ADvantage Point, fall 2013

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Oklahoma Department of Human Services
ADvantage Point Fall 2013
Upcoming Events
Case Management
Orientation Training:
September 9-13
October 7-11
November 4-8
December 2-6
For more information, visit
http://www.okdhs.org/
programsandservices/aging/adw
Assisted Living Case
Manager Training:
September 19
CD-PASS/CDA Training:
October 17
For more information or to
register, visit http://events.
oucpm.org/advantage
20 Years of ADvantage
2013 marks the 20th anniversary
of the ADvantage Program, and
we will publish a special edition of
the ADvantage Point newsletter.
We would love to hear from
you. If you, your staff or any
Members you serve would like
to share any memories, please
send them to Provide Question at
aauproviderquestion@aau.okdhs.
org by Nov. 1. Please include
your name and email so we may
contact you.
An Empowering Life
Member Spotlight on Lora Williams
In the late 1950s, cartoonist Allen Saunders said,
“Life is what happens to us while we are making
other plans.” As it turns out, life often has plans for
us of which we are totally unaware. In 2002, Lora
Williams was involved in a serious automobile
accident in which she suffered severe neck injuries.
These injuries led to her neck being fused in 2005.
Then, in 2006, while jumping on a trampoline, she
landed incorrectly and jammed a piece of metal
from her neck straight into her spine.
After she was released from the hospital, Williams was confined to a
nursing home, where she spent months on a ventilator. During this time,
she developed bed sores and pneumonia, both of which nearly killed her.
She thought she would spend the rest of her life in a nursing home.
As Williams began to slowly recover, she realized that, being 38 years
old and in a nursing home, it is difficult to find an advocate, so she learned
to advocate for herself. She did research and found physical therapists
who would help her, and then she found the ADvantage Program. The
difference, she says, was night and day. She was depressed while in
the nursing home, but getting back into her own home, thanks to the
ADvantage Program, gave her hope.
However, Williams continued with self-destructive behaviors that had
led to her problems in the first place. She was still addicted to alcohol and
other drugs. She fell and broke her leg, and returned to a nursing home for
a short time to recover.
“Members from my mom’s church kept on coming to see me and loving
me and praying for me; they just wouldn’t give up,” Williams says. One
day, the women asked her to go to a facility next door, where they were
going to minister. She came home from that visit on a spiritual high and
shared her experience with her roommate, who had multiple sclerosis.
(Continued on page 3)
ADvantage Administration, PO Box 50550, Tulsa, OK 74150
http://www.okdhs.org/programsandservices/aging/adw/
OKDHS Pub. No. S13068 Issued 9/2013
This publication is authorized by Oklahoma
Department of Human Services Director
Ed Lake in accordance with state and
federal regulations. Copies have not been
printed but are available online at www.
okdhs.org/library. An electronic copy
has been deposited with the Publications
Clearinghouse of the Oklahoma Department
of Libraries.