cases. Our outcomes are really excellent. We are in the top 10 percent nationally, and we are the only transplant facility in Oklahoma certified by the Center for Medicare Services. We have treated patients from as far away as California and Israel. Our youngest patient was 3 months old, and the oldest was well into their 70s.”

 

How It Works

The process to match a donated organ or tissues with a recipient begins within minutes after a donor has passed away. Who receives them is determined primarily by who is at the top of the organ registry waiting list, how far away they are, if the recipient is available to have the procedure in a timely fashion, and if he or she is strong enough to withstand the surgery.

 

It’s a much lengthier process when the donation is going from a live person to a patient. Before anyone can be considered as a live donor, they must undergo blood and tissue typing, a complete physical, an antibody screen, psychosocial evaluation and multiple other medical tests.

 

Mary Pointer is currently working her way through these tests, and is counting the days until the procedure can take place. Meanwhile, Nicholas continues nine hours of grueling kidney dialysis each night, while continuing his job as a bond trader.

 

“He’s a trouper; he’s just going on with life,” Mary said. “The wait has been the hardest part for me. As a mom, I’ve always been able to put a band-aid on something, and I can’t do that now. It’s very hard to wait and feel helpless.”

 

The surgery itself is only the first step in the process.

 

“All these patients get an organ that is not part of their body,” Kholi said. “They need immunosuppressant medication, and they need to be on that medication for the rest of their lives.” These medications must be carefully balanced in order not to destroy the individual’s immune system and leave them vulnerable to infections.

 

“The transplant physicians are the ones who manage these medications before and after surgery,” Kholi added. “I call immunosuppressant medications a ‘necessary evil’ of transplantation. If you go without them, you end up with organ rejection and death.”

 

After surgery, donor recipients have regular checkups, including blood work. For patients living far away, the Zuhdi Center allows them to have blood tests done locally and sent in, where they are processed that same day.

 

“We are very interactive,” Kholi said. “If we can make it easy for the patient, the compliance rate goes way up, and that compliance is essential because when symptoms do show up, you usually end up with organ failure.”

 

Immunosuppressant medications have improved considerably over the years, and Kholi said there are promising new developments on the horizon. In particular, research in which bone marrow stem cells from the donor are placed in the recipient, where they can fool the body into thinking the new organ belongs to it.

 

“Basically it’s a ‘chimeric’ effect, where the body gets a sort of dual immune system,” Kholi said.

 

“To me, it’s an amazing wonderment being able to take an organ from someone who is already brain dead and put it into another person and save their life,” he added. “It’s a very dynamic, ever-changing inter-disciplinary field, and it’s very time-intensive. But it’s all worth is when we see someone returning to normal after they have been sick for months or years.”

 

Live Donations

More and more, living donors are providing organs to family, friends or even strangers. These donations can be kidneys, a single lung lobe, or portions of the liver, pancreas and intestines. Like the Pointers, donations can be made between blood relatives. Unrelated donors can include people who have a connection to the patient, such as spouses, friends and coworkers. Other donors can be unrelated or even strangers.

 

Arm receiving IV medicationA relatively new phenomenon is paired donations, in which organs are exchanged between two sets of people (see graphic). For example, with two husband-wife teams, Wife A needs a kidney which is being donated by Husband B; at the same time, Wife B is donating a kidney to Husband A. These types of paired donations have been performed at the Zuhdi Center.

 

Myths vs. Reality

One of the most frustrating aspects for medical personnel, donor recipients and their champions are the ongoing myths that keep some people from becoming donors. One of the most prevalent is that doctors won’t work as hard to save someone if they know they’re an organ donor. In reality, when someone is sick or injured and admitted to the hospital, the number one priority is to save their life. Organ donation can only be considered after brain death has been declared by a physician.

 

The truth of the matter is:

* People of all ages and medical histories are potential donors. A person’s medical condition at the time of death – not their age – will determine what organs and tissues can be donated.

* All major religions approve of organ and tissue donation, considering it to be one of the ultimate gifts to one’s fellow man.

* There is no charge to the donor or his/her family. All costs are paid by the recipients’ families.

* An open-casket funeral is still possible for organ and tissue donors. These are removed surgically, with no disfigurement to the body.

* Celebrities and wealthy individuals do NOT go straight to the head of the line. The only factors considered for someone on the waiting list are the severity of the illness, the time spent waiting, blood type and other important medical information.

* A patient will NOT wake from surgery to find they’ve had a kidney removed for a black market transplant. A widely-circulated urban legend, there is no known case of such activity occurring in the United States.

 

For Mary Pointer, the decision to donate to her son was a no-brainer, and she is trying to be patient as she and Nicholas go through the full spectrum of tests and preparation required.

 

“I signed up to be an organ donor when I got my driver’s license, but never really thought about it,” she said. “I never dreamed I would be facing this situation with my own son.”

 

Emotional Fallout

It’s common for recipients to feel guilt if their life-saving transplant was the result of someone else’s death. But that’s often alleviated by meetings between the families of donors and recipients. One of the things that can be most comforting for those who’ve lost someone is knowing that their loved one saved multiple lives.

 

About a year after the surgery, Cary and his family met their donor family – whose son was about the same age as Trenton when he passed away.

 

“For us, it was a huge relief to be able to show our gratitude,” he said. “But even more importantly, it was a gift to the donor family. After we met, the father told us later that day that it was the first time in a year that he had seen his wife smile.”

 

“I tell people that becoming an organ donor is the easiest, cheapest way to have a major, direct impact on the well-being of someone else,” Cary said. “No money. Nothing to do while you are alive. I recall prior to our experience not being against organ donation, but rather apathetic to even thinking about it. ‘Yeah, I’ll probably become an organ donor sometime.’ But just think about what would have happened to Trenton if his donor family had not been prepared to make that decision.”

 

Now a healthy 18-year-old, Trenton Cary continues to enjoy life as a self-professed “computer nerd” and a nationally ranked second-degree black belt in tae kwon do. He too has a message for would-be donors.

 

“If your friend was dying and you knew you could save his or her life, would you?” he asked. “The only thing that’s different in organ donation is that you don’t always know the person. Why have everyone’s last memory of you be of how you died, instead of how you saved another’s life?”

 

 

 

Sidebar #1  (165 words)

How to Become a Donor

Currently, more than 105,000 people are awaiting life-saving organ transplants in the United States; tens of thousands more need tissue transplants.

In Oklahoma, approximately 760 people are on a waiting list, and approximately 50 Oklahomans die each year waiting for a matching organ, according to LifeShare Organ Transplantation Services of Oklahoma.

In most states, including Oklahoma, hospitals can legally proceed with organ, eye or tissue donation without consent from next of kin if that person has a driver’s license with an organ donor designation or has signed up with an organ donor registry, such as www.lifeshareregistry.org. However, it’s important to talk to family members about that decision at the time it’s made, so that they are aware of that person’s wishes and will feel comfortable honoring them. Under most circumstances, organs donated in Oklahoma must be given to someone in the state, under legislation passed during the 1997-1998 session.

