The Kaiser team of Dr. Nemazie and Alena Wall’s presentation will cover a Covid update, new variant with a look at spread: National, State of California and Sonoma County, and Covid vaccine boosters. In addition, a discussion of KP’s commitment to community: vaccine equity and fire response to the deadly wildfires of 2017, 2019 and 2020.
Siamack Nemazie, MD
Dr. Siamack Nemazie joined Kaiser Permanente in 2016. He is currently the Assistant Physician in Chief for Hospital Operations and Continuum, Risk, Inpatient Quality and Patient Safety and the chief of the Division of Nephrology. He also serves as Ethics Committee Co-Chair. Dr. Nemazie was born in India, and spent most of his childhood in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. He graduated from one of India’s top-ranked Medical Schools – Kasturba Medical College, Manipal in 1999. He came to the United States in 2001 to pursue a residency in Internal Medicine, and then a Nephrology Fellowship at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. After graduation, he had the opportunity to work as the Chief Medical Informatics Officer, and then as Medical Director in Flushing Hospital in Queens, NY before joining Kaiser Permanente.
Alena Wall, MA, CHES
Alena Wall, Public Affairs Director for Kaiser Permanente Marin-Sonoma, is a community health leader devoted to eliminating health disparities and addressing the social factors that influence health outcomes. Alena has more than two decades of healthcare leadership experience dedicated to advocating for our most vulnerable communities, coalition building, and leading strategies that transform conditions that drive health outcomes. Alena holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Science from CSU, Chico, a master’s in Holistic Health Education from John F Kennedy University, and maintains her national credential as a certified health education specialist. Alena grew up in Sonoma County and cares deeply for our community, where she and her husband are raising their two sons.
Gerrett Snedaker Broker/Partner, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate/Wine Country Group: The Current State of the Market
Our Guest Speaker for May 5, 2022 was Gerrett Snedaker, Broker/Partner of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate/Wine Country Group and other real estate companies. Gerrett is licensed in Florida, Illinois, and California, and is an expert in the Sonoma County real estate market. He is also very proud that his firm was nominated as a finalist in District 5130’s Ethics in Business award! His company is also the Press Democrat Reader’s Award Best Real Estate Company! Gerrett also shared his company's standard for-sale sign:
Gerrett gave us a great snapshot of the value of real estate ownership in general and the current state of the Sonoma County market. He noted a New York Times article that estimated an increase in personal wealth due to real estate ownership of $6 trillion in the last two years! Baby boomers’ wealth increases often came at the expense of Gen Z’s. People of color have not had the same opportunities as others to build wealth in real estate, which has greatly impacted the wealth of people of color in general. Adjustable rates are coming back! Gerrett thinks the recent interest rate spike will slow, but not drop. A new development is the recent increase in home inventory on the market. One example of that is the number of viewers of multiple listing homes; in March, there were 17,000 views of 57 homes on the market. In April, that number decreased to 10,500 views for the same number of homes. The hottest Sonoma County markets are the coast, Rohnert Park, Petaluma, and Windsor! One important point made by Gerrett – there is no better hedge against inflation than real estate, and this fact will likely keep people turning to real estate for years to come.
Gerrett noted at the outset of his presentation that he felt some pressure in following in the footsteps of the great Mike Kelly, our recently departed Sunrise real estate guru. Gerrett, Mike Kelly would be proud of you! Many thanks for the great summary of the current trends in the real estate market, and for the poetry!
Click HERE to view Gerrett's presentation recording. This is a limited time offer.
On a regular basis, our resident photo pro Warren Smith, submits pictures of what is going on at the weekly meetings. You can always find the most recent pictures at the websites photo journal called "Meeting Sighting" Please note that all the meeting photos for the entire Rotary year are at this location with the most recent on the last page.
Thanks for all the great pictures Warren!Link to Meeting Sightings. The most recent are on the last page!
