Mike Bullington welcomed us with a few piano melodies as President Jim Leet (Boutin Jones, Inc.) tried to quiet a raucous Rotary crowd for our 2nd meeting of 2020! Greeters included Sam Peters (Construction Testing Service), Steve Huffman, and Kelly Huffman (Safety Center Inc.). Bullington pulled double duty and acted as our photographer for the day as well. Ed Melia hosted the wine reception and Nancy Teichert (writer) gave us the thought for the day.
Four guests included Jim McCollum, Pat Juneau, Lisa Caulk and Katie Hoffman. Steve King attended as a prospective member.
Thank you, Kelley Moran, (Moran and Associates) for sponsoring our meeting! In the wake of the Stephon Clark shooting, Kelley Moran is motivated to get Rotary more involved with the community. He joined the Sacramento Police Foundation as a board member. Kelley encouraged us to sponsor, support and attend the Red, White and Blue Festival on June 20, 2020. This fun event which will feature a mile race, festival and concert.
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SAVE THE DATE - Golf 4 Kids is on May 4th, 2020! Callee Setzer (Setzer Forest Products) and Brandon Montalvo (Morgan Stanley) walked us through easy –to-use website tabs providing event history, partners, gallery, auction details and contact information. This is one of Rotary’s longest standing philanthropic events, plan on attending even if just for dinner!
Sac Century Recap: Roy Alexander and Tim Mattheis (WMB Architects) presented a huge check (literally and figuratively) to the Sacramento Crisis Nursery for $100,217.00! Todd Koolakian (Sacramento Children’s Home) graciously accepted the check and reminded us that the Crisis Nursery benefits our most vulnerable children and families. Well done Rotary!
Gerry Dabi (Golden Pacific Bank) reported that we were among the top Salvation Army Bell Ringers this past holiday season with $956.02! Elfrena Foord (Foord, Van Bruggen & Pajak) and Bruce Hester invited us to the Magical Winter Celebration on February 22, 2020 at the Elk’s Temple. $95 per person includes dinner, cocktails, an auction with 6 special items, and dancing to the Rotary Rockers. A magician will also be performing…. Laura Heintz (Stanford Youth Solutions) explained a 3 year long Rotary District project to address human trafficking. There will be upcoming events and sponsorship opportunities that will promote education and awareness. Dennis Smith (Tsakopoulos Management Company, LLC) told us the Community Grants deadline is January 21, 2020 to the Rotary Office. Thom Gilbert explained RYLA, YIP and REGAL. These programs are crucial to our young up and coming leaders. They develop leadership skills, mentor, and interact with advisors. He concluded by reading a letter from Myra Washington praising the Rotary Club for its involvement with youth. Christie Holderegger (VOA) promoted a Volunteers of America Jazz benefit Concert on Sunday January 26, 2020. Cost is $80 at Biba’s Restaurant (2801 Capitol Ave) The Henry Robinett Group will perform a concert to benefit Sacramento’s Homeless Veterans. The event includes a reception at 5pm with a dinner to follow at 6pm. You can buy tickets @ www.tiny.cc/jazzconcert Dan McVeigh (Downey Brand LLP) and Chris Ann Bechtel are looking for 11 more sponsorship chairs as we have 11 open dates left in President Leet’s term. Cost is $350, please contact them or the Rotary office.
Barbara Arnold (Barbara J. Arnold MD Inc.) celebrated a medical alumni award from University of Colorado. She has now received the institution’s highest honor. Sylvia Fitzgerald (Art Appraisals & Estate Services) gave generously to her EM and PH while celebrating her biggest appraisal of her career, "Russ Solomon Art Collection"!
Jeannie Reaves (Jeanne Reaves Consulting) introduced our speaker, Dr. Gagan Mahajan, as an Anesthesiologist and Pain Management Specialist. She recapped some of his honors which include Teacher of the Year in Pain Medicine at UC Davis.
Dr. Mahajan used a slide presentation to review chronic pain management. Breaking down the definition, causes, treatments, risks and solutions, Dr. Mahajan navigated in layman’s terms. Over 100 Million Americans suffer from some sort of chronic pain. 16% Headaches, 28% back pain, 15% neck pain, and 20% knee pain account for the majority of complaints. These can be due to musculoskeletal problems, cancer or spinal abnormalities. This has an annual cost of about $635 Billion, that’s with a B, dollars per year.
Treatments can range from non-opioid, opioid, physical therapy, exercise, surgery, and injection therapy. Dr. Mahajan reviewed the classes of pain which can also introduce depression as a result. This emotional component is often overlooked. Analgesic and opioid medications were defined and explained. The perils of overdosing, over prescribing and the harm medications can cause were discussed at length. Narcan is a reversal agent used by EMT’s to counteract overdosing episodes. But this too, has become an epidemic.
We are dark next week due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. On January 28, local celebrity Kitty O’Neal will be the speaker.