Information on organ donation in Oklahoma is also available through http://www.dmv.org/ok-oklahoma/organ-donor.php.

Sidebar #2  (47 words)

Helpful Resources

More information about organ and tissue donation is available through the following websites:

National Marrow Donor Program, www.marrow.org

American Red Cross (blood and tissue donation), www.redcross.org

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.organdonor.gov

Donate Life America, www.donatelife.net

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The Dollars and Sense of Master Bathroom Re-Design

Posted on May 1, 2012 by justin

 

By Dena A. Edwards

 

You spent all day putting out fires at work, your kids are quarrelling, your dogs are barking, your spouse is grumpy … you need an escape! In today’s society, the master suite has become the retreat – a place for a quick getaway from the stresses of life.

 

But many of us face bathrooms that are outdated and inefficient, and only add to our stress with their harvest gold countertops and shallow, leaky tubs. Remodeling bathrooms is a daunting task, and depending on the amount of remodel necessary, often an expensive one. Fortunately, bathroom remodels – especially the master bathroom – are good investments, and home sellers typically regain most if not all of their expenses. Bankrate.com rates mid-range bathroom remodels as the number two project to boost the value of your home.

 

Marble Bathroom Sink“(Master bathroom remodels) are always right there at the top of the list (of best remodel investments for your home),” said Sal Alfano, Remodel Magazine’s editorial director. “They’re the big, sexy rooms that new homeowners splurge on, so when buyers are shopping around, that’s what they want in an existing home, too.”

 

First and foremost, if you are anticipating a complete redesign of your bathroom – and have the budget for a major remodel – use professionals, first for the design itself, then for the specialized work. Do-it-yourselfers have a hard time with this, as labor costs can add up, but just remember – professionals are professionals for a reason: they know what they are doing and have the training and expertise to make sure the money you are spending isn’t going down the drain.

 

Interior designers – different from decorators, as designers have a higher education degree in the field – understand not only the aesthetics of how to make the room look great, but the functionality necessary to make it work great as well. And most are willing to turn over the completed concept to you if you prefer to execute the design. Or they can follow through with your plans, hiring, overseeing and problem-solving with all of the additional experts you will need – plumber, electrician, tile layer, etc.

 

If your project is more of a mid-range facelift, and you have the desire to tackle the work yourself, here are some designer tips to get you going.

 

Narrowing the Field

 

Zen BathroomDecide on a budget. Start with your dream ideas, then price them out – adding 10-25 percent for unforeseen expenses – and use that as a springboard. If the final number comes in too high, adjust your selections to meet your financial needs. Many budget-friendly products in the marketplace mimic high-end and high-dollar products, and can give you an expensive look and feel without the reality.

 

Select a design style: Do you like the minimalism of Zen bathrooms? The quaintness of antiques? The decoration of Old World? Clean, modern lines? Each style has its own unique features and can create beautifully designed bathrooms. But don’t feel as though you are boxed in to certain choices. Just because you want a Zen quality, doesn’t mean you must use bamboo and stone. Antique bathrooms don’t require claw-footed tubs. You can take the design scheme as far as you choose. Mixing is acceptable, and can add a customized feel and personality to your bathroom. Just be careful not to mix too much or you run the risk of a room that looks cluttered, contributing to your feelings of chaos.

 

Once you know the look and feel you want for your master bath, decide what color scheme works best. Don’t be afraid of white – natural wood, white walls and pale green or blue glass tiles combine for a fresh, airy space. Dark colors tend to make the bath exude a cozy, intimate feeling. Bright and light or rich and dark combinations each have their place in the master suite, which direction you go is strictly up to you. And the majority of your favorite colors can be taken in either direction. However, if you are going for a relaxing getaway, avoid bright, vivid colors for your walls, which tend to stimulate your senses and creative thinking rather than rest them.

 

Jets and Scents and Colors, Oh My!

 

Shower HeadNow comes the fun part – selecting your bathroom fixtures: toilets, bathtubs, sinks and showers. Measure carefully before making your choices – not just the final resting place for the fixture, but the door openings that lead to and into the room. You don’t want to get your heart set on a big whirlpool tub, only to discover it won’t fit through the door!

 

Consider different styles of tubs – claw-foot, soaking, jetted, basic. The tub can be the focus of your room, if that’s how you enjoy spending your time and money. Tubs of marble, copper, granite, custom-poured concrete … the possibilities are endless if you truly want to make a spectacular statement. However, most homeowners are content with a basic drop-in tub in either porcelain or marble, with or without jets. White is a basic safe bet, and will last through many years and styles.

 

When it comes to showers, think through your actual needs and wants, and don’t get caught up in the myriad of fancy options on the market. If steam showers are truly relaxing to you, then by all means, add that to your wish list. But if the thought of breathing heavy steam in an enclosed space makes you want to run screaming, don’t let the luxuriousness of the item cause you to make a bad choice. New technologies provide endless features, including aromatherapy and hydro-color light therapy systems, all of which have researched health benefits and add to the sense of a true spa. But higher on your priority list should be the direction and pressure of water flow. Multiple jets and overhead rain showerheads can be the most relaxing and budget-friendly add-ons for your master shower.

 

Materials Matter

Metal Faucet

The time has come to select surface materials for your new bathroom. This is where the true feeling of the space is established. Glass and metal lend themselves to a modern room, while wood and natural stone tend to feel rustic or Zen. Tile is versatile enough to add to any design scheme.

 

Slate is another great option that goes with many different design styles. Made up of layers of dried mud, clay and volcanic ash, slate displays beautiful swirls of browns, grays and rusts, and provides plenty of variety and interest in a room. It works well – as does most tile – on floors or walls, and can handle wet areas well. Slate will react to the elements, and will change in time. This weathered look is attractive in many spaces, but if you prefer to keep the original look intact, simply seal the slate prior to grouting, and again about once a year. The sealant actually enriches the deep tones of the stone.

 

Tile is the most popular and widely used surface material, available in many sizes and colors. When selecting tile for your bathroom floor, consider not only the color, but also the texture. In wet areas, smooth glazed or unglazed tiles get slippery and can cause accidents. On the floor of your bathroom, always use textured tiles for safety. Slate has a characteristic texture that makes it ideal for wet floors.

 

Don’t be afraid to use large size tiles – sizes greater than 16-inches-by-16-inches – even in small rooms. Contrary to popular belief, the large tiles will actually make the room appear bigger, not smaller. If using tile throughout, it’s a good idea to use the same tile you select on the floor for your bathroom walls as well (shower walls, tub surround), though the wall tile can be a smaller size. This keeps a consistency and harmony in the room.

 

As far as the pattern of the tile, a straight lay – with all the tiles lined up in a grid – goes well in more modern spaces, while a brick lay – with the tiles offset a half tile on each row – goes well in Old World or Transition homes. Whatever tile pattern is on your floor, carry that same pattern onto at least the lower portion of your shower wall. About eye level is a good place to change pattern and add some interest with maybe a diagonal. The two patterns can be butted against each other, or for even more variety, can be divided with a decorative band (usually no wider than six inches) of a mosaic tile. Glass tiles are good choices here. The newest trend in mosaics is a linear mosaic – stacked narrow strips of varying lengths and materials or colors. The short wall surrounding the bathtub can carry any of the above patterns or decorative tiles to keep a nice rhythm in the bathroom and pull all of the elements together.

