Oklahoma director advocates more long-term care

Becky Moore is passionate about the issue of long-term care. That’s not surprising since she’s worked 36 years in the field and comes at it from four sides.

For the past nine years, Moore has served as executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Health Care Providers (OAHCP), a nonprofit trade association for long-term care providers. She’s also worked in a nursing home, surveyed nursing homes statewide and had to make the difficult decisions to move her own loved ones into facilities.

"Bottom line, we’re living longer, and 38 percent of us are going to need some form of long-term care,” Moore said. "People don’t want to talk about it for themselves or with their parents.”

The group has 250 members, including nursing homes, assisted-living centers, home health organizations, adult day cares and other forms of long-term care providers. A registered lobbyist, Moore advocates for the industry and manages a staff of five, including registered nurses who plan and run numerous continuing education courses.

At her office at 200 NE 28, Moore recently sat down with The Oklahoman to talk about her personal and professional life. The following is an edited transcript:

Q: Can you tell us about your roots?

A: I was raised in Tahlequah. My dad was a vet, and my mother worked with him for many years. I loved it. I got to take care of the puppies he delivered C-section, and be around horses and cows. In northeast Oklahoma, you don’t raise crops; there’s too many rocks.

You raise animals.

I had an older and younger brother, but the younger died when he was 4 and I was 7. It was crushing. A birth injury, depriving him of oxygen, caused him to be developmentally disabled. But the worst part was back in those days they recommended institutionalization at age 4. So my parents sent him to a state school in Enid, where he died shortly afterward from childhood diseases he hadn’t been exposed to.

Q: Was that what influenced your career in health care?

A: I believe it led me down this path. In junior high, I became involved in Special Olympics, and in high school, as president of the S Club — or service club — I decided we’d visit the nursing home weekly. We delivered mail to patients, read to them and played a lot of Bingo.

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