Last Meeting – Thursday March 9
Speaker: Bruce Christopher, Board Chair – Chota Community Health Services
Program: Chota Community Health Services (CCHS) is a non-profit Community Health Center, whose purpose is to offer comprehensive primary healthcare to the residents of the Monroe County area in East Tennessee. It was founded under the belief that our community should not have to travel to the ‘bigger’ cities in other counties in order to receive top notch medical care. Chota operates three local facilities: Madisonville (Main Clinic); Vonore; and Tellico Plains. CCHS serves approximately 10,000 patients with primary care and diagnostic services.
Attendance: 14 Members, 2 Visitors – Dave Case and our speaker.
Member Tidbits:
● Welcome back to visitor Dave Case. He won’t have that status for long, as he submitted a membership application that has already approved by the board.
● Maggie has agreed to take on the 3rd quarter share of the 2017-18 shared President’s duties.
● Lots of member birthdays in March. Hmm, isn’t Father’s Day in June?
In Honor of Pi Day – March 14 (3.14)
The fattest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Circumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
Look Who Walt Marshall Had With Him
Walt with Sandy, a Smoky Mountain Service dog in training.
Why that’s Sandy, a Smoky Mountain Service Dog in training. Sandy is a small Yellow Labrador Retriever that Walt took everywhere this past week-end – even to church. Walt has been through extensive training to know the in’s and out’s of helping keep a dog in training in line. Sandy spent the entire week-end with Walt and Deb. Thanks for your “Service Above Self”!
Multi-District Conference
The Multi-District Conference is coming up on April 21-22 in Chattanooga at the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. Nearly 300 people from our district are already registered.
Individual meal tickets can now be purchased. Your conference registration is included with the meal to make it easy for you.
The Saturday Awards Luncheon, with the Parade of Presidents, is already shaping up to be a very large crowd. This meal will only be for folks from District 6780. At this lunch, President Everson will be coming forward to receive all of the awards that our club has earned so far this Rotary year! Please plan to attend the Saturday Awards lunch to cheer on your president.
To register for the individual meals, just go to the conference website at www.2017discon.com and click the ‘Register’ button.
New Book Praises Rotary’s Role in Fight to End Polio
This beautiful sculpture in Crutch Park, Knoxville, shows William Sergeant of the Oak Ridge Rotary Club giving the polio vaccine to a small child. Bill’s efforts in the early 1980’s led to Rotary International taking on the challenge of eradicating polio from the face of the earth. Kinda gives a new meaning to being an East Tennessee ‘Volunteer’.
A new book in the field of public health highlights Rotary’s role in the global effort to wipe out polio, and places it in the context of humanity’s relentless struggle to contain the world’s epidemics.
In “The Health of Nations: The Campaign to End Polio and Eradicate Epidemic Diseases”, British best-selling author Karen Bartlett surveys the global landscape of epidemics past, present, and future. Beginning with the 1980 eradication of smallpox, she guides us through more timely threats such as the Ebola and Zika viruses, and looks ahead to a future without malaria, measles, or polio.
“Who decided to rid the world of polio? Not politicians or global health organizations, as you might expect,” she writes, in one of several chapters devoted to polio. “The starting gun was fired by Rotary International.” Bartlett offers a comprehensive, readable account of the polio-eradication campaign’s history and Rotary’s unlikely role as its chief advocate.
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” – Anne Bradstreet
