The Pledge was led by Past President Hank Pierson and our invocation given by Matt Messner.
Dr. David O’Brien introduced several guests from St Joseph Hospital, Dr. Elizabeth Nuger and David Sutherland.
Joh Burger is celebrating his birthday today, and Steve Jackson’s birthday is this week as well.
Matt Murrish has his two-year rotary anniversary this week, and Joe Rogers just passed his one year mark.
Our joint Rotary Club Christmas Party is coming soon. We will be celebrating with the Old Town and Southwest Clubs Saturday, December 17th at the Sequoia conference center on Myrtle. Look to your email from President Matthew for information and invitations will be in the mail soon.
Roasts, Boasts, and Toasts
Past President Pat Folkins nominated all of the political pundits in the US for their lack of accuracy in predicting the recent election. President Matthew mentioned that his analysis of the election would be out in the Lost Coast Outpost soon.
Next on his feet was Joe Rogers and he noted that aside from missing some of our meetings he has been busy opening up the new Hospice House facility for Hospice of Humboldt.
Past President Gregg Gardiner was next up to talk about his travels back and for to Hawaii for business. He reminded us that Toys for Tots efforts were rapidly approaching and that he would be spending one more year as coordinator. Kathy Cloney-Gardiner is doing well also.
Past President Hank Pierson was our last on his feet today. He has been hunting, hunting, and hunting some more. He just got back from celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary at Yosemite. He will be back in town through the holidays.
President Matthew did not recognize any of them monetarily, so he must still be recovering from the election as well.
Past President Pat Folkins reminded us that we will be hosting a celebration of Jim Howard’s life on Monday December 5th. If you would like to relate a story about Jim please contact Pat at 498.0777. If you have any photos that you would like to share with our attendees please email them to Carlton at cfnielsen@sbcglobal.net.
Program:
Dr. David O’Brien started off our program with a brief introduction of St Joseph’s two local Hospital facilities, their facilities, and the 1400+ folks that they employ locally. Humbodlt Medical Specialists is now a part of St Joes, and is no longer just supporting specialists as they have added a number of primary care physicians to their organization.
He went on to introduce David Sutherland, their COO. David gave us an overview of how paying for health care services has changed in the past few years. 30% of their income comes from what is termed commercial insurance, and the remainder from Medi-Cal and Medi-caid. He said that the number of folks without insurance has decreased quite a bit recently.
Dr. Elizabeth Nuger then went through a very informative presentation on the trauma Program at St Joes. It turns out our highways contribute to a large number of trauma accidents. Trauma care has taken a major leap forward as the result of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A great deal of training goes into creating an effective trauma treatment program. The result is more saved lives. Trauma is the leading cause of death for people under the age of 45, and the fourth leading cause of death over all. St Joes is seeking to become a certified trauma treatment hospital. There are 5 levels of this certification, with UCSF and UC Davis being designated at the highest level. St Joes is looking to be a level three provider.
There are a large number of specialties and jobs involved in a trauma hospital organization. St Joes has two emergency room suites devoted to trauma care, and one designated trauma operating room. Supply organization is key to the success of trauma care. Surgeons specializing in trauma care spend the majority of their time at the hospital rather that at their offices.
St Joe’s collects data to look at trends in trauma injuries, and how to prevent the injuries involved in those trends. As examples, there have been increasing trends in zip-line related injuries as well as bicycle related accidents.
Dr. O’Brien went on to talk about the number of physicians practicing in our area. St Joes has recently added 16 new physicians to their staff and are in process with adding another 20.
Please join us next week for Merv George Jr. presenting about Six Rivers National Forest.
Respectfully Submitted,
Carlton Nielsen
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