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By: Hermann Welm President Terry “Showtime” Koehne opened the meeting at the San Ramon Community Center, reminding us that this year’s Rotary International President is Shekhar Mehya from India, whose theme for the year is “Serve to Change Lives.” He also advised us that February is “Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution Month!” Our Greeter, Steven Porschet, gave us his Thought for the Day, by JFK: “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.” He then led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Icebreaker: Steven Porschet, being an Engineer himself, and in recognition of Presidents’ Day, asked us to name the two U.S. Presidents that were trained engineers. There was some flailing around for the answers, before Herbert Hoover (Stanford, Mining Engineer, 1895, the “Pioneer Class”) and Jimmy Carter (U.S. Naval Academy, Electrical Engineering,1946). Steven failed to mention that these two engineers both failed to get re-elected! Visiting Rotarians: Bill Clarkson, former San Ramon Mayor and founding member of the Dougherty Valley club. He noted that he has had Perfect Attendance for 32 years! Guests: Ann Lucena, of San Ramon Regional Medical Center; our speaker. Jim Burch, Ana Dominguez’ life-partner, aka “Main Squeeze!” Announcements: Showtime was proud to report that his Cioppino Dinner for 12 went off without a hitch (ie - no reported E-Coli incidents), netting $1,400 for the club, and that all had a very good time! Showtime is a man of many talents! PP Glen Weber, speaking about the work of The Rotary Foundation, noted a set-back in the Polio Eradication Program. One new case of wild Polio was reported in Malawi, Africa, after five years of being Polio-Free. The strain came from Pakistan. The only other countries with reported cases are Pakistan and Afghanistan, in the Tribal Regions where government control and access are very limited! Notwithstanding this new set-back, estimates are that since Rotary International started this program about 500,000 people per year are NOT getting infected with this horrible disease! Patti Hennigan noted that San Ramon Rotary Scholarship applications are arriving at a faster clip than in prior years. She expects that there will be significant number to sort thru by the February 25th deadline and that her committee will once again have a difficult time making their selections! Showtime again thanked Michael Roberts for agreeing to step into the Club President position for Rotary Year 2022/23. Carolyn Degnan needed to pass on this “opportunity” for personal reasons. Norbert Walz announced that the San Ramon Art and Wind Festival WILL be held again over the Memorial Day Weekend! He will need six volunteers to help set up the Beer and Wine Booths on Saturday, the 28th of May, and then booth volunteers for the following Sunday and Monday! PP Dennis Harvey noted that the Sunny Glen Smoke Alarm Project will also be held this year. About 30 members will be needed; Cal High Interactors will also be participating. More on this later. Judy Lewis noted that she has worked with a non-profit, Guitars for Vets, out of Concord and is very excited with the work they do. Recognitions: PP Dennis Harvey and Sharon for their 57th Anniversary! Congratulations to them! Program: PP Gary Sloan introduced our speaker, Ann Lucena, his successor as CEO of the San Ramon Regional Hospital. Ann is a graduate of both Stanford and Harvard and was mentored by Gary for several years as a Management Intern. She then transferred to the corporate Office in Texas until returning to take charge in San Ramon about three years ago, upon Gary’s retirement. She is also multi-talented, both as a singer and as an actress in staged plays! Ann spoke to us about the past two years of hospital operations and the impact that the COVID pandemic had on them. The first of several slides shows how Contra Costa County caseloads varied over this period of time. The hospital’s first case in early 2020 came from a number of stranded cruise ship passengers who were flown to Travis Air Force Base and then sent on to area hospitals. That exercise, which this Scribe witnessed as a hospital volunteer, the patient’s room was guarded, around-the-clock, by Federal Marshals. That kind of intense effort quickly devolved as case counts significantly increased all over the country. According to Ann, these statistics were in all likelihood under-reported since the data gathering mechanisms really were not prepared for the myriad ways residents were finding out about their infections. The impact of the on-again-off-again “progress” in COVID spread, plus the incidents of hospital staff either catching it or having to quarantine because of exposure, made managing the hospital very, very difficult. She also noted that finding additional temporary help from “Traveler Nurse” contractors became much more difficult and vastly more expensive -- often double the former daily rate -- than before! Coupled with fewer patients with other, more routine, ailments, Operating Margins for the hospital dropped precipitously by 55.6%! Federal relief monies provided some cushioning, to a reduction of “only” 16.6%. Currently, the hospital has no COVID patients, however, serious safety protocols continue to impact operations. Ann stated that she has “six bosses” in these matters, from the Feds to the County, plus Corporate, and she is required to follow the strictest! Raffle: The Greeter’s Gift of a bottle of wine was won by this Scribe. The chance to draw the Golden Marble for a $250 cash prize was also won by this Scribe; he unfortunately drew a Blue one! Next Week’s Program: Our speaker will be PE Michael Roberts, who will discuss the Sunflower Hill Nonprofit. Our Greeter will be Chris Lafaso. |
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