1/25/2009 Classification Talks from Sharon Abrams and Tim Beals
Sergeant at Arms
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Tim Beals served as our Sergeant of Arms today. Thanks, Tim!!!!!
Greeter
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Kim Hawkes was our Greeter today. Thank you Kim!! The Greeter for the January 25th meeting will be John Fortier.
50/50 Tickets
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Frank Prelgovisk sold $80 for the 50/50 raffle today and Don Plourde was the winner of $40. Doug Legg will sell tickets on February 1. Lisa Hallee won 10 free tickets for next meeting's 50/50 drawing.
World Service Cup
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The beneficiary of the donations for this month's World Service Cup will be the W.I.S.E. Zambia Project in order to fulfill our commitment to this organization.
Fined for pictures in the Paper
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Sarah Sugden had her picture in the paper this week and was fined $5.
Cell Phones
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A $10.00 fee for cell phone ringing continues for the 2008-2009 Club year. No fines assessed today.
On Leave
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Cam McKay
Joan Phillips-Sandy
Paul LePage
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
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David Geller introduced Mazara Dixon, Customer Relations Manager at Key Bank.
Tom Davis introduced his son, Conor.
Nikki Desjardins introduced Peter Mills, a visiting Rotarian from California.
Sarah Sugden introduced Dr. Pam Thompson, Director of the Early Childhood Development Program at Thomas College.
What can you do?
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* Tell Board Members what you are passionate about for community projects
* Tell the program committee about interesting speakers/topics you would like to listen to
* Be involved, join a committee
* Be active
* Be positive
Happy Dollars
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David Geller shared a series o experiences up at Sugarloaf over the week end, noting that after a great day with friends and skiing the most challenging trails on the mountain, he sprained his wrist when he tripped over his poles near the base lodge. Dave is also happy about the new gavel that Gene Beaupre made for us!
Jerry Tipper had a sad dollar about the loss of the Cascade Woolen Mill building over the week end. Jerry shared how his family had been involved with the building and mill from 1933 thru 1998, that there were 3 generations of families who worked there, and the many memories it left behind. At its peak there were over 250 people employed there. Currently, there is only 1 woolen mill left in the country! Jerry also shared that this week he's leaving for Florida for 3 months.
Tom Longstaff was happy about the IM he carried on this morning with his daughter Anna, who is in Korea for a 10 day business trip.
Mark Ford had 5 happy Dollars: 1) Gene's gavel; 2) He just made his daughter's last tuition payment; 3) For the program she is involved with at Babson, which arranges for its students studying in Africa to coach teams of students involved with a business competition. Amazingly, in the area where she is studying, there were 22 teams and at the final event there were over 25oo people in attendance for the award ceremony. Mark added that Lindsay's team came in 4th. Congrats, Mark!
Tim Beals had several Happy Dollars: 1) He's very proud that Delta Ambulance received the President's Award from the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce in Augusta over the week end; 2) Delta's Augusta operation just moved into a new building . Tim thanked a number of entities for bringing this to fruition, including the Sheridan Corporation;, and 3) He shared some experiences his son had with his youth hockey team recently, noting the wide variation in officiating styles in state and away in Massachusetts. He found it very interesting when a local referee indicated to the coach that he'd make up for a bad call in the next period.
Kim Hawkes is looking for some brave Rotarians to participate in the AYC Polar Bear dip in a few weeks. The proceeds are going to Camp Tracy.
Chris Gaunce had 5 Happy Dollars: 1) for our Club's response to the Haiti disaster. All tolled, we sponsored 3 Shelter Boxes to the area .... 1 from an anonymous donor, 1 from the international budget, and 1 from the discretionary budget; 2) For his son's recent experience with the backwoods skiing program at Sugarloaf. Over the week end, they climbed Burnt Mountain, skied down, and was a little disappointed that they only got 1 run in.
Sarah had 5 happy Dollars: 1) For the MLK Breakfast event that we sponsored last week; 2) That she was able to find someone to take all of her baby "stuff" that was in her garage. With all the new found space, she can now get her car inside; and 3) For the neat things she continues to find in the archives of the Library, including a 1933 citation that she found (and displayed at the meeting) describing the importance of books and their role in our society.
Announcements:
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Club Rosters are available from Cathy for $2.00.
The Scholarship and Membership Committees will be meeting after we adjourn today.
Upcoming speaker schedule:
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February 1, 2010 John Butera, Central Maine Growth Council
February 8, 2010 Debra Staber, Curator, Hinckley Museum
February 15, 2010 President's Day, No Meeting
Waterville Rotary Club Web Site
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http://www.clubrunner.ca/waterville
Today's Program: Today's Program was a series of Classification Talks from Rotarians Sharon Abrams and Tim Beals
Sharon Abrams - Sharon is one of the few Rotarians who was born and educated in Waterville. Her Dad worked at Hathaway for over 40 years on the 4th floor as a shirt cutter. It was particularly memorable when she was able to tour the new facility and visit one of the spec apartments on the floor where he worked. She went to UMF and after graduating, moved to Winslow where she raised her kids and did some long term substituting in the Home Economics Department at Waterville Senior High School. She discussed the Teen Parent Program that she started (and which just celebrated its 35th Anniversary) in conjunction with the Maine Home for Little Wanderers. The program now has its own building and recently received a grant from Stephen and Tabitha King and described how the program has grown, noting that they now have counseling services at the AYC and in China schools. They served over 1600 kids this Christmas. She also described the accreditation process for the program and that they are now in the process of preparing for an accreditation visit. In response to a question about the teen pregnancy rates, she noted that the trend is downward, sharing that kids are now realizing the importance of staying in school. We still remain high when compared to other countries and discussed some of the reasons why this is the case.
Tim Beals - Tim is the Executive Director of Delta Ambulance. He was born in VT. He originally studied to be a teacher but came here to work for Delta in 1984 after a friend suggested that he might want to take a paramedic program. Over the years, he worked his way up to be Associate Director and, in 1997 was promoted to Executive Director. He's very grateful for the wonderful board he has to work with. Tim then described the origins of Delta, noting that it was formed in 1972 by the then 3 hospitals serving Waterville. In 1985 there were 10 FTE's serving 1 community and in 2009 they had 55 FTE's serving Waterville and Augusta. The number of vehicles has also grown proportionately. He also described the way in which the technology has improved over the years and the capabilities the staff now have available for their patients, including heart monitoring, pharmacology, and airway management. In 2009 they answered 15,000 calls, 10% of which were life threatening. They serve 18 towns for 911 and support those towns where there is a first responder, which provides care until the Delta unit arrives. He shared that in Waterville, there is a 2 tier response (first responder/Delta) only in the most severe call. Tim discussed the reimbursement environment for ambulance services, noting that in recent years, it has improved somewhat, especially in the commercial carriers. Medicaid is still the most challenging from the reimbursement perspective. He did discuss their service to rural areas where it may take an hour to get to a scene. Where there is a first responder, that crew would manage the patient until Delta arrived. As an example, in Belgrade, the first responder has an Intermediate EMS Certification, which is advantageous for the Belgrade residents.
After their presentations, Sarah thanked Sharon and Tim for sharing themselves with the Club.