 

Make your bathroom your own with art and accessories that fit your personality and the rest of your home for a customized retreat. When complete, a re-designed master bathroom can truly provide an escape from the complexities of daily life – if only for the length of time is takes for your bathwater to grow tepid.

 

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Birding Oklahoma

Posted on May 1, 2012 by justin

 

 

By Randy C. Anderson

 

Oklahoma is best known for football, the oil industry, bountiful wheat harvests and our rich Native American history. Until recently, the “birding” world (no longer bird watching) has long overlooked Oklahoma. Today, however, Oklahoma is quietly becoming known as one of the top birding areas in the nation, and rightfully so. Not only are our native species bountiful, the Mississippi Flyway brings numerous migrating species through the state each fall and spring. Over 400 species of birds either visit Oklahoma during migration, or call Oklahoma home year-round.

 

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher

Our state bird, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, is plentiful throughout the state. While common to all of us, I have watched birders from as far away as Germany stare in awe and amazement as a pair of scissor-tails danced through the air, snatching insects in mid-flight.

 

The Black-capped Vireo’s summer range is limited to Oklahoma and Texas. We have a large number of nesting pairs of Black Caps in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. Each summer, serious birders from all over the country visit the area in hopes of seeing one.

 

While some people may consider it silly, birding has become big business throughout the country. Texas lists birding as one of its viable eco-tourism industries, and I believe Oklahoma should also. Considering what people spend on birding – it brings untold thousands to the state each year in sales taxes alone.

 

Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse

Birders buy bird seed and other bird foods, bird houses, bird baths, bird books, binoculars, spotting scopes, 35mm cameras, video cameras, food, gas, lodging, smart phone birding apps, clothing, sunscreen … You can see how this can all add up from an economic standpoint.

 

You could even say birding has become a sport of sorts. In the birding world, there are life lists, season lists, backyard lists, travel lists, rare bird alerts and many more. Every species of bird that a birder sees (or hears) goes on his or her “life list.” Birds identified in your backyard go on your backyard list, and so on. Rare bird alerts are posted via the Internet, so other birders can go and see them. Sign up to receive Oklahoma rare bird alerts by sending an email to listserv@listserv.ou.edu.

 

This past winter, several Snowy Owls visited Oklahoma. My wife and I were lucky enough to see one – and added it to our life list. There is a friendly competition among some birders to see who gets a “first-of-season” bird, who has the longest backyard list, and who has the most birds on their life list. There are even national competitions held to see which team can find the most species of birds in a given area in a specified time. How many birds can you correctly identify by sight? By their call?

Young Barred Owl

Young Barred Owl

I have always birded. My wife and I have five feeders, two bird baths and a couple of nesting boxes in the backyard year-round. We keep our binoculars nearby, just in case something “interesting” shows up – and something usually does. To date, we have over 40 species of birds on our “backyard” list. The most notable visitors – Lazuli Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Yellow-headed Blackbird and a Red Crossbill. Very impressive, considering we live in the middle of Oklahoma City.

 

Being a wildlife photographer, I naturally “shoot” birds with a camera. While it is not easy to capture good bird images, it is very satisfying when you do. They can be extremely difficult to capture in the wild without the correct equipment. A 35mm digital SLR camera, along with a minimum focal length lens of 300mm, is a good place to start. A 400mm lens is better, and a 600mm lens is ideal. A sturdy tripod is another must-have.

 

If you want to photograph birds, start by shooting birds in your own backyard. Fill a bird feeder with some black-oil sunflower seeds, get comfortable, and wait for them to show up. Move very slowly, stay quiet, and be patient. Patience and perseverance are the keys when it comes to bird photography. Birds are everywhere, from your own backyard to your favorite Oklahoma vacation spot.

 

But where should you go to find birds not found in your own backyard? Here are some of my favorite areas:

  • The Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, Lawton
  • Oxley Nature Center, Tulsa
  • Great Salt Plains, Cherokee
  • Lake Fort Gibson, Wagoner
  • Lake Hefner, Oklahoma City
  • Lake Overholser, Oklahoma City
  • Rose Lake, Yukon
  • Red Slough, Idabel
  • Hackberry Flat, Frederick
  • Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, Pawhuska
  • Any state park in Oklahoma
Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal

Let me say a few words about birding. Be respectful of other birders while you are out in the field. Do not trespass on private property – respect a landowner’s right to control access to their land. Do not litter. And most importantly, do not put undue stress on birds or other wildlife. Give them their distance, and know when to just walk away.

 

As a footnote, be aware that if you want to go birding (or any other non-hunting or fishing activity) on Oklahoma Department of Wildlife lands, or game management areas, you need to have a valid Wildlife Conservation Passport to do so, unless you have a valid hunting or fishing license. If you already hold one of those, you do not need the Wildlife Conservation Passport.

 

Grab your binoculars, a bird guide and start looking for the birds in your area. Oh, and don’t forget to start your list!

 

To see more of Randy Anderson’s work, visit his website at: www.wildeyesimages.com. Randy has published two books of photographs – “The Way I See It … Wildlife in Oklahoma” and “Dancing With Butterflies” – photographs of Oklahoma’s butterflies taken over a span of five years.

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WHEN VIKINGS PAID A VISIT TO HEAVENER

Posted on May 1, 2012 by justin

 

By Kimberly Thomas

viking helmsVikings roaming the hills of southeastern Oklahoma? Everyone has heard the history of Oklahoma from the Cowboys and Indians perspective, but few have heard the rich history that surrounds the small town of Heavener, Oklahoma. Just outside the tiny town of Poteau and up a winding mountain road lies Heavener Runestone Park, housing one of the biggest little mysteries in the state of Oklahoma.

 

Sitting atop Poteau Mountain, the park is almost three miles northeast of Heavener, off State Highway 59 and U.S. Highway 270. A winding trail descends into a beautiful, shaded valley featuring a small pavilion that encloses a mysterious slab covered with runic letters.

 

Rune Stones of PoteauThis runestone – about 12 feet high, 10 feet wide and 16 inches thick – is an inscribed rock usually left as a monument or as a claim for land. In Viking days, a runestone functioned to explain inheritance, mark territory, bring glory to dead relatives, or to serve as a reminder of important events. In some areas, they appear to also have been social and economic markers. When one group left a marker, it would stand over time to let others know which land belonged to which group. Most of the runestones from the Viking age use the same formula – along with a prayer, the text memorializes the person who raised the runestone, the social status of the dead person and place of death.

 

A Choctaw hunting party first discovered the runestone in the 1830s, but it came to be called “Indian Rock” after being rediscovered by white trappers who assumed that the markings were made by Native American Indians.

 

Carl F. Kemmerer, a local schoolteacher, sent a copy of the inscriptions to the Smithsonian Institution in 1923 on behalf of the Heavener Mason’s Lodge. The Smithsonian quickly responded that the characters were runic, identifying the eight symbols as Scandinavian.

