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Subject: Dr. O'Connor appointed to State Nursing Home Board
Date: 7 Nov 2005 20:11:40 -0700

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Surnames: O'Connor, Henry, Denney, Cain, Sessions
Classification: Lookup

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/xYB.2ACE/3289

Message Board Post:

Dr. J.T. O'Connor, Jr., a physician with Mercy Health/Love County Hospital and Clinic, has accepted an appointment to the state board that regulates administrators of Oklahoma's 350 nursing homes.

Governor Brad Henry asked him to take a two-year term on a newly-reconstituted Oklahoma State Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators in August.

The board licenses and disciplines more than 800 nursing home adminstrators.

O'Connor has been a family practitioner in Marietta for over 30 years. He also serves as medical director for Lake Country Nursing Center in Marietta and two other nursing homes in Ardmore.

O'Connor said he had a "keen interest" in the quality of care in nursing homes and looked forward to contributing toward policies and procedures that will "make a difference for the future."

Locally, O'Connor also works as medical director of the Love County Health Department and the Emergency Services board. He is a consulting physician to Mental Health Services of Southern Oklahoma.

In addition to his D.O. degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1972, O'Connor earned a master of public health degree from OU's College of Public Health in 1992. The department named him its outstanding student.

O'Connor has been a national leader in the public health/preventive medicine arm of the American Osteopathic Association.

He is certified as a fellow of its affiliate, the American Osteopathic College of Occupational and Preventive Medicine. He has served on the college's board of directors since 1996, and currently edits its web site and newsletter.

For the Oklahoma Osteopathic Association, he has served as a member of the committee on education and the physician grievance committee.

Locally, he served three years on the board of the Ardmore Chapter of the American Red Cross.

O'Connor and his wife, Karen, moved to Love County in 1973. They raised two sons and a daughter.

With his new appointment, O'Connor joins 12 other replacement members on the 15-member board.

The Legislature passed a law last spring requiring the board's complete restructuring in order to shift the majority membership away from prior or current nursing home owners.

Under the new law, effective July 1, Henry was required to appoint five nursing home administrators, five health care and treatment providers, and three members of the general public.

The hold-over members consist of a representative each from the Department of Human Services and State Health Department.

"I have great confidence in these appointees and I appreciate their willingness to serve the state," Henry said.

The new board has met twice and is in the process of implementing other requirements of the new law, O'Connor said.

Legislative authors of the law, House Bill 1453, were Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing, and Sen. Bernest Cain, D-Oklahoma City.

O'Connor said he expected to do his work on the board without reference to prior boards or controversies. "This is a completely new board with a new mandate. My expectation is to fulfill the mission the board has been given."

This article included a picture of Dr. J.T. O'Connor Jr.

Source: Marietta Monitor, Love County, September 9, 2005, page 14. By Barbara Sessions, Contributor

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