It is great to be back in Wellington after 6 weeks of sunshine and relaxation in the South. While I enjoyed our first vacation since 2019 it was great to return to our Tuesday morning Rotary meeting with such a wonderful group.  Special thanks to Past President Trudy Brown for filling in form me.

 

I was amazed at the list of problems the residents of the County had over Christmas with the 2 or 3 day blizzard.  It is good to hear how people reached out to help others and in some cases hear how Rotarians hosted people who were without hydro during the storm.

 

How time flies, I received a notice this week that the President Elect Training is starting in the next few weeks.   The Wellington Rotary Club is fortunate to have such a dedicated Rotarian like  Lyn McGowan stepping up to serve as our next President.

 

Planning has started for the County Family Day event that takes place on Monday February 20th.   Our Club will be participating in this event with Liz Bozma Donavon coordinating a Reading/Book event for children and I will be looking for volunteers to assist with serving Soup and Buns (donated by local restaurants) for lunch that day.    The County Staff will coordinate this event which will involve other Service Clubs and offer free skating during the day at our Community Centre.

 

The Wellness Committee under the leadership of David MacKinnon continues their effort to encourage the deployment of Nurse Practitioners in Wellington.   David gave a presentation to the Wellington Residents Association meeting at the Legion on Wednesday evening. There was wide spread support from attendees for this creative and cost effective solution to the growing number of orphan patients in the County.

 

For the month of January and February out Club will continue to offer "Zoom" on line for members who are travelling and not able to attend Tuesday morning meetings in person.   

 

Our meeting was attended by 27 in person and by one on Zoom. The scheduled guest speaker was unavailable due to health reasons and was replaced by Ken and David MacKinnon.

Ken thanked Trudy for filling in as Chair of the meetings while he was on vacation.

Tim reported that Bill Mitchell was doing very well after his recent shoulder replacement surgery. He was home the same day and enjoying the absence of pain that he had been suffering for years.

Ken’s Report

Ken entertained the members with a description of his recent vacation in Florida. His wife, Luanne, and he spent a month at The Villages, 50 miles north of Orlando. This is a planned community of 130,000 people with 200 homes being added every month, ranging in cost from $250,000 to $2.2 million. There are fabulous amenities for residents and visitors including:

• Golf carts for everyone for everyday transport
• 2 hospitals
• 100 swimming pools
• 100 pickle ball courts, with ranked participation
• 133 softball teams with 2,000 players competing
• 12 championship golf courses & 38 executive courses
• 2,500 different clubs, including 2 Rotary clubs
• A performance arts centre with programs every day
• 3 town squares with a Happy Hour and entertainment every day at 5 pm

After The Villages they went on a Celebrity cruise to five ports, then some days in Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach visiting Norm Dodgson

David’s Report

As the leader of the Rotary Wellness Committee, David gave a precise of the presentation he is going to make to the public meeting on Wednesday night at 6:30 pm at the Legion addressing the primary health care shortage in the County, a meeting organized by the Wellington Community Association.

He will give the varied and valuable experience of the members of the committee to demonstrate to the public that the Rotary members are well qualified to address the issue. The members are:

Yvonne, a ophthalmologist, who was teaching at the University of Toronto, who has the academic experience.
Chris, who was a practising physician at a major hospital in Toronto.
Dawn, who is a member of the College of Nurses and a manager of a dialysis unit, with prior experience in nursing homes.
David Smith with fund raising experience.
David MacKinnon, who was the head of the Canadian Hospital Association.

Bill Morneau, the former Minister of Finance of Canada, says that the current health care system is financially unsustainable. Our Rotary Committee has a solution to address the County needs and it would work for all of Canada because we are no worse off than the rest of Ontario.

The answer for the County is to locate nurse practitioners in the County as a satellite operation of the Belleville nurse practitioner office. Belleville has a functioning system so it could be quickly expanded to the County if funding could be approved by the Ontario Ministry of Health. Chris has talked to the manager of a similar system operating successfully in Sudbury and region for ten years. For Wellington, there are two vacant rooms in the Medical Centre that would be available to house two nurse practitioners immediately. David knows that this answer would improve the system and be cost effective compared to the alternatives. Nurse practitioners have not been well used but this could change for the better.

Club Business

Ken reminded members that the Wellness Committee was concentrating on the primary health care personnel shortage at the moment, but in future they will address other County issues such as addiction to smoking, alcohol and drugs, teenage pregnancy and those reported in the PEC Vital Signs report.

Dawn announced that an Adult Spelling Bee is being organized for February 13, 5:30-8:00 in Trenton at 22 Front Street. She is inviting Rotary members to be part of our team to win the trophy. Give her your name.

Christine reminded members that there is a couples exchange with a Rotary Club in Sicily - May in Sicily, August in Canada. She has the contact person for District 7070. Your airfare is the only cost besides hosting a couple in your home.

Ken thanked Christine for the wonderful celebration announcement she organized in The Times for our 20th Anniversary.

Again, David Hawkins’ number was drawn for the 50:50 but again he did not draw the Ace of spades.

 

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Bottle Depot Volunteers Schedule for This Week

Wednesday January 25, 2023

9 a.m. to 11 a.m.: John Inwood, Ken DesRoches (FoR), Alex Lacher (FoR)

11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Roger Tessier, Lari Langford (FoR), Tim Cox
 

Saturday January 28, 2023