Aug 3, 2010

Burl 8/2/2010

The mystery of the missing bell continues. President Carlton started the meeting with the pitiful clanking of his miniature cowbell. Dan Price gave the invocation. Anniversary celebrators included George Owren and his wife Gail (46 years) and Pat Folkins and his wife Shiela (50 years). They each had to convert their years to dollars for recognition.

District Governor Jim Clancy will be visiting us on August 16. If you attend, plan to stay for the entire meeting. Other upcoming events include the Rotary Barbeque contest on August 12 at the Humboldt County Fair. Judging is at 2 pm. Celebrity Judge will be Guy Fieri, who has a show on the Food Channel and a game show called Minute To Win It on NBC.

On the 20th, Rotary Youth Exchange is having a rafting trip. If you want to go, see Eric Bergel.

President Carlton then donned his fining hat. This week’s hat was a white conical felt affair that made him look like a mushroom. It is to be worn in Russian Saunas to keep your hair from scorching. There were Cyrillic letters on the front which, when translated, said “Dunce”.

Jason Eads was recognized for selling his own Barbeque Sauce. The jars of sauce are available at 2 Street Music and Ace hardware in Fortuna. The publicity cost him $20.

Our program was a presentation on the Joint US Military Pain Task Force. Our speaker was Dr. Kevin Brady who is a Lt. Colonel in the Army. He has recently relocated to Humboldt County. When he’s not deployed to Iraq, he works as a heart surgeon and heads ICU at St. Joseph Hospital. The Task Force is a collaborative effort by the various branches of the Service that focuses on improving pain management of our “wounded warriors”. Advances in body armor, medicine and transportation of casualties have cut the death rate to 10%. This means more surviving wounded who need care. Traditional pain management involved narcotics, but recent developments like the peripheral nerve blocking catheter and the use of analgesics mean less dependence on morphine. The catheters are 20 to 30 times more effective than the old methods, and can make a huge difference during the patient’s long plane ride back to Walter Reed in the states. Dr. Brady’s visual aids included lots of graphic photos of battle wounds and catheter insertions, interspersed with pictures of his niece. It was a good thing that everyone had already eaten.

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