–> Redwood Empire Food Bank – 2nd Wednesday of the month.  The next one is April 10th – 5 PM – 7 PM

–> The Giro Bello is just around the corner! June 29, 2024.  Register to reserve your spot for one of the most scenic and fun bike rides on the West Coast – Now with a new start and finish, the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa.  Click here for more info and to register.

SRJC Rotaract Fundraiser – You can make your donations here: Click here to donate

SRJC and Sonoma State Rotaract members support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. If you would like to donate, you can make a donation here.

For pictures and descriptions of previous socials and other events click here.

For more details and additional events, see the Announcements section below.

More socials, projects, & events coming soon!

Rotary Announcements

See the Announcements section below.

Opening Ceremonies:

“Welcome to the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa where we do good in our world and have fun doing it.”

Pete Lescure led us in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way Test…..maybe we should just start calling it the Five-Way Test. For his Reflection, he brought out of the newest copy of the Rotarian Magazine.  He commented on how much of the magazine was devoted to our Seventh Avenue of Service – The Environment. So go home and read it. For those newer members who have not received the magazine yet, ask someone to share their copy when they have finished reading it. Debi Zaft may have a quiz on an article in the magazine.  You never know!

Guests:

Patty Kolin (application in process), Linda Tavis (a friend of Kim Murphy’s), Eric Butterfield (turned in his application today), Lisa Trepel (induction today), Carrie Cook (friend of Ray Giampaoli) Amy Ramirez (our guest speaker).

Sunshine Report:

Rose Frances is back!  Fred Levin is home from the hospital after the second surgery for a bleeding ulcer. We will keep our fingers crossed that he will be back soon.  Former member, Peggy Soberanis has moved to Spring Lake Village after a second stroke.  Maybe we can pick her up and bring her to a meeting soon?

Opportunity Drawing:

Starting over with nine marbles and a pot for $25.00. Dan Balfe had the lucky ticket but pulled out a yellow marble.  He put his $10.00 prize into the Polio Pail on his table.

Announcements:

1. Ray Giampaoli was at the same restaurant, East West Cafe, as the P-Line meeting on Tuesday. His lunchmate indicated that Ray always wore a Rotary pin. President Ann awarded him with some Rotary Bucks.
2. SCARC is being hosted by the Sebastopol Rotary Club on March 28. 10 members from our club are going.  The topic is planning a countywide Rotary project to heighten our visibility in the community. President Ann will report back on the meeting next week.
3. Roseland University Prep and Roseland Collegiate Prep have a project where they will be displaying their work. President Ann will send out a link to all in case you want to sign up.
4. We passed the hat to tip our waitpersons today. President Ann would like to see us do this quarterly as staff changes over regularly.
5. Casey says most of the “Why” books have been picked up. Each team will contact the schools to arrange delivery.
6. Robert Pierce reminded all to look for Giro Bello sponsors and vendors.

Lisa Trepel, Member:

Today we inducted Lisa Trepel into our club.  She is a retired attorney, but also worked at Napa State Hospital before retiring completely. So let us make her feel even more welcome now that she is officially a member.

Recognitions:

Ann and Jeff Gospe went up to their cabin in Murphy for a few days while Jacob was on spring break from school.  Ann brought back two metal sculptures of wine glasses to auction off.  Kris Anderson won them for $45.00.  Her money will go to her Paul Harris because she is close to getting a new pin.

Today’s program: Amy Ramirez, Senior Manager of Community Health Investment, a project sponsored by Providence Hospitals of Sonoma County.

What is Community Health Benefit? It is direct services and programs, grants, and a collaborative community presence. It turns out that all our local hospitals are non-profit hospitals and therefore community benefit hospitals. In 2023 Providence Hospitals did a community assessment to find the top four areas to address over the next three years. These four areas are:

1. Behavioral Health in Emergency Departments
2. Homelessness and Housing Instability
3. Barriers to Care
4. Aging

But they also decided to look at racism and discrimination in all four of these areas. They go where there is the need.  For example, they have three vehicles that are mobile doctor’s offices. They can offer free medical care for acute and chronic conditions, as well as nutrition counseling, blood pressure and glucose screening.  Mama is the biggest with two exam rooms. Rocky is a box truck with one examination room. Marion is a Sprinter Van that goes out where needed. They keep a calendar on their website so that people can find where to locate them for service any day of the week.

They also have a mobile dental clinic with three chairs and Disney movies. The Mighty Mouth serves preschool to sixth grade. (Your editor believes that was the program that Jackie McMillan had us stuff bags of dental supplies years ago).  They do dental screenings, oral education, the application of fluoride, and identify children that need further care. They can go to the schools to see the children. They screen 2788 children a day between the fixed dental clinic and the mobile clinic, 17 elementary schools and 12 preschools.

Populations experiencing the most barriers to access are agricultural workers, immigrants and the undocumented, people experiencing homelessness and older adults.

We are the second oldest county in California. There is a lack of health specialists for the aging.  They often need transportation. Their housing is increasingly becoming more unstable.  Mental health is a concern due to increased isolation.

They have what is called Care Network, which is health education, medication assistance, transporation to appointments, insurance and benefit enrollment, homeless and housing resources and health system navigation and advocacy.

Substance Use Navigator: They meet with patients after they leave the hospital for continuing care. Especially with substance abuse. They are in the emergency rooms to meet with substance abusers to help them where they are at that time and place. They work with opioid abusers to help them get clean. Amy recommended that everyone carry Narcan just in case they come across someone who has overdosed.  Amy says you can stop by the hospital and just ask for it and they will give it out for free.  This Care Network sees about 1700 patients a year.  10% from Petaluma, 1% from Healdsburg, and 14% are unhoused. This year they have spent $3,200,000 on community grants.  $2,000,000 to Santa Rosa, $700,000 to Petaluma and $500,000 to Healdsburg.

Program Slides

(no slides this week)