This December, the Leadership Rogers County group focused on healthy living; the mental and physical side. The first guests of the day were Layla Freeman and Nancy Phelps of the organization Light of Hope. Mrs. Freeman shared a captivating story of her journey, which led to the creation of this non-profit organization. Light of Hope offers an outreach for families and individuals facing addiction and other life difficulties as well as serves the community with educational programs for children and high schoolers.
Jody Reiss, Project Director, TSET Healthy Living Program, Kyle Clifton, City of Claremore, City Planner and Ashley Hickman, City of Claremore, Human Resources spoke with the group next about encouraging a healthy lifestyle in our community and workplace. These individuals work together to ensure transformation in our community. Some of these changes have included sidewalks, bike lanes, adding the farmers market at Lynn Riggs Park, presenting Lunch & Learns at different businesses to encourage improved health of their employees, and so much more.
Lunch was provided by Front Porch Bakery. The pulled pork was amazing! Not to mention, the cookies were fantastic as well. Check out their Facebook page for Wednesday dinner specials.
After lunch, the team traveled to Hillcrest Hospital for a tour and Q&A session. Hillcrest Hospital Claremore is a state-of-the-art facility providing innovative emergency and medical amenities right here in Oklahoma. The tour included stops in the Cath lab, where they do life-saving heart procedures, the emergency room where they average 60 visits per day, and labor and delivery, which welcomes on average 58 babies a month. The hospital has been upgrading patient rooms. They currently employee 340 staff members and have 88 beds. Hillcrest offers numerous services. For more about their services, visit their website at hillcrestclaremore.com.
Lastly, the Leadership Rogers County team walked to the Northeastern Oklahoma Cancer Institute. This facility provides radiation oncology to patients in northeast Oklahoma. Jennifer Fisher, medical physicist, presented information on how radiation is delivered precisely to cancerous tumors while sparing the healthy tissue around it. NEOKCancer is committed to providing ‘HOPE’ to patients through offering a healing environment, a promise of open communication and by taking a patient-centered approach while providing them with excellence in clinical care. This facility is the first facility outside of an academic setting to offer treatment on the Halcyon machine.
We appreciate all the speakers, also facilities opening their doors and providing education on healthy living in our community. For more information about Leadership Rogers County, please visit leadershiprogerscounty.org.
