Things got a little riotous at Rotary this morning. Not out of hand of course, we’re far too dignified, but we were a noisily chatty group at times. Perhaps it was Cameron Osler’s lead off on the anthem.
One of the omissions in my education was the failure to learn anything more than the bare rudiments of music. Notwithstanding the gap, it just strikes me that when we launch into our weekly (weakly) rendition of the national anthem it’s the lead off that can make it or break it; and I think Cameron must have hit just the right note (or something like that). Anyway under his leadership we were in a collective good humour.
Guests were: Elliot Vine (for the last time), Victor Lesnicki (RCBN) Augustina Perez Saucedo (our inbound exchange student) and Camilla Izquierdo (our outbound exchange student).
We inducted Elliot into our number this morning. He was schooled at University of Toronto School (which as a post-war street urchin, I understand to be pretty lofty stuff as schools go.) Then he went on the Queens University to earn a degree in Economics and Law and from there he finds himself practicing family law here in Burlington along with Anne Stoner, spouse of former RCBC member Bill Wadhams. Elliot is betrothed to Jacki, a doc doing her residency at Joseph Brant Hospital. After Elliot was suitable charged and pinned we all shook his hand.
Mae Radford, Richard Pass and Randy Reeve received lapel recognitions for their continuing and generous contributions to the Rotary Foundation. Similarly, yet distinctly differently, Jamie Edwards was congratulated and decorated for his extraordinary support and status as a Major Donor to the Rotary Foundation.
Our guest speaker was Andrew Harkness a Strategic Advisor in Organizational Health Initiatives with the Ontario Ministry of Labour. Andrew’s presentation was on the realities and impacts of mental health in the workplace.
You know, I think we all fall a little silent at the mention of mental ill-health. Many of us reflect for a moment on colleagues or family who have, at one time or another, struggled with mental illness. And not a few of us have had our own black-dog days.
On any given work week, half a million employed Canadians are unable to work due to mental health difficulties; one in five Canadians experience or will experience a mental health issue. The problems usually resolve themselves; usually.
Where we work and what we do defines us, indeed we spend something like two-thirds of our life at work. And who hasn’t dealt with workplace stress? It ranks high up there as a concern and the challenge is to find a way to change the workplace, a happy worker is a productive worker after all.
