President Tim Cahill rang the bell at 12:02 P.M. and welcomed everyone to the May 4^th Rotary Club meeting.  He then asked Bill Hambrick to lead the pledge of allegiance to the flag.  At the completion of the pledge to our flag, Prez C. asked if anyone had inspiring words to share.  No one felt inspired, so the meeting continued without inspiration. 

Prez C. recommenced his welcoming of the members and guests present to the “Best damn Rotary Club in the Arden Arcade. This is the 38^th meeting of the Rotary year, and the 16th for 2021. I want to thank you for allowing me to be the president, and may God help you.” 

 

 

Guest Speaker – Max Perry, interim CEO for the Alzheimer’s Aid Society of Northern California

 

Guests – Tome Goode was asked to introduce his guests and so he did.  Dan Thompson is returning for his second meeting in a row. Al Cady introduced his guest, Harlan Jensen, Christine Jensen’s father, who was attending the meeting via Zoom. 

 

 

Patrick O’Neil announced that we have Fireside Chats coming to a home near you.  All chats are scheduled to start at 6:00 PM.  The first one is on May 12^th at Steve Turner’s house.  The second will be held at Linda Bigler’s house on May 21^st .   The third one will be at Roy Vogel’s house on June1st.  It is a mandatory requirement for club members to attend one of these meetings.  Sign-up sheets will be available at the next meeting.

 

Prez C. conveyed a reminder from Sgt.-At-Arms Cady that members need to get back into the habit of wearing their name badges and pins.  Speaking of which, is everyone wearing a pin today?  No fine today but maybe next week.

 

John Gabriel informed the club that the Scholarship luncheon is June 15^th at Del Paso Country Club.  We need to get specific sign-ups with a lunch choice that needs to be called into the country club by the 7^th of June.  Every single recipient will be attending the luncheon.   The only tentative attendee is a kid with the last name of Green.  If anyone knows the father, Joe Green, please make sure he knows that he has to not only acknowledge the invitation but actually RSVP. Sgt-At-Arms Cady volunteered Prez C. to pay the appropriate fine attributed to Rotarian Green for his lack of specificity in his response to the invitation.  By-the-way, your meal choices are a cob salad, chicken BBQ sandwich or a pasta dish.  Jenny Davini is collecting names of people willing to donate an extra $25 to help cover the cost of the meals for the scholarship recipients or guests.

 

Prez C. passed around two thank you notes, one from LeRoy Munsch regarding the Cottage Park clean-up day.  The second letter of thanks came from the Los Rios College Foundation, a thank-you note addressed to Steve Turner, for the work the club has done. 

 

 Prez C. received an email from Pat McCormick, informing the club about a grand opening celebration for Gigi’s Playhouse on May 16^th between 12:00 noon and 3:00 PM at 1701 Santa Clara Drive, Suite 170, Roseville.  Gigi’s playhouse is an organization that helps children with Down’s Syndrome.  We are all invited to attend and possibly make a donation. 

 

Tom Goode introduced Jonathan Barker, Regional Manager for Conecuh Brands, who arrived late, through no fault of his own, with a membership application in hand.  Al Cady noted that we will fine Johnathan later. 

 

Prez C. presented a shirt to Lisa Asperger.  The shirt was passed on from Steve Turner who, we guess, had outgrown the Woman’s medium shirt.  (Editor’s note: It couldn’t be confirmed if he is now wearing a woman’s large.  You’ll need to ask him yourself.)  

 

Prez C. also presented an award to Jenny Davini from Rotary International for donations made to the Paul Harris Fund.  This Paul Harris pin sports an impressive Sapphire.  Congratulations Jenny.