 

They were initially interpreted to read “GNOMEDAL,” roughly translated as Sundial Valley or Monument Valley. The valley where the runestone stands still looks like a place where Vikings would roam, with waterfalls and lush greenery surrounding the large stone formations. It is a place of refuge that would beckon weary travelers, especially on a hot day, with the waterfall calling out to passersby.

 

Gloria Farley, a Heavener resident, first visited the stone with Kemmerer when she was a student, but the stone lay forgotten until she rediscovered it decades later. By then, local natives had been scratching their own names into the rock, thus destroying the original characters.

 

Celtic AccessoriesIn 1953, she led a group that believed the markings were made by Vikings traversing the Mississippi, Arkansas and Poteau rivers. She and her followers realized the importance of the slab of rock with the hidden message, and rescued the monument from obscurity. It was through Farley’s persistent effort that foreign experts studied the runestone and a state park was established.

 

Over the years, various theories have arisen regarding the possibility of Scandinavians passing through present-day Oklahoma around the eleventh century. Some believe that members of LaSalle’s expedition of 1687 made the mark. Others believe a Swedish captain leading a French colonization effort in the Mississippi valley around 1720 made the inscription.

 

Alf Monge, a former U.S. Army cryptographer, asserted the symbols were a runic puzzle indicating the date November 11, 1012 – St. Martin’s day on our calendar. Monge claimed evidence showed that the creator of this puzzle was Erik Gnupsson, who was made Bishop of Greenland in 1112.

 

Dr. Richard Nielson, who obtained his degree at the University of Denmark, decided the markings should be translated as “GLOMEDAL,” meaning Glome’s Valley, which would indicate a land claim. Assertions have also been made that it could be “G. Nomedal,” with Nomedal being a Norwegian family name.

 

Many people believe that Vikings once roamed throughout Oklahoma, leaving their mark across the state long before the days of cowboys and Indians; however, scientists still question the validity of the runestone, pointing out that no verifiable Norse artifacts have been found in Oklahoma. Those who believe in the authenticity of the runestone remind us that other runestones have been found in nearby Poteau, Shawnee and Tulsa.

 

In 2003, the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Commission and Friends of the Heavener Runestone reached an agreement to hire an archeologist to search for a nearby cave rumored to have similar markings. The cave’s existence would support the theory that Vikings were the first Europeans to set foot in Oklahoma, but to date, there has been no report of the cave being found.

 

Whoever left the cryptic message would have thought the land was sacred, and modern Oklahomans agreed. In 1965, the Herbert Ward family of Heavener donated 55 acres to create a park. State Senator Clem Hamilton led the effort to obtain state funding, and Heavener State Park was built around the monument. The park was run by the Department of Tourism from October 25, 1970 until July 2011, when the state gave up the park.

 

“The non-profit group Friends of Heavener Runestone, in alliance with the City of Heavener, took over the park,” says Karry Kofr, park manager and events coordinator.

 

Today, Heavener Runestone Park is visited by tourists from around the world.

 

“Some have come from as far away as Spain and Denmark to see the runestone,” says Kofr. “Of course, there are many tourists from Arkansas, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, all over the United States.” The park makes an ideal vacation destination or day trip from almost anywhere in Oklahoma, offering nature trails, waterfalls, plenty of picnic areas and a paved sidewalk winding down the ravine to the shelter protecting the runestone.

 

For those heartier souls who like to camp, there are campgrounds available. There are also three pavilions that can be used for weddings and reunions, as well as a full-service community building that holds up to 100. In addition to a kids’ playground, an amphitheater is available for those who wish to stage their own shows. The park is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. until dark.

 

Heavener Park now hosts a biannual Viking/Celtic folk festival, held in the spring and fall. The lilting music descends into the valley and combines with the beauty of the landscape for an almost ethereal experience. Visit their website at www.friendsofheavenerrunestone.org for more information on park activities and past festival photos.

 

A student from the University of Arkansas created a class project that does a good job of highlighting the beauty of the autumn landscape at Heavener Park. You can find the nine-minute video by searching “meandmyhdcam” on YouTube.

 

From the top of the hill, you get a full spectrum view of the Winding Stair Mountains and the Tahlimena Drive. From this view, one can easily imagine why whoever marked the area wanted to claim it in all its glory. The runestone was clearly left as a remembrance, and Oklahomans have stepped up to continue to make its location a place to remember. With facilities for family fun and such a beautiful destination in our own backyard, visitors won’t soon forget the charm of Heavener Runestone Park. Oklahomans should make it a point to put Heavener Runestone Park on their must-see list.

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The Long Haul: Life With an Eosinophilic Disorder and a Race to Raise Awareness

Posted on May 1, 2012 by justin

 

By Lindsay Whelchel

 

 

RileyRiley is 3 years old, with giant blue eyes and a joyful smile. Like many little girls, she loves princesses. Riley’s parents speak in earnest about her boundless energy and her cooperative, loving demeanor. She dances and does gymnastics, gives ample hugs and kisses, and is normal in most every way. What she can’t do, however, is eat food the way other children can.

 

Riley has a medical condition called Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis, which means she is severely allergic to almost every kind of food. It is a rare condition; so rare, in fact, that it took over a year of extreme physical and emotional strain on Riley and her parents before she was diagnosed.

 

And that is precisely the problem.

 

Although diagnosis of the disease has grown rapidly in the last ten years, perhaps because of increased medical knowledge, much awareness is still lacking, according to the American Partnership For Eosinophilic Disorders, a non-profit organization.

In response, Riley’s friends and family are hosting a benefit run to raise awareness and research funds for the organization.

 

If you had met Riley during the first year of her life, you would have met a very different girl from the one she is today.

 

“When she was born, the first 15 months of her life were confusing and frustrating,” explains Riley’s father, Mike Kahn. She was miserable a majority of the time, would scream for hours and sleep very little. She had trouble gaining weight, and was clingy, irritable and clearly in pain.

 

Doctors kept diagnosing it as common GI issues, like reflux, and said she would grow out of it.

 

“It’s ingrained in my mind, sitting in the doctor’s office, and we’re just beat up emotionally, and the doctor saying, ‘You guys just gotta stick with it, this is difficult, but it’s going to go away.’ My wife and I just looked at each other, wondering if we were crazy,” Kahn says.

 

Doctors were confident things would improve when Riley could sit up, but they didn’t. They said once she could walk, things would be different. Then she walked, and things still weren’t any different.

 

Feedings continued to be a losing battle.

 

Riley’s mother, Jill Kahn, describes the first five months spent nursing Riley as a complicated struggle.

 

“I would be in the nursery trying to feed her almost all day long, and after a two-hour feed, she would projectile vomit it all up and be totally inconsolable,” she says.

 

The doctors told her to keep trying.

 

“They didn’t know she was allergic to everything I was feeding her, even though I cut my diet all the way down to just sweet potatoes and turkey. I was almost starving myself to find what was causing the problem, and we were getting nowhere,” Jill says.

 

The Kahns knew that something was not right.

