Our Guests today were: Roseville Rotarian Marv Sorvala and our own Honorary Rotarian, MaryAnn Bawden.
Mary Stewart reminded us of the CPY Fall Gala on October 26th. The theme will be TV Game Night. She announced that our club will receive the CPY Spirit Award at the Gala, so mark your calendars to join in the fun at the New Brighton Community center on Friday, October 26th from 6-10PM.
Co-President Cindy Carlson said that she and Ed James are in the process of planning our December 11th Harvest Pack Event. She also noted that the September 27th 4:01 happy hour meeting will begin early, at 3:30 to begin planning our club’s 40th anniversary celebration. All members are invited to check out the energy of the happy hour meeting and give some input about the anniversary celebration.
Co-President John Marg-Patton introduced Patty Hall who apologized for missing her opportunity to speak at last week’s meeting. Our club gave $500 toward her White Bear Club’s District Matching Grant to provide clean water for 2,000 in Nigeria. Patty briefed us on the progress of that grant and also presented a check from her organization, H2O for life, for $500 to jumpstart our December Harvest Pack event mentioned above. Thanks, Patty!
Ed James reported on his amazing experience at the Youth Exchange Welcome and Orientation. He is really fired up about youth exchange and he hope’s the fire will sweep through the club and keep burning long into the future. Be sure to be at the noon meeting on October 9th when our exchange student, Maria Klakegg, will give her introductory presentation to the club.
Many Rotarians offered happy bucks today. A summary follows:
- Garry Johnson golfed in a tournament that raised $120,000 to build homes for disabled veterans!
- Geoff Hollimon offered a dollar for the people of North Carolina as they deal with the aftermath of Florence.
- Cindy Carlson just celebrated her 35th anniversary at Western Bank.
- Cindy also enjoyed an excellent play by Theater Latte Da entitled “Once”. She described it as one of the best plays she’s seen.
- Mike Neeley made his debut as a beer drinker in an ad for Spiral Brewery. Word is he needed no rehearsal and nailed it on the first take.
- Cor’s physical therapy sessions for her new knee are done and she has no plans to go back soon.
- Sue Ager sadly announced her need to retire from Rotary to allow more time with her husband Duane.
The New Brighton Community Support Center (CSC) is preparing for a Potluck Dinner on November 8th for all participants and supporters of CSC. They’re looking for a few volunteers to meet once or twice to plan the potluck. The first planning meeting will be on either Thursday, September 27th at 12 pm or Tuesday, October 2nd at 5:30 pm. If you can help plan, call Karen Meyer at CSC (651) 387-8050 or email her at staff@communitysupport
John Marg-Patton introduced our speaker, Monique Hammond. Monique’s topic was “Hearing Loss: A Silent Epidemic”. Monique was a Hospital Pharmacist until a “sound insult” (loud sound exposure) resulted in a total loss of hearing in her left ear. In addition to the hearing loss, she experienced severe vertigo (Meniere’s Disease). Because accurate hearing is essential to prevent medication errors, Monique knew that she would not be able to continue as a pharmacist. She began to educate herself on hearing loss and would eventually embark on a crusade to educate others to prevent them from experiencing her fate. Since then she has spoken to hundreds of groups about protecting their hearing. The facts about hearing loss are alarming. One person in five over the age of twelve has hearing loss profound enough to affect communication. Among sixty to sixty-five year olds, one in three has significant hearing loss and fully one of two seventy to seventy-five year olds is significantly affected. There are many causes of hearing loss, but the one over which we have some measure of control is excess noise. Loud noises result in high pressure in the inner ear. Eighty five decibels (about as loud as a cafeteria) is the safe limit for 8 hours of exposure. Anything louder than that requires hearing protection for prolonged exposure. Symptoms of typical hearing loss include sound dullness, full feeling in ear(s), not understanding speech with background noise, miscommunication on and off the job, and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). These symptoms are due to the degradation/death of hearing fibers in the cochlea located in the inner ear. These fibers do not repair themselves and there no medical treatment available that can repair the damage. The only answer is prevention and hearing protection is the key to prevention. Monique’s parting thought was that we “pay it forward” by avoiding loud noises, properly using hearing protection and encouraging family, friends, and especially young people, to do the same.
John and Monique are shown below.