 

Last Saturday, the Rotary Pinewood Derby was held.  AA Rotary assigned the duty of crafting the entry to wood-butcher and pit-crew chief, Al Cady.  Al gently and tenderly took a block of wood and transformed it into a rolling piece of art destined to consistently place in the top three spots of the races.  The driver was a Paul Harris pin.  There were more than 14 clubs represented and a variety of vehicle types.  One was a jeep with a walnut as a driver. While our vehicle never won a race it consistently placed in the top 3.  There are points awarded for each heat and the vehicle with the highest score wins.  The winners of the Derby will be announced at the District Conference.  Some jaded members of the club insinuated that politics may decide the outcome of the races.  Prez C. reminded the sceptics of the overriding principal of the 4 Way Test.  Bill Hambrick, acknowledged that fact, and suggested submitting a challenge to the outcome of the race now.

 

 

Bell Ringers – There were no bell ringers as Prez C. done rung the heck out of the bell the past three weeks.

 

Lisa Asperger confessed that she has a birthday on Friday and she proactively fined herself $20.

 

Prez Tim Cahill asked for a joke and no one came forth, so it fell on Mike Grace to provide his version of a joke:

The leaders of the big beer companies met for a drink.  The president of Budweiser orders a Bud.  The CEO of Miller orders a Miller.  The head of Coors orders a Coors.  When it was Arthur Guinness’ turn, he orders a soda. “Why didn’t you order a Guinness” everyone asked. “Nah” Guinness replied, “If you guys aren’t having beer then neither will I.”

 

Prez C. introduced Max Perry, interim CEO for the Alzheimer’s Aid Society of Northern California.  Prez C. has known Max for a very long time.  He is a very funny guy who will be talking about a very serious topic, Alzheimer’s Disease.  The society has been located in Tim’s complex since 1981.  The society was founded by John and Bea Gorman.  Bea Gorman had early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in her family of eight children.  They were getting Alzheimer’s in their 40’’s and 50’s.  Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease is very ravaging and advances quickly versus late onset Alzheimer’s which is slow to develop and develops later in life.  Bea was concerned because half of her family was affected and she didn’t know if she would be too.

 

Back in the 70’s the University of Colorado reached out to Bea informing her about a study they were doing on the early Alzheimer’s and they wanted to use her family as one of their case studies. She agreed to participate. Over time, people learned of the study and wanted to find out about the results because they too were being affected by senility, most of which was Alzheimer’s disease. The Gorman’s started holding, the first in the nation, support group meetings in the homes of people in Sacramento. Over time, as the problem and attendance at the group meetings grew, Gramercy Court offered to hold the meetings at their facility. That lead to increased public interest. The Gorman’s decided they needed to form a non-profit agency. The non-profit rented their first office from Charles C. Bell in the complex located next to Gramercy Court. As they grew, they took over more office space in the complex, staying in the Arden Arcade the whole time. They are known all over northern California but not well known in Sacramento. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death. In the past it was not listed as a cause of death. Today, doctors are required to list it when appropriate. Dementia is a broad term as is Alzheimer’s. There are may forms of dementia and Alzheimer’s is the most prevalent.

 

The Alzheimer’s Association is a national association that looked at the problem and focused on brining national attention and awareness to the disease as well as push government for research into the disease. The Alzheimer’s Aid Society of Northern California focusses on the here and now concerns for those living with the disease in Northern CA.

 

Dementia (Latin for Mind-away) is a symptom of a problem. There are 100 different types of dementia. Dehydration will cause temporary dementia. Medication conflicts can cause dementia. Alzheimer’s is the major causes of dementia and is progressive to the point of death. It will never get better. Their memory gets rewound to earlier times and they see life through the eyes of a younger person making current reality confusing to them. They may not be able to recognize a spouse of forty years. Alzheimer’s patients don’t look disabled but they are. People don’t see that they aren’t capable of interacting as they once could. This is where the Alzheimer’s Aid Society of Northern California comes in and helps the care givers understand what they are dealing with. The caregivers can’t expect the patient to come into their world. The caregiver needs to go into the patient’s world. Never argue with the patient, you can’t change their reality. If you try you may lose their trust and they may not listen to you because they may think you are up to something.