 

“When you’re a new parent, you kind of think that everyone else knows the answers better than you, especially when you’re talking to doctors; but the confusing part was thinking it just feels like something else was going on,” Mike says.

 

He says they felt like they weren’t being listened to, so Jill began to do more research. When Riley was 17 months old, a scope was finally done to determine what was really going on. The procedure involves sending a camera down the child’s esophagus, while at the same time taking a tissue sample for biopsy.

 

What the doctor saw worried him. There were white rings of extreme irritation on Riley’s esophagus and lesions on her intestines. The Kahns feared what, in their mind, was the worst – the idea that Riley might be allergic to gluten.

 

“I remember thinking ‘How can you live without wheat, that’s going to be incredibly difficult,” Mike said. After the biopsy was sent to California to be tested, the conclusion was far more troubling.

 

Riley’s condition comes in various forms and severities, explains Julie Springer, national fundraising coordinator for the non-profit organization APFED.

 

Riley's Run“The problem with this disease is that it’s very individualized. Some people have it very minor, some have it very severe,” she says. She adds that about one in 1,000 to 2,000 people have the condition, and although it is on the rise, people often have trouble locating a doctor who will diagnose or who can treat it because of its rarity.

 

Once they had the answer, Riley’s parents had to look at ways to manage the disease.

 

“We went from thinking we were going to have to cut out wheat, to having to cut out everything,” Jill says. They had to switch entirely to a formula food for Riley.

 

However, the formula also posed challenges – it tastes and smells terrible, Mike explains. With that factor, as well as the early full feeling people with the condition experience, it was a challenge to get Riley to eat enough of the formula to meet her required nutrient levels.

 

They tried everything, even attempting to feed her while she was asleep, which could only happen in the car. But that wasn’t enough. They then fed her through a nose tube because they were initially terrified of committing to a stomach tube for Riley.

 

“Everyone thinks, ‘It cant be our child,” Mike says.

 

For a child, the nose tube is more uncomfortable, and, as you can imagine, difficult to manage. Jill adds that she had to reinsert it once while at a restaurant.

 

It wasn’t until they had a second scope done and saw how the formula had allowed Riley’s intestinal irritation to clear up, as well as seeing the complete shift in her personality, that they knew this was a long-term issue and that a stomach tube would be the best way to go.

 

“Once we got her diagnosed and stopped feeding her things that were hurting her inside, she was a totally different child,” Jill says.

 

Riley“We saw the light in her eyes that’s there today. She’s happy and growing. Before, we thought we could never use a feeding tube, but then we saw the change in her. It’s just our life now, it’s not so crazy and abnormal, because the benefits have just been unbelievable,’’ added Jill.

 

Still, the management of Riley’s condition has to be worked down to a science, Mike explains. He attributes an iPhone app to helping schedule eight to ten different medicines for her. She has a Mic-Key button in her stomach that allows a feeding tube to pump the formula from a small backpack four times a day and during the night.

 

Mike emphasizes that social activities must be altered, as well – Riley is unable to eat the birthday cake and pizza at other children’s birthday parties; and when they go out to eat, they give her a plate of Sonic® ice, which keeps Riley from forgetting how to eat.

 

“We’ve been to Sonic at least four times a week for the past two years,” Mike laughs. In addition to the ice, Riley has three safe foods she can eat – sweet potatoes, carrots and a certain kind of potato chip. The difficulty in testing new safe foods is that a bad reaction can set her back for weeks. However, the process should get easier as Riley gets older, Jill explains.

 

She compares the continuous care Riley requires as similar to that of a newborn child, but overall, they make sure Riley leads as normal a life as possible.

 

Mike echoes this sentiment, and explains that the idea of the race was somewhat difficult because they knew they would have to talk a lot about Riley’s condition.

 

“We’re not ones to complain about this issue at all,” he says. “We’ve dealt with it and made the best of it. It’s not going to define us, it’s not going to define her, we’re going to try to live a normal life and be grateful for everything that we have, even if it’s just three foods.”

 

It was the importance of awareness of the condition that made them act. Mike explains that more awareness means more research, which could lead to a cure, or at least better treatment options.

 

Springer agrees to the value of events like Riley’s Run in raising awareness about the condition.

 

Riley's RunThe 5k race, which was organized by Mary Catherine Sexton, a Kahn family friend, will be held at Oakdale School in Edmond on June 16. Along with inflatables, princesses and activities for children, there will be a 1-mile fun run and sleep-in (non-run) option.

 

Such a run seems appropriate for a little girl like Riley, who has been triumphing in her own race since she was born.

 

 

For more information, visit www.rileysrun.com.

 

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“The Muppets”

Posted on April 1, 2012 by justin

 

When my friends or readers ask me straight up, “What movie should I see,” I continually answered, throughout the holiday season, “The Muppets.”

 

Those who continually scream that there not enough true “family” movies must have missed this one – a sort of “Sunset Boulevard” for the family.  The plot, quite clever, actually, has the Muppets re grouping after many years to save their former studios from an evil tyrant.  The movie is told with a real can do spirit and is full of love and goodwill.  And, on top of it all, the picture is a musical, one of the true rare birds of modern movies.

 

Now comes the blu ray, straight from Disney, and the result is nothing less than stunning..the colors pop right off the screen and the digital sound makes it sound as though you’re in a Hollywood mixing session.  This is probably the greatest blu ray experience I’ve had.

 

Extras are multiple and wonderful – as are all from the Disney studio home video.

 

Do yourself and your family a favor and purchase your own copy today.

 

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MASTERS OF MAYHEM

Posted on April 1, 2012 by justin

By Bud Elder

 

While Oklahoma is ranked at a position that is, at 28th, exactly half of all American states in respect to population, it seems as though the former territory produces from its citizenry a disproportionate number of noticeably successful careers in any particular field of endeavor one might choose. Sooner state music, for instance – from “Take Me Back to Tulsa” to “Red Solo Cup” – has captured the imaginations of dancing fools around the world. Name a discipline, from rocket science to Wall Street regulation, filmmaking or “foodies,” and you’ll find an Oklahoman smack dab at the forefront.

 

What of Oklahoma writers, you ask? They include wordsmiths from Ralph Ellison and M. Scott Momaday to current master authors such as Bob Burke and Billie Letts, along with her Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright son, Tracy. From these pens and keyboards come forth organic stories and true escapades that successfully meld both heart and head, providing a unique perspective on life in general, told through both a fluid and readable prose, deep characterization and a genuine insight into the human spirit.

 

There is, of course, another type of writer, one who has explored the human spirit and found it to be exceedingly bleak and nasty – these are the authors whose tomes are found under the “Crime” banner at any local bookstore. Books with this particular designation are liberated from the confines of classic literature – true heroes are scarce, if one is deployed at all; the plotting is filled with double-crosses, con jobs, honey traps, heists, stickups and robberies, gunfights, fistfights and knife fights, clean getaways and dirty crooks and, of course, murder, performed in any number of sordid ways and means.

 

Turn to page one, students, and enjoy reading two of the world’s most influential practitioners of these dark arts – Jim Thompson and Ross Thomas. While each has his own particular style, presentation and individual assessment of everyday folly, they share the blackest of Oklahoma hearts and have communally entertained millions as they aim for the bottom of the bottomless well of humankind’s very existence.

