ATTENDANCE: Club members with us today were: Rick Archer, Tom Bahr, Rich Bedell, Roger Cline, Jenny Coleman, Don Coughlin, Andy Denton, Mary Dula, Elizabeth Eaken, Ray Evans, Christine Faranda, Mark Ferguson, Jeff Film, Christina Gary, Dick Hall, Annie Hanson Hilaire, Brad Jagger, Mike Kostyack, Jim Laber, Carrie Leising, Tom Loepp, Karen Monbeck, Milli Morrison, Gail Moseley, Annette Oborn, Bob Oborn, John Pribonic, Dave Renninger, Brad Ruth, Leslee Salhany, Amanda Steinheiser, J.T. Stimler, Steve Stimmel, Bob Sweitzer, Linda Trevorrow, and Marissa Williams. Guests in attendance were: Jonathan Leissler, Cheryl Warren, Jack Harig, and Stu Bucchanan, along with our speakers Dr. Robert McGregor and Tony Gutowski.
President, Linda Trevorrow opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a moving invocation by J.T. Stimler.
NEW MEMBER INDUCTION: Membership Chair, Elizabeth Eaken led in the induction of Milli Morrison and because of the virtual meetings had delivered her pin to her last night. After the ceremony Milli introduced herself. She has lived in Stow for 8 years and feels it is time to do volunteer work here and really become part of the community. She explained that she is a COVID bride, having gotten married at City Hall and that her husband is from Canada. Welcome, Milli!
HAPPY BUCKS:
Linda Trevorrow talked about how she appreciated all of the work that went into the Virtual District Conference which she attended last Thursday and Friday evening and Saturday morning. A highlight was a presentation by the Stow-Munroe Falls High School Interact Club.
Gail Moseley told us that her oldest grandson become engaged.
Mary Dula said that her two granddaughters who are finishing their freshman year in college have made the Deans' List in their respective schools.
Brad Ruth said that his daughter will be graduating from Ohio University and then will be working at a TV Station in Toledo doing both on-air and production work.
Karen Monbeck said that her oldest grandson has been chosen for the Expedition Academy in Kent. He will be part of only two programs in the country to offer this unique style of learning where they are partly in the classroom and partly outside.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Cereal Box Challenge...time is running out. In our three-way challenge between our club and the Kent, Ohio and Kent, Washington clubs to provide the greatest number of individual cereal servings for our respective food-insecurity programs, time is running out. The competition ends on Friday of this week. Contributions can be dropped off in the collection box at the lobby of City Hall or sent by Amazon to Annie's house at 1673 23rd St., Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223. Donate now, if you haven't done so already or donate even more if you feel so inclined.
Interact Projects Mary Dula was excited to report about Interact's Involvement in our projects through the cooperation of Dinah Henderson, Club Advisor. The students will be helping with a weeding project at the Historical Society, planting at our Adopt-A-Spot and Dinah and her husband will be at the Foodbank next week. Mary said she can't thank Dinah enough for her involvement.
Golf Outing: Dick Hall thanked everyone for their sponsorships for the outing. Now there are other needs: 1.We need foursomes who will golf; 2.Volunteers for the morning of June 7 who are not golfing; 3.Donations for goodie bags...no chocolate please and 4. $10 or $20 gift cards for prizes. Dick also has the 50/50 raffle tickets available that will be sold starting now and also the day of the outing. Contact Dick at 330-328-2776 or at dickhall2@gmail.com to offer your help.
District Leadership Assembly: Bob Oborn said that everyone should check their e-mail for a message from Larry Lohman inviting us to the District Leadership Assembly on Saturday, May 15. It is a great chance to gain more in depth information about any offices that members will hold for next year.
Guests: Linda introduced our guests of the morning. Cheryl Warren Jack Harig and Stu Buchannan of the Akron Club were with us along with Jonathan Leissler who has submitted his membership application.
PROGRAM:
Happiness Moment: For his happiness moment, J. T. Stimler talked about basing his lifestyle on the Rotary Four-Way Test, and what a difference that can make. He feels that particularly when dealing with people during stressful times it is important to show that you are really present with them. One way to do that is by making eye contact, even though wearing a mask. That is one way to show that we value each other.
J.T. Then introduced Dr. Rob McGregor who is the Chief Medical Officer of Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron and Tony Gutowski who is the Director of Government Relations at the hospital. They spoke about the problems and benefits of the pandemic as far as their hospital and the healthcare community in general.
Dr. McGregor, who has been president of the Rotary Club of Akron talked about how the Four-Way Test blended with the promises Children's Hospital made at its founding in 1890. They still stand today: 1. Treat all children as if they were your own. 2. Treat others as you would like to be treated and 3. Never turn a child away. CHMC is one of 60 remaining free standing children's hospitals in the country. During the year before the pandemic they saw 105,000 in their emergency rooms, 500,000 in primary care, 30,000 in urgent care and more than 600,000 in school health clinics.
Challenges during the pandemic were multiple and included everything from environmental concerns to actual child health impacts. Environmentally there were concerns about ventilation, PPE equipment, lab testing and screening. For the children themselves, concerns surrounded visits being postponed, vaccination delays, delays in both elective and planned procedures and the mental health concerns because of school and life disruptions. The mental health factor alone created a 20% increase in visits to the emergency room ad a 40% increase in their inpatient psychiatric population. Dr. McGregor also pointed out that some children, particularly those with special needs, sometimes did better at home and on screens since that screen environment is something comfortable for them and also offered fewer distractions.
Mr. Gutowski explained that the hospital saw several losses during the pandemic. Inpatients were down by 17%. Patient care revenues were down by 7%. Inpatient revenues were down by 4% and outpatient revenue by 11%. Some federal dollars were targeted to hospitals but there was a struggle to actually receive those funds, but eventually it happened. Although CHMC of Akron was not as effected as the adult hospitals, they had readied a floor for overflow from the adult hospitals of people up to age 30.
The effect on healthcare workers has been tremendous. In a study by the Kaiser Foundations, it is predicted that a significant number of healthcare workers may leave the field of medicine. There is a high risk of burn-out and also of suicide as people have tried to cope but have seen more death, struggles and frustration than they can handle. Healthcare administrators are trying to address that in individual settings. Using CHMC as an example, Dr. McGregor talked about what they are doing for their staff. That included both relationships with the mental health community and exposure to thngs like meditation that they could do on their own.
One of the benefits of the pandemic may be the acceptance and usefulness of telehealth. At one point, April of 2020, the hospital participated in 13,319 telehealth visits. Both the families and the medical community agree that there are times that with a phone equipped with a camera can shortcut the need for a face-to-face appointment or help with the decision of how to best handle a health issue. For the first quarter of this year, there have been over 20,000 telehealth visits.
The hospital's strategic growth has been to bring the services to the community. One of the newest will be in Stow at the corner of Fishcreek and Graham where there will be both offices and rehabilitation. Unfortunately this office will displace Cornercup Coffee, a business that now has to seek a new location by the first of July. Rotarians working with CHMC will try to help this happen. The owner, is a former Rotarian and has been very generous to the club. The outcome of this will hopefully be a prime example of Rotary, the community and the hospital working together for success.
JOKE: Steve Stimmel was our joke teller this morning and told a great one about a high school football player who failed a math test and what they did about it. Contact Steve to get the rest of the joke.
Next week Christine Faranda will have the joke of the week.
Submitted by Andy Denton