 

An interesting thing is that habit memory is different than cognitive memory. Some parts of the brain are less affected than others. The patients can remember spatial details of meetings from week to week while forgetting that they were ever at the meeting. They can remember music from their era but won’t remember what they had for lunch.

 

Question: Unidentified Person – What causes an Alzheimer’s patient to go in and out of reality like in the movie Notebook?

Answer: Max Perry – The AMA has come up with three stages of Alzheimer’s, beginning, moderate and server.   Beginning means forgetting little things like where your phone is and such.  The person might even acknowledge that it is happening but is not a major problem.   Moderate is where the forgetting is getting more frequent and they can’t take instruction, they may be living in the past. Server is where they can be bed-ridden and un-communicative.  All three stages can be exhibited in the same day and the doctors do not know why.  There are many factors that can affect the patient and cause them to change from one stage to another.

 

Not remembering where you left your phone is not an indication that you have Alzheimer’s. We all do that. Alzheimer’s is when you find your phone and can’t remember what it is used for.(The entire room let out a big sigh of relief upon hearing this.)

 

Question: Emily Ballus – Are there ways to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s?

Answer: Max Perry – There are a couple of drugs that can slow down the disease but they will not stop or cure the disease.  There is good news for mice as they have a drug that stopped and reversed the disease but so far it has not helped humans. 

 

Question: John Gabriel – Noted that recent developments in medicine are being tested to see if they have any side effect benefits for other diseases.  It is fascinating to see the kinds of research being done and the sometimes-beneficial results that can come from it.   

Answer: Max Perry – The research is fascinating and some of it is being done at UC Davis.  Some things work and others don’t.  There are eight billion of us on this planet and drug benefits will vary widely between people.   We are all different.

 

Question: Unidentified Person – What are some known causes of Alzheimer’s?  I have heard it is caused by plaque.

Answer: Max Perry – Beta plaques are attributed to the disease.  The question is what is causing the Beta plaques.  Those are the evidences of the fact that the brain is no longer cleaning itself out, so to speak.  The researchers are attempting to find ways to clear out the plaque from the brain. 

 

Some famous persons with Alzheimer’s disease are Ronald Reagan and Charleston Heston.

 

Question: Christine Jensen – Are you currently holding your support group meetings?

Answer: Max Perry – They got the clearance to start them up last month.  Because they hold their meetings at a lot of assisted living facilities, they were subject to the regulations pertaining to those facilities.  Zoom caregiving attempts didn’t work out. 

 

Question: Christine Jensen – She is currently experiencing these same things with her mother.  Her mother is fabricating grandiose experiences that she didn’t have in her life.  But she believes it will all her heart and soul.   Is that common?   How should the family respond to these tales?

Answer: Max Perry – The best thing to do is to get your family to go to a support group.  That is the best way to learn about behaviors. 

 

Question: Mike Grace – What are the primary attributes of Alzheimer’s in the patients with the disease? 

Answer: Max Perry – Alzheimer’s has become a synonym for dementia, like Bayer is to aspirin.   It is a special form of dementia that affects so many of us.  The only 100% sure way to diagnose Alzheimer’s is through an autopsy and that is hard on the patient.  An MRI can give about a 95% accurate diagnosis.  Blood testing is getting better at diagnosing the disease.    A person can have the disease for five to ten years before it is manifested. 

 

The society is putting on a Caregiver Resource Fair and already have five groups lined up for it. It is being held on Saturday, June 19^th from 1000 am to 2:00 pm at 2641 Cottage Way, parking lot, Sacramento, 95825.Health and Public service program professionals will be available to talk directly to you about resources that are available in our community. They are looking for sponsors and would love to have our club consider being a sponsor.

 

Prez Cahill informed Max that $25 will be donated to Polio Plus, the effort to stamp out polio.

 

Prez Cahill left us with a quote from Albert Einstein: “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

Let us all be passionately curious about something.  Go out and be passionate. 

 

Prez Tom Cahill rang the bell at 1:10 P.M. closing the meeting.

 

Respectfully (more or less) submitted by,

Mike Grace