 

Now imagine that you are the lone person in a small town railroad station, circa 1952 or so, about to catch the overnight train to some off-the-map burg hundreds of miles away. You look in the paperback rack for something to kill the time, and you purchase, for a quarter, the book with the dirtiest title of all – “A Swell Looking Babe” or “A Hell of a Woman.” You retire to the smoker and quickly sense that the author, Jim Thompson, stands apart from your other favorite train station authors like Charles Willeford, David Goodis or Charles Williams.

 

Jim Thompson was born September 27, 1906 in territorial Anadarko to a father who served as the deputy sheriff of Caddo County, ran unsuccessfully for the Oklahoma legislature and, reportedly, was then run out of town to Texas for, lean in closer now, embezzlement.

 

In the early ’30s, Thompson served as the head of the Oklahoma Federal Writers Project, a “New Deal” program that had him mentoring such serious writers as Louis L’Amour, a writer of Westerns whose novels “Hondo” and “How the West Was Won” are genre classics.

 

Thompson turned to true fiction himself with “Now And On Earth” in 1942. After his second novel, “Heed the Thunder,” Thompson formed an alliance with Lion Books, a small paperback publishing house (hence the availability in bus and train stations) and proceeded to write the standard bearers of this sort of book.

 

The Killer Inside MeStarting with “The Killer Inside Me,” twice made into films some 25 years apart, ,Thompson’s output during this time includes the titles “After Dark, My Sweet,” “The Grifters” and “The Kill-Off,” all produced as movies in the 1990s, as was a remake of “The Getaway,” first filmed in 1972, directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw.

 

Other Thompson titles include “Savage Night,” “The Alcoholics” and “The Transgressors.”

 

A partnership with director Stanley Kubrick brought forth scripts for “The Killing,” a masterful heist picture recently given a splendid restoration by the Criterion Collection, and “Paths of Glory,” one of the most potent anti-war films ever made. Thompson also wrote novelizations of scripts from the John Wayne movie “The Undefeated” and the television series “Ironside.” The author even worked as an actor, appearing in the 1974 film “Farewell My Lovely.”

 

Nothing More Than MurderThompson’s book, “Nothing More Than Murder,” might just be the best novel of 2012, although it was released in 1949. In this book, Thompson’s leading character owns a small-town movie theater and becomes mixed up in murder, insurance scams and ill-fated love.

 

One of Thompson’s particular specialties is to get inside the head of all characters about whom he writes. The following is a passage from “Nothing More Than Murder” from the perspective of its lead, Joe Wilmont:

“All of a sudden it came over me why I’d had so many blue spells lately.

It was because I felt like I didn’t amount to much anymore. It was because

I didn’t feel that I was as good as other people – that I shouldn’t put

myself with people who wouldn’t do what I was doing.”

 

Thompson, who struggled with alcohol his whole life, was not a fan of happy endings.  At the end of “Nothing More Than Murder,” as the criminal is exposed, he says to himself:

 

“They can’t hang me, I’m already dead. I’ve been dead a long, long time.”

 

Charles Adai, president of Hard Case Crime, a modern-day publisher of books such as Thompson’s, said, “In Thompson’s books, you get trapped inside the head of someone in dire straits. His writing is defined by hallucinatory excess.”

 

If Jim Thompson’s books give readers “crime in the streets,” Ross Thomas’ novels are known by their “crime in the suites.” Thomas wrote his first book, “The Cold War Swap,” after serving as a public relations specialist, a reporter, a union spokesman and political strategist. His novels are among the most purely entertaining of any crime writer.

 

Born February 19, 1926 in Oklahoma City, Thomas graduated from the University of Oklahoma. According to Thomas himself, his love of politics came from his Sooner State roots.

 

“I am a gavel-to-gavel political junkie,” he said. “I got hooked as a child. Some of my earliest memories are a curious amalgam of films of the ’30s and political rallies held in Memorial Park in Oklahoma City where, on a hot Depression evening, my parents would sometimes take me to hear booming oratorical efforts of the likes of Blind Tom Gore, Alfalfa Bill Murray and a young, savvy comer named Mike Monroney.”

 

Thomas’ characters, as a rule, are charlatans, scoundrels and rascals. A recurring character, “Otherguy” Overby, is so named because he usually makes sure the “other guy” takes the fall.

 

Briarpatch“Briarpatch,” which won the Edgar Awards’ “Novel of the Year,” is a revenge piece cleverly set in a town that somewhat resembles Oklahoma City, making fun of a certain newspaper empire family for whom Thomas once worked, calling it “the same rotten prosperous paper it has always been.”

 

A terrific example of Thomas’ style can be found in this character description from “Briarpatch”:

“To Benjamin Dill, the corridors of the Carroll Arms still reeked of old-style tag-team politics, and of its cheap scent and loveless sex and hundred-proof bourbon and cigars that came wrapped in cellophane and were sold for a quarter one and two at a time. Although he considered himself a political agnostic, Dill liked most politicians – and most laborskates and consumer fussbudgets and civil rights practitioners and professional whale watchers and tree huggers and antinuke nuts and almost anyone who would rise from one of the wooden folding chairs at the Tuesday night meeting in the basement of the Unitarian church and earnestly demand to know ‘what we here tonight can do about this.’ Dill had long since despaired that there was not much anyone could do about anything, but those that still believed there was interested him and he found them, for the most part, amusing company and witty conversationalists.”

 

The KillingIn all, Thomas wrote 20 novels under his own name and five under the name Oliver Bleeck. He wasn’t treated well by Hollywood – his only book filmed was “The Procane Chronicle,” which was turned into the Charles Bronson vehicle “St. Ives.” His original scripts include “Bad Company,” “Hammett” and “Blood In Blood Out.”

Many of Thomas’ novels, including “Yellow Dog Contract,” “The Back-Up Men” and “The Eighth Dwarf,” are offered as ebooks at www.mysteriouspress.com.

According to Otto Penzler, owner of Mysterious Press Bookstore and one of America’s foremost authorities on the crime novel, Thomas still has a place with readers today.

“Readers have responded to the same things in good literature forever,” he said. “Great storytelling and characters with whom they can become engaged. I don’t know whether Ross Thomas was a better creator of great characters or great plots because he did both so well, enhanced with crisp, spot-on dialogue in every book. He is no less captivating today because he dealt with universal human traits of greed, revenge, fear – the very essence of crime fiction.”

When asked why Penzler decided to print Thomas in his new ebook format, he answered, “Easy question. I published him in book form in the 1980s and early ’90s. When I signed my publishing partnership agreement with the CEO of Warner Books, he asked me who was my favorite writer and wanted most to publish. I answered that it was Ross Thomas, and it eventually came to pass. When I started MysteriousPress.com, the first person I called was his agent.”