1933 was the first documented sighting of the Loch Ness Monster. A couple reported seeing the behemoth animal rolling and plunging to the surface of Loch Ness located in Scotland. The Loch Ness Monster is a moniker from the Inverness Courier, the periodical that wrote about the sighting.
For almost 90 years, amateur investigators have remained vigilant in their attempts for another sighting of this mystical creature. A handful of British universities in the 1960s launched sonar expeditions of the lake in hopes to find Nessie. Their findings were inconclusive but there was the detection of a large moving underwater object. In 1975 more sonar activity was conducted with the evolution of underwater photography. When the photograph was enhanced, it revealed a vague giant flipper of an aquatic-looking animal.
After further attempts of capturing clear sonar and photographic evidence, scientists have come to the exasperating conclusion that this was a hoax. Nessie is only Scottish Highlands folklore. Extensive DNA research in 2018 further solidified this conclusion when scientists were only able to trace eel DNA in the lake: no large reptiles, sturgeons, or whale DNA was found.
The theories of Nessie are boundless. Enthusiasts continue to hold on to their hopes that Nessie will present herself to the world. Perhaps when she resurfaces, we can learn more about her habitat, favorite foods, and how global warming is affecting her current environment. It's all a waiting game...
This past weekend Del Raby, Chico raised and well known in the 1930's and 40's for exploring Little Chico Creek and tending pear orchards while older men went off to war, returned to celebrate his Fraternity's 78th Anniversary. A Founding Member of Lambda Pi, Del keeps in touch with the chapter and this trip is an annual event.
You can gain a tremendous insight into life in those times talking with Del. Ask him when and where he was and what he felt that shook him and his sister nearly 50 miles away.... Did Lambda Pi haze recruits? What drew Del away from Chico State? Where was his next stop? You will be surprised!
Due to your positive response to the Each One, Bring One initiative, I am so happy to see that the membership trends in Rotary are looking up. Let us not lose this momentum — keep inviting new members, and also work hard to retain every member we attract. I look forward to seeing you next month in Houston at the 2022 Rotary International Convention, which I assure you will be a great event.
Also in Houston this June, we will be hosting my final presidential conference. We have devoted this year to conferences built around Rotary’s areas of focus. They have been a tremendous success, both in terms of attendance and in the ideas that were generated.
Last fall, our conference in the Philippines, which focused on protecting the environment and growing local economies, attracted 2,200 people online. In Brazil, our meeting centered around water, sanitation, and hygiene and how it relates to disease prevention and treatment; more than 600 people attended. That was followed by an event about the environment, economy, and peace in Maputo, Mozambique, which attracted around 400 in-person attendees and another 700 virtually. Our conference about keeping the economy and environment in harmony, held in Venice, Italy, had more than 600 in attendance.
Through these conferences and my world travels, numerous leaders have met with me and agreed to collaborate with Rotary. They include the prime minister of Mauritius, the president of Seychelles, the deputy prime minister of Bahrain, and the presidents of Albania and Kosovo. Clearly, Rotary is making an impact, and the world is eager for our leadership.
In Houston, the final presidential conference, Serve to Bring Peace, will focus on an area in which Rotary has long provided leadership. Everything we do in Rotary helps create the conditions that foster peace in communities, nations, and ourselves.
In March, I was able to see firsthand the tremendous difference Rotary is making in Ukraine, as refugees continue to pour into Poland. Donors have contributed millions of dollars to this effort; our projects are making a tremendous difference, and there is enormous gratitude for your continued generosity and support.
It is heartbreaking to see up close all the lives that have been uprooted, and the Ukrainian people are not alone. A devastating civil war in Yemen continues. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is deepening. Armed conflicts affect nations across Africa, including Libya, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, northern Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Cameroon. And major refugee crises continue in Syria and Venezuela.
