Sue's Story for the July 15 Bulletin
 

Or just plain lost. That was the theme of our first meeting under the leadership of President Dave Gendron. But instead of Dave, Past-president Shannon Ryan was at the podium. Per our Bulletin, Harvey Frankel was our speaker. But to Program Director Bruce Greenspon’s dismay, Frankel was too ill to attend. Did we rally? Read on.

 

To solve the mystery of our missing president, Shannon started a game of Where’s Waldo?, complete with Waldo’s signature glasses and hat. She pointed out that President Dave was missing at our June Demotion, as well as the previous year’s event, but managed to find one photo to prove he is indeed a Manhattan Beach Rotarian. She then segued to vacation videos hosted by Dave’s four lovely daughters and some wine country photos and a wine bottle and . . . you get the drift.

 

But, while watching the U.S. victory in the Women’s World Cup finals, I had spotted a face in the crowd that looked just like Dave, so I knew he was in France. Dr. Chris Ullman went further and sent a screen shot to our members. (Is this part of his Sergeant-at-Arms duties?) So, did President Dave have a good excuse? As a soccer fan, I have to say “YES!“

 

To solve the dilemma of our missing speaker, how did Bruce respond? He asked his wife, of course.

 

As he led the salute to the Flag, Larry Johnson also lauded the “best soccer team in the world,” followed by Professor Dick Chase’s one-minute lecture on Charles Revson, the eminently quotable founder of Revlon.

 

Larry, dressed in traditional garb, returned to the podium to bring us up to date on the completed water project in Niger, for which we raised $1 million. Ahmed Ousman Diallo, past president of the Rotary Club of Niamey, Niger, will be visiting our club to talk about this global partnership on July 15. Diallo, his wife and niece will be in the Manhattan Beach area July 14-16, and Larry is looking for volunteers to open their home for a reception and/or play MB tour guide.

 

Fortunately for Bruce, Debra Lotstein, M.D., had a well-crafted presentation prepared on “Living Well with Serious Illness: Palliative Care for Children and Adolescents.” Lotstein’s journey led from the University of Michigan to Stanford medical school, to a master’s degree from UCLA (muted applause) to work at Rand and UCLA. She currently works for USC (strong applause) at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, a position she’s held for five years. She wanted to bring palliative care to children, an impetus for her move to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, ranked #5 in the world by U.S. News & World Report.

 

A concise definition of palliative care is that it is “targeted to prevent and treat suffering for children with serious illness.” We tend to think that generally applies to children with cancer, but Lotstein expanded our understanding. In fact, 10 million U.S. children live with chronic disease. So, it’s not a surprise that demand is rising; unfortunately, compensation is not. Given her audience, Lotstein prudently brought up advance care planning, urging us to “start your conversation today” and recommending The Conversation Project, which has “great tools.”

 

Next up were Bruce and Keith Sultemeier to pitch their upcoming (and, we hope, healthy) group of speakers –  thought leaders, successful business men and women representing fields such as aerospace and medicine, and even the cannabis industry. They also urged us to send suggestions.

 

So, we headed off after learning about the benefits of palliative care, the joys of international travel and international guests, and upcoming speakers – proof that when it comes to putting on a successful meeting, you can count on MB Rotarians!