Annual HIV Wellness Retreat: Have a Grateful Day

by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer

Keryn Scott was a Missouri native and an HIV/AIDS Outreach Worker and HIV Educator. After a long struggle with HIV/AIDS, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Intestinal Cancer in 2011.

“Knowing her end was near, Keryn began signing her emails and letters with Have a Grateful Day,” The Grateful Day Foundation’s website reads. “Her outlook on life had changed to be grateful for each and every day she had left.”

Scott passed away January 5, 2012, peacefully and surrounded by loved ones. Her memory lives on every year through the Annual HIV Wellness Retreat put on by The Grateful Day Foundation.

“The Grateful Day Foundation seeks to fill gaps in services in Oklahoma's HIV/AIDS wellness community through collaboration with partner organizations, providing transportation to those in need, and hosting an Annual HIV Wellness Retreat,” states their website.

Justin Flowers, Scott’s best friend, with the help of Chuck Courtney, Shana Cozad, Paul Dorman and Patrick French, formed the Grateful Day Foundation Inc. in honor of Scott’s good work and kind words.

Courtney, co-founder, says, “This will be our 4th retreat as hosts of this long standing event. The annual HIV Wellness Retreats have been a staple in the care and support in the Tulsa area for several years. We have expanded our reach, to include all of Oklahoma, Northwest Arkansas, Southeast Kansas, Southwest Missouri.”

The Annual HIV Wellness Retreat will be held August 26 to 28 at the beautiful Camp Christian in Chouteau, OK, but the applications to attend are due June 1.

To apply to the program before June 1, visit their site at www.gratefulday.org.

One client's story reads as follows:

Home bound with anxiety

August 31, 2015

I signed up for the retreat because of a push from my Husband and a nurse at OSU internal medicine. I was excited but very nervous as I had basically become home bound with anxiety, stress and depression. The first night was rough and I wanted nothing more than to come home, upon calling home I was told hang in there this will do you good. To find out that there were others just like me, who felt like I did. Who was dealing with exactly the same thing. I made new friends, the education that was given was amazing and easy to understand. As the weekend progressed so did the sharing and talking and lots of fun with laughter! I am now more active, I go places and do things again. I feel more and more like the old me every day, and it is all thanks to GRATEFUL DAY FOUNDATION! I pray this foundation thrives and grows until we have a cure! J.T.

The Gayly – 5/5/2016 @ 4:06 p.m. CDT