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EMPLOYEE GIVING

Posted on April 1, 2012 by justin

Lindsay Whelchel

 

It was during a meeting for the Oklahoma Regional Food Bank, when a commotion could be heard from the lobby. Dawn Burroughs, vice president of marketing and development, thought, ‘It must be a lively volunteer group coming in’. This was not uncommon for the organization, which hosts a regular volunteer program, but when the meeting group suspended their discussion and decided to see what all the chaos was about, they were met with the joy and cheers of employees from Cox Communications, a broadband communications and entertainment company.

The employees had with them a large balloon bouquet and a check for $10,000.

 

For the food bank, that meant 50,000 meals to the hungry, Burroughs explains. For Cox, it was another effort in the work of their Community Connects Foundation, the employee-led initiative that aids non-profit efforts around the community.

 

In 2005, the company began to formulate the plan for the foundation, explains Tiffani Bruton, director of public affairs for Cox. The employees were already donating on their own to various organizations, but wanted to combine their efforts for greater impact.

 

“They had come forward and said ‘we would like to do something as an organization. We would like to do more for the community. Can you find a way to help us do that,’” Bruton says of the employee desire to create the program, which facilitates tax-deductible donations to non-profit organizations as payroll deductions.

 

About 80 percent of the employee base donates to the foundation, raising a total of $670,000 last year, and with the coming year’s pledges, a projected $3.6 million raised in its existence, says Bruton.

 

Every employee can designate an amount they can manage.

 

“We’re very excited to say that they choose to give a lot,” Bruton says of the individual employee amounts. “Our average employee gift is $430 [per year].”

 

Although Cox also makes a portion of the matching contribution, the large majority of the total amount raised comes from the employees.

 

“The foundation is unique in that it’s easy for top-level executives to write a check to lots of different organizations; but what’s cool about our organization is that it’s largely coming from the front-line employees within our company who don’t make huge executive salaries – the cable installers that are in our customers’ homes daily, the call center service representatives who are taking calls every day, and others,” says Christine Martin, director of communications.

 

Martin explains that they are inspired by the generosity of the employees.

 

“It blows our minds every time we see who’s giving that money. It’s very unique, I think, to our company, and my favorite part of this whole story,” she says.

 

Bruton concurs on the uniqueness of the foundation by emphasizing the role that non-managerial-level employees have in the success of the program.

 

“We have an employee advisory council, one in Oklahoma City and one in Tulsa, who really serve as the stewards of those employee dollars,” she says.

 

This council decides which organizations will receive the funds. Cox receives 75 to 100 applications yearly from many worthy organizations, but the group must narrow it down to 30 or 40, explains Bruton.

 

“We’re looking for organizations that are providing social service-type programs in the areas of youth education, health and the arts, so that might be a variety of things,” she says. Some of the programs they support include a weekend backpack meal program, a library involvement initiative and, of course, the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, to name a few.

 

One member of the council, Lilli Bassett, says they review the applications for funding in advance, then meet quarterly to discuss and decide the recipients.

 

“I just love the fact that employees direct where the money goes. Sometimes the meetings are very passionate because they really do take it seriously – they are speaking on behalf of the group of employees they represent,” she says. “They speak from the heart, but what’s so inspiring to me, and what I find so impactful, is that they also vote from the heart.”

 

Bassett joined the board three years ago, and says perhaps her favorite part of being involved is doing the twice-yearly site visits with the recipients.

 

“To me, the most powerful thing has been to go out to these agencies and actually envision; it was really life-changing to hear these stories and see these agencies in action.” The most impactful one, she says, was probably her first visit at the Infant Crisis Services Center – we heard the story of grandparents who were raising their grandson, but who had fallen on hard times and were in need.

 

She discussed it with a fellow employee. “For the first time in their lives, they were having to reach out for help. Both of us had tears streaming down our faces. We’re all just one paycheck away – that could be any of us,” she says.

 

The grandparents found help at the center with funds from Cox employees, as well as other donors.

 

“Just hearing the kind of support they’re able to give the community, that’s what’s so powerful, that’s what stays with you,” says Bassett.

 

What the funds do in reality is something Cox is focused on conveying to their employees, Bruton explains.

 

“We’ve developed a great communication plan for our employees, so we’re making good decisions, and we’re constantly telling them how their dollars are making a difference,” she says.

 

Seeing this impact is beneficial to the employees, who see the need in the community up close.

 

Bruton explains, “They talk to the customers, and they are in the homes of customers, so they see what the true need is. They sometimes encounter really terrible circumstances, so they know firsthand whom they are helping,” she says. “We really feel strongly that it has contributed to the community feel of our organization.”

 

Martin agrees that this active role in the community positively affects the morale of the company.

 

“It makes them feel really fantastic about the company they work for because we can facilitate that, and we’ve put this program in place and given them the opportunity to be a part of something bigger,” she says.

 

The power of something bigger than the individual is something Elizabeth King, manager of public affairs, sees in the program.

 

“By everybody contributing what they can, they can do something greater together than anybody could do on their own,” King says.

 

Burroughs would likely agree, seeing the benefits firsthand at the food bank.

 

“I think it’s critically important to companies to be philanthropic in their efforts to be a part of the community,” she says, adding to the double benefits for a company. “It not only helps the non-profit, but also really helps the employees that work for that company. They get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from knowing the company they work for and that they give a lot of themselves to is really willing to step up to the plate and give back to the community where they all live. That’s really important,” Burroughs says.

 

The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma has been a regular recipient of funds from Cox, and was able to win the Cox Connects Community Challenge, a social media voting contest from Cox, to get the latest $10,000 grant.

 

Burton says she would recommend starting similar initiatives to other companies committed to making it work.

 

“If a company has the resources and the true dedication to community, I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to engage employees,” she says, but stresses that it is a unique decision for each company. “We made the right decision; we’ve seen it become more and more popular throughout Cox, and people have begun to see in Oklahoma what could happen.”

 

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Finding Courage Through Beads

Posted on April 1, 2012 by justin

By Gina Harkins

 

When Beth McDowell took her 16-month-old daughter to the doctor last August, she expected to receive a simple prescription to cure Mia’s discomfort from a bladder infection. Instead, doctors found a grapefruit-size tumor in her abdomen, and just hours later she was undergoing treatment at The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center. Mia was in a fight to save her life from neuroblastoma.

 

Mia stringing beads“Within 10 hours of her regular doctor’s appointment, we were checked into the hospital and didn’t leave for two weeks,” McDowell recalled. “It was completely thrown at us like a Mack truck, and in the beginning it was very overwhelming.”

But while the road ahead may have seemed like an impossibly long one, a unique program is filling journeys like Mia’s with encouragement, offering a ray of hope throughout each step. Founded in 2004 by pediatric oncology nurse Jean Baruch, Beads of Courage offers a positive way for young patients and their families to track their treatments, from diagnosis through every needle poke, surgery and personal accomplishment along the way.

 

“While working as a camp nurse at one of Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, I was fascinated by how much the kids loved making things with beads and wearing beads,” Baruch explained. “I always had a compelling need to give my patients something, not as a reward, but to honor and acknowledge the courage I witnessed day after day during their treatment journey.”

