Spotlight 04-14-15, Vol. 76, No. 15
Posted by Beth Walker
on Apr 14, 2015
PROGRAM:
Program Host Joe Petrucci presented Diane McCormick, the Livingston County Health Department Director and Don Lawrenchuk, M.D., the Livingston County Medical Director, who discussed “Immunizations and Waivers: A Public Health Perspective.” Brighton Rotary Spotlight
Peggi Mintz, President
April 14, 2015, Vol. 77. No. 15
GUESTS: Mary Vance, wk1; David Smith, Julie’s husband.
MEET, GREET & LEARN: Anne Belser and Kim Leugers were featured this week. They met for Sunday breakfast at The Breakfast Club and also saw Bonnie Corrigan and Jerry Dunneback. Commonalities between the two included that Kim is fifty-percent Native American and Anne is foreign-born, that Kim became engaged to her husband after meeting him six weeks earlier while Anne married her husband two years after meeting him. They then distributed 20 numbered cards and had members name the holder of the cards in order Tom Janego and Carole Bullion-Mincy will be featured next week.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Welcome back to Nancy B. Johnson! Glad to see you are feeling better! Nancy joked that because she will be unable to participate in the Dash or Crash Raiders Build, she brought a donation along with her contribution of beverages for the next Raider’s Build…
How many noticed the new Dash or Crash billboard on I-96 towards Howell? Neil Neilson donated the billboard space and John Nagel donated the sign and installation work.
Melanie & George Moses announced that the memorial service for their longtime staff member Christopher Peterson who passed away on February 2nd will be held on Saturday at 1pm at the Hartland Music Hall.
Only two spots remain for the Family of Rotary event at PeaceMakers Gun Range on Thursday, April 16th. Our own Jerry Hardesty will teach a gun safety class at 3pm, and then target shooting will be available from 4-5pm. If you want to take one of the remaining spots, contact Jason Huntley immediately. Cost is $10 at the door (not including ammo) and a 9mm firearm rental is $10 plus ammo.
Rotary Raiders had a ramp to move from a home in Howell to a home on Briarcliff Ct. in Novi next Wednesday, April 22nd, however a miscommunication resulted and the original Raiders ramp was given to someone else by the homeowner, SO the disassembly scheduled for Wednesday, April 15th has been CANCELLED and all volunteers will build a NEW ramp at the home in Northville NEXT WEDNESDAY. Contact Brian Donovan if you can help next week!
Beth Walker reminded members that the Scholarship Committee will be meeting next Tuesday, 4/21, at 1:30pm to select interview candidates for the Anderson-McGregor Scholarships. Watch your email at the end of this week for electronic copies of their applications!
The next Combination SAT/ACT Practice test will be held on Saturday, May 9th at the BHS Cafeteria. Registration is now open. See www.BrightonRotaryEvents.org for more information on the practice test and the upcoming Complete SAT Prep class taught by Kaplan Test Prep beginning 8/9/15.
Nancy B. Johnson offered a book about the March of Dimes and the University of Michigan baseball pitcher Jim Abbott—a donation to polio plus is all that is needed for the book to be yours!
Bill Anderson alerted members that volunteers are needed for the Sunday, May 3rd March of Dimes Walk at Kensington Metropark. See Bill to volunteer or to purchase tickets for the June March of Dimes car raffle that will feature a Cadillac ATS luxury car. Tickets are $30 for one or three tickets for $60.
The Adopt-a-Highway cleanup today after Rotary will have at least 12 volunteers as Melanie & George Moses organize the cleanup of US-23 between Grand River and Lee Road. Those that missed their chance to participate today, will have an opportunity in July!
Mark Cook, Tom Coates, and Piet Lindhout will be leaving Friday for Peru. It seems that the nation is experiencing extremely high water levels, so hip waders will be standard equipment. Safe trip to all!
Adrienne Knack invited all Rotarians to attend the April 23rd, 3pm celebration at her law firm of Williams & Knack to recognize her new status as partner—Congratulations Adrienne!
Upcoming Events:
04/16/15 3-5pm Family of Rotary Target Shooting at PeaceMakers Gun Range
04/24-26/15 District Conference at Motor City Casino
06/20/15 Top of the Mountain Dash or Crash 5K run at Mt. Brighton
PROGRAM:
Program Host Joe Petrucci presented Diane McCormick, the Livingston County Health Department Director and Don Lawrenchuk, M.D., the Livingston County Medical Director, who discussed “Immunizations and Waivers: A Public Health Perspective.” Diane McCormick has been with the Livingston County Health Department since 1985 and before that she was Director of Environmental Health for Livingston County. Don Lawrenchuk is a retired Wayne County Medical Director who now serves Livingston County. The State of Michigan requires proof of immunization when children enter pre-school, kindergarten and seventh grade, in addition to when a student transfers from another district. Parents can present a medical waiver for immunization, and Michigan is one of 18 states that allow for philosophical wavers. Interestingly, all 18 states that allow philosophical wavers have the most number of immunization wavers in the country. Effective 1/1/2015, all parents seeking immunization waivers must go to their local public health department and be educated about the consequences of such a decision (approximate time 15-60 minutes) in order to obtain a certified waiver. The impact of this educational effort is negligible since of the 165 parents receiving counseling, less than 5 changed their minds to allow immunizations. As of 2014, the immunization waiver rate in the USA was 1.8 percent, in Michigan it was 4.7 percent (one of the top 5 worst rates in the country), and Livingston County was 9.2 percent (78th worst rate out of the 83 counties in Michigan). It seems that the more affluent and well-educated the parents, the higher the waiver rate. Approximately 5,000 children are not fully vaccinated in the state’s K-12 grade students and more waivers tend to be found in private schools. The target vaccination rate is 95 percent, and results from falling below this target have been demonstrated by the recent outbreaks of mumps in Pinckney, mumps in Traverse City, and Pertussis/whooping cough in Ann Arbor. We are seeing a re-emergence of vaccine preventable diseases. For more information on this topic, contact the Livingston County Health Department at www.LivGov.com/Health or 517-546-9850.
50/50 Progressive Drawing: Jerry Dunneback, Beth Walker, and Bob Murray were unsuccessful in locating the Ace of Spades.