This Land

I wrote this all down to keep myself alive. For six days and five nights, I was a mental patient in total lockdown at one of Oklahoma’s fifteen publicly-funded mental hospitals, the Oklahoma County Crisis Intervention Center (OCCIC) in Oklahoma City. I was a Catch-22 mess of a woman: on…

Photo: Bishop Rick Hollingsworth, with photo of Robert Coffey, MD.

Dr. Robert Coffey was friendly and caring just like any other pediatrician. What set him apart was his fiery dedication to helping patients living with HIV/AIDS.

While he built a bustling practice as pediatrician to the children of stars…