 

And so, Baruch set out on her own courageous journey, working with The Bead Museum in Glendale, Ariz. to establish Beads of Courage’s charter oncology program at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Today, Beads of Courage offers programs for cancer and blood disorders, cardiac conditions, burn injuries, Neonatal ICU families and chronic illnesses, and is active in 135 hospitals in five countries, touching the lives of more than 30,000 children and their families around the world.

 

Two of those hospitals are right here, in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

 

Kristen Holmes, certified child life specialist at The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center, played an instrumental role in helping to establish the cancer and blood disorders program in Oklahoma City.

 

“Mia was actually one of the beginners in our program,” Holmes explained. Since establishing Beads of Courage at the hospital in 2011, over 100 oncology and hematology patients have recorded their treatment journeys.

 

Another of those patients is Brock Hart, whose own prayer and support group, Brock’s Warriors, provided the funding necessary to start and continue the program at OU Medical Center. Brock’s family received a leukemia diagnosis just days before his first birthday, and it was his aunt, Melissa Day, who reached out to discover how the inspirational idea of turning beads into signs of strength could become a reality for Oklahoma City’s youngest patients.

 

“I realized what an awesome opportunity this is for the patients to be able to come and tell their story, especially because when Brock was diagnosed, he hadn’t learned to talk and couldn’t say this is what I’ve been through,” Day explained.

 

While Brock’s Warriors’ generous donations have made the program possible at The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center, it still requires the help of Oklahomans across the state to keep it alive and develop additional programs. The initial startup fee is approximately $4,500 per department, which provides training tools, startup packets and starter beads for each patient.

Beads of Courage

“Anybody has the opportunity to raise money for the Beads of Courage program,” Day said, “be it a team, a group, or an individual.”

 

Ashley Ethridge, Beads of Courage communications director, agrees.

 

“It could be you and me, running a 5K race,” Ethridge explained. “If you want to honor the kids in the Beads of Courage, simply contact us and we’ll send you a bead kit. You can wear beads and run for the kids, and afterwards write a note of encouragement to give to them. It can be anyone who wants to encourage the kids.”

 

In addition to notes of encouragement and financial donations, Ethridge said the program is also supported by quilters across the country, who create bead bags to be given out at the beginning of each patient’s journey, along with wooden bead boxes, which some patients use to hold their beads rather than hanging them on their IV pole or wearing them around their neck.

 

But how does something as simple as beads encourage hope and honor bravery?

 

“Healing happens at the bedside every day when there is a transaction of the giving of beads by nurses to children,” Baruch explained. “This embodied act of giving beads creates a sacred space and alleviates the experience of suffering for these children, as they are provided a powerful voice that never existed before.”

 

Each glass bead symbolizes a step in that child’s story, starting with a strand of beads that spells out their name, along with a journal to track each moment along the way.

 

“We really try to empower the family to keep track of everything, as accurately as possible,” Holmes said.

 

Mia's necklaceThis accuracy is especially important for parents like McDowell, who knows Mia may not remember these long stays in the hospital, but will certainly be affected by them for the rest of her life.

 

“All of her beads are already in order of her treatment,” McDowell said. “That way I can go back one day and show her.”

 

Hospitals are also given the opportunity to include their own unique starter beads, which provides the steppingstone for a strand of up to 100 beads. Often this is just the first of dozens of strands a child may accumulate throughout his or her treatment.

 

“We give them an anchor, which represents a new diagnosis, and a courage bead, because being in the hospital for the first time, I think, is a very courageous thing,” Holmes said. The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center also includes a white Brock’s Warriors bead with its starter beads, a sign of hope and survival for a little boy who continues to add to his strands two years after his initial diagnosis.

 

For The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis, Beads of Courage has been a part of their patients’ daily routines since summer 2007, made possible by the donations from its own volunteer auxiliary. The Tulsa-based hospital first introduced the program to the children in its oncology unit, and has since expanded to offer programs in hematology, cardiac conditions, burn injuries and NICU – currently the only hospital in the U.S. to offer all available programs, with plans already in the works to add the newest program for chronic illnesses in the coming months.

 

Sarah Sands, certified child life specialist at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis, said she has seen the program provide a very beneficial way for families to tell memories and to record what the child has overcome.

 

“I’ve never had a family refuse the program, they’re always excited about it,” Sands said. “Even when the children are little, it’s something the parents can get involved in, and as the kids get older and understand what the beads mean, they love it.”

 

The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis has offered Beads of Courage to over 500 patients and their families, including siblings who may not understand why their brother or sister is receiving such undivided attention.

 

Beads of Courage provides 12 workshops through its national headquarters, including a program designed specifically for young siblings.

 

Making necklaces with Mia“It’s one of our most popular programs,” Ethridge said. “The siblings get their own beads, because many times they’re kind of forgotten as soon as their sister or brother is diagnosed with cancer. It also includes trading cards with animals to help them better understand the illness on their terms.”

 

In addition to colorful glass beads that track the day-to-day journey for patients, parents and their siblings, unique Courage Beads also play an important role in creating strands that mirror each child’s personality and bravest accomplishments.

 

Handmade by bead artists around the world, Courage Beads are meant to honor special milestones and treatments, while Program Beads acknowledge all other moments throughout, such as a night in the hospital or a surgery.

 

“Last year, bead artists donated greater than 60,000 Courage Beads to the program, of all different shapes and sizes,” Ethridge said. “Some are inspired by nature, others are very much into sculptural beads, like cats and dogs or hot dogs and cupcakes. They each have their own look to them.”

 

Other bead colors may vary between programs, but remain consistent for each medical department, making it a communication tool meant to inspire support between patients and parents.

 

“Just the other day, a mom and her 8-month-old son were in the hospital, and she had his beads strung up on his crib,” McDowell said, “and we were just going through each one and looking at the milestone beads together. It’s a cool way to see what everybody’s going through, especially since different cancers require different kinds of treatment.”

 

And while there’s no cookie-cutter way to create these Courage Beads, there are also no set guidelines on what an act of courage or a special accomplishment could be.

 

“If there’s something the child did that’s been really difficult, like they finally drink something and they haven’t had a drink in four days, that’s a big accomplishment,” Holmes said. “If they hold really still during a dressing change and it’s normally very scary, that’s an act of courage.”

 

Beads of Courage in the MakingSometimes, that big accomplishment is also a remarkable one. As of mid-January, following six rounds of chemotherapy and surgery, Mia was technically classified as having no evidence of disease. And of course, there’s a bead for that.

 

“Going into remission is a huge deal,” Holmes said, “and we like to call it out as a special accomplishment with a special bead.”

 

Though Mia’s journey is not quite over – she endured a stem cell transplant in March and is currently receiving radiation therapy – McDowell knows that having the opportunity to look back at her beads will continue to provide hope and encouragement, and most importantly, show Mia what a brave little girl she truly is.

 

“She’s absolutely going to be super proud one day,” McDowell said. “It’s the one positive thing you can take away from all of this.”

 

To donate to our local Beads of Courage programs, visit www.beadsofcourage.org and specify your chosen hospital. Those interested in donating directly to The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis may contact The Children’s Hospital Foundation at Saint Francis at 918-502-6763.

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