Rotary will always be on the side of the peaceful resolution of conflict and providing aid and comfort to people in need. Rotary was there at the end of World War II, promoting the creation of the United Nations and standing up for the cause of peacebuilding worldwide. It is time to renew our mission and perform our role as one of the world’s great promoters of peace.
There is no better way to Serve to Change Lives than to serve the cause of peace.
As an engineer, I have worked my entire life for success that can be measured. I believe in the kind of success you can reach out and touch. And I also know that it doesn’t come overnight, it happens one step at a time.
At The Rotary Foundation, we don’t settle for a vague idea of doing good; we take measurable steps, ones that are concrete and real, toward a defined goal. It’s progress that you can see and tell your family and friends about, each step of the way.
Measurable success is what our new Programs of Scale grants are all about. The first member-led program to receive this annual $2 million grant, Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia (PMFZ), seeks to reduce malaria by 90 percent in 10 highly affected districts within two provinces of Zambia. It’s an ambitious but achievable goal, based on a community health worker model that has been successful in reducing malaria in other parts of Zambia, as implemented by Rotary members and our partners on the ground.
To help end malaria in Zambia, The Rotary Foundation, World Vision U.S., and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are each contributing $2 million to PMFZ, whose Rotary-led program already has begun to expand life-saving malaria diagnosis and treatment to hundreds more rural communities. So far this Rotary year, PMFZ has trained, equipped, and deployed more than 1,300 of the 2,500 new community health workers who will help local health centers reach more people who are vulnerable to malaria, such as mothers and children. PMFZ is also collecting and analyzing data to ensure medical supplies get to where they are needed most. This work, along with the close collaboration between implementing partners and Rotary and Rotaract clubs across Zambia, has comprised the first bold steps toward our goal.
PolioPlus is another example of a global project that has been engineered for impact. The fact that we have reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide is a testament to your generous contributions, our strong partnerships through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and a vast network of volunteers who administer drops to children around the world.
And we won’t stop now. Rotary spearheaded the drive to end polio, and Rotary will complete it. Encourage your district leaders to designate leftover District Designated Funds (DDF) for polio eradication, so we can finish the job.
As an engineer, I have been proud to see my blueprints transformed into great structures and facilities. But perhaps I am even prouder of how together in Rotary we have engineered a better world — measurably, step by step, project by project. In Rotary, we can all be engineers of hope, building a better future for the next generation.
The Eradicator: Former WHO polio chief looks to young members for last push
Q&A with former WHO Polio chief on what needs to happen to eradicate polio
by Dan Jakes
When Michel Zaffran became director of polio eradication at the World Health Organization in 2016, the forecast for crossing the finish line on a three-decade-long mission was optimistic. “We thought that Africa was out of the woods,” he says, “and we would just be focusing on Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
Michel Zaffran — Rotary Club of Gex-Divonne (Pays de Gex), France
Photography by Bénédicte Desrus
Then, a storm of setbacks: outbreaks in multiple WHO regions, a new proliferation of vaccine misinformation, a rogue vaccine-derived strain, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which temporarily halted vital door-to-door immunizations. And yet during Zaffran's tenure, remarkable progress was achieved: The worldwide eradication of type 3 poliovirus. The certification of wild polio eradication in WHO's African region. A brighter outlook for Afghanistan and Pakistan. And the onboarding of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as a full partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative — a major development in financing the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV).
Inspired by his work with Rotary, Zaffran joined the Rotary Club of Gex-Divonne (Pays de Gex), France, in 2017, and shortly after his retirement from WHO in 2021, he was appointed as an End Polio Now coordinator. "The force of Rotarians, clubs all over the world, and The Rotary Foundation — these are extraordinary tools," he says, "that can be used to serve humanity beyond what we've done with polio."
Zaffran sees the youngest Rotary members taking some of the strongest ownership of the mission. "They are fascinated," he says, "that we are about to eradicate a human disease on earth for only the second time."
• This story originally appeared in the April 2022 issue of Rotary magazine.
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
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