Student guests today were Gracie Bach, a Gering senior, who intends to Study Music at W.N.C.C. and attend Summit Christian for a minister certificate, then on to become a high school music teacher. Kai Bonberg is a senior at Scottsbluff and plans on attending University of Wyoming and study Wildlife Management. Zach Karphf gave the club an update on the District conference. The conference will be here, and our club will host but not run the conference. The dates are Thursday May 16-19. The March 26
th meeting will be at the Harms Center. The Gavel exchange will be April 16
th,, as President West will have to cut his tenure short to accept a new opportunity in Pennsylvania. Order forms for new Rotary apparel have been e-mailed to each club member and can be worn to the club pictures on May 14
th. The program today is Dr. Nancy Meier, Assistant Professor for the U.N.M.C. College of Nursing. She has studied and is qualified in Geriatric and Psychological Mental Health. She has applied and received a grant to serve an underserved population in the Panhandle. 19% of Panhandle residents are over the age of 65. She has been granted $19,000.00 to start a program to train nurse practitioners to do assessments for Geriatric and Psychological health. The idea is to detect problems early and to make a plan involving the client’s physician, family, and assessor. The goal is to be sure clients are not misdiagnosed and to provide care so they can stay in their homes longer. Often the signs of depression are similar to those of Alzheimer’s disease. Clients are afraid, and often ignore symptoms. The program offers current cognitive assessment and no referrals are needed. This in a brand new program and so Dr. Meier is spreading the word.