eMeeting on May 12, 2020

 

President Roger Sidoti welcomed Rotarians to the Zoom meeting.

Patriotic song America the Beautiful was led by David Dix on piano.

Roger Sidoti led the Pledge of Allegiance.

David Dix offered today’s invocation.

There were no visiting Rotarians.

Curtis Stumpf introduced his guests Dr. Brian Bullard, Senior Scientist, Crystal Diagnostics and Dr. Gary Niehaus, Professor of Integrative Medicine, NEOMED.

May birthdays were displayed on the slide show player prior to the start of today’s meeting.

Carol Crimi shared that Sayuri Minakuchi, our club’s Rotary Student Ambassador, who was here to receive her Master’s Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from 2010 to 2012 is now a professor at a University in Tokyo. She noted that Sayuri is helping her local Rotary Club move to an online format. Her mother who was also a Rotary Student Ambassador is involved with a Girl Scout troop teaching them English and helping them learn about the United States and the state of Ohio. Carol shared these stories to show the impact that Rotary has throughout the world.

Randy Smith encouraged everyone to complete the membership survey that was emailed to everyone as soon as possible. We have 44 responses so far. He also announced that Nelson Burns would be helping him facilitate a strategic planning session for the club. He thanked Nelson for stepping up to serve as moderator during this process.

Roger announced that Sherry and David Joy along with Joe Marken are putting together a plan to work on the gazebo as we do every year. The plan will include the appropriate social distancing, etc. More to come on that. He reminded the group about completing the member survey that was sent to your email. He thanked Randy Smith for facilitating the survey. Roger also thanked Nelson Burns or agreeing to facilitate the strategic planning session that incoming President Randy Smith. Roger also shared that the City of Kent is beginning to plan to open back up with proper protocols in place. There will be a report given to the City Council on Wednesday evening. Roger will keep us up to date. He shared that he needs 10 people to volunteer to rake, mulch, etc.  Please let him know if you can help. Roger also shared that the club leadership is weighing how to continue to support the many worthwhile causes that the club traditionally supports given that the auction had to be canceled and that fundraising will have to be done differently for now. He noted that members of the club’s leadership along with the foundation’s leadership and the members of the auction committee were all considering what could be done. He thanked everyone for the help determining next steps. He also noted that although we all want to meet and be together, the Zoom meetings will continue until further notice.

Kathy Myers introduced our speaker for today, Bill Benoit, president of UH Portage Medical Center. Bill has been employed at University Hospitals since September of 2013.  His first position with UH was as the System Vice President of Rehabilitation Services.  He transitioned in 2015 to become the Chief Operating Officer at UH Geauga Medical Center.  He then transitioned in 2016 to become the COO at UH Portage MC.  He assumed the role of President at UH Portage MC in January of 2018. 

 

Bill Graduated from the University of Toledo with a B.S. in Exercise Physiology, the Medical College of Ohio with a Masters in Occupational Therapy and Morehead State University with a Master’s in Business Administration.  He has worked in hospitals and health systems since 1998 providing clinical care and clinical leadership.

 

During his career Bill has worked as a therapist in multiple settings with specializations in Vestibular, Lymphedema and Industrial Rehabilitation.  His contribution to the healthcare industry is now focused on providing the highest quality patient care in the most efficient and cost effective way for long-term sustainability.  As healthcare is drastically evolving, Bill’s goal is to lead teams to achieve even better results in clinical excellence, educate the next generation of clinical and administrative leaders and find new ways to provide care in highly efficient systems. 

 

Bill is married to Kami Benoit, a Masters trained Clinical Dietician who teaches at the University of Akron.  He has two daughters named Hailey and Addison who enjoy gymnastics, basketball and dance. Bill is also a member of the Hudson Rotary Club.

 

Bill shared a slide show presentation with the club which outlined the effects of COVID-19 on UH Portage Medical Center and other community partners in Portage County. Bill told the group that with the arrival of COVID-19, the hospital and the community say rapid changes to the delivery of health care services available. He explained the rapid ramping up of plans for the delivery of acute care services while primary care visits and non-urgent testing either went virtual or were delayed. He noted that UH partnered with area providers and advisors to develop and implement the community’s emergency response plan. Key partners included: the Portage County Emergency Management Association, the Portage County Health Department and local city health departments as well as the Akron Regional Hospital Association, the CDC and Ohio’s Department of Health. They all worked together and shared data through an aggregate database.

 

Bill shared specifics of the COVID-19 implementation plan at UH Portage. He noted that immediately the HICS structure was implemented which required a 24 hour 7 day a week Incident Command Center. He described strategies employed by UH Portage leadership including cross training of clinical staff, securing of proper PPE and equipment needed, deployment of tele-health services and the establishment of remote treatment sites. He shared that the hospital and the county prepared for a more than 300% surge in health care services needed to treat the influx of COVID 19 patients expected. Although that surge never came, the UH Portage team and other area partners were prepared.

 

Now, the focus turns to resuming surgeries and elective procedures. The return to normal will include continued telehealth and resumption of primary health care services with the ramping back up of elective surgeries and procedures. The financial impact of COVID 19 will be felt for a very long time. Unplanned expenses and the loss of revenue from surgeries and visits to EDs and Urgent Cares will impact UH Portage and other area hospitals for quite some time.

 

Bill’s final message was one of encouraging club members to see their doctor if don’t feel well. He shared that many people have delayed treatment and have been impacted negatively from this delay. He shared the symptoms of stroke and heart attack and reminded members that hospitals are safe places to be and that they should seek medical treatment when needed. He ended by saying don’t wait to seek necessary medical care.

Today’s responder was Mike Lewis.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Shawn Gordon