OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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March 10, 2009
The 60th Annual Macomb Kiwanis Club Pancake Day is Thursday, April 23, at the American Legion. Jeremy Benson has sent out the booster sponsor letters. We'll follow up with members contacting businesses to secure their sponsorship.
If you call on a potential sponsor, and they have an outside marquee, please ask them to display "Macomb Kiwanis Pancake Day - April 23 - American Legion." That will help us publicize the event. This is our biggest event of the year where we serve fresh pancakes and sausage to hundreds of people all day long to raise money to support childrens activities and programs in our community.
Our speaker was Dr. George Roodhouse (on left), who spoke to us about emergency medicine. Photo courtesy of McDonough District Hospital (MDH). He came to MDH in July 1978.
Dr. Roodhouse was the first ER doctor at MDH, and he recruited an associate to help develop the ER program that is in place today. Together they resurrected a paramedic program previously developed by Dr's. Dexter and Taylor, then set about stocking the ER with medical equipment, telecommunications, and ambulances. He said that one of the biggest hurdles to emergency medicine is COBRA, which is an unfunded federal mandated program. In short, COBRA states that all persons will have access to emergency medical care regardless of their ability to pay. The result of this law is that no payment is made for indigent patients, yet the hospitals must pay the doctors and specialists on call. Some hospitals, unable to absorb the negative cash flow, have been forced to close. Another result of COBRA, is that specialists are opening their own clinics, leaving fewer and fewer specialists on call at hospitals for emergency room visits. All of this has resulted in an increased workload on the remaining doctors at the hospitals. There are longer waiting lines for beds in the hospitals, so the patients wait longer in ER beds before being admitted. At the same time, more ER patients are waiting longer to be seen. Dr. Roodhouse closed by inviting Kiwanians to look online at the Annals of Emergency Medicine, published January 2009. The website address is: www.annemergmed.com. Thanks to Debbie Vandemark who did double duty this week, filling in for Tim Moss and Rick Bulger.
March 17 is St. Patrick's Day, so be sure to wear some green with your purple and gold! Should be a colorful combination!! Our April 7 speaker will give us some ideas on how clubs can increase membership.
President-elect Debbie Vandemark presided. We had the Pledge of Allegiance, Kiwanis pledge, and song led by John Moon. Chuck Nicholson gave the invocation. No guests. Reminder that the spastic paralysis Bowl-A-Thon is THIS Saturday, March 14, at Abbe Lanes in Abingdon. We will be leaving from the Days Inn parking lot at 10:30 and will have lunch in Abingdon at the restaurant next to the bowling alley before the games begin at 1:00. The Mega Interclub is in Bettendorf, IA Tuesday, March 17, at 6:00 PM. International President-Elect Paul Palazzolo will be the guest speaker. Debbie has tickets for the VolunteerNOW fundraiser dinner to be held on Thursday, March 26, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. Reservations may be made at The Secret Garden. Owen Thompson presented the club with a Salvation Army Certificate of Appreciation for our efforts in ringing the bell at Christmas. We raised a total of $603.30. President Tim Moss has send out an email urging all board members to be at next weeks meeting to discuss a 501(c) proposal.
 
Those with Happy Buck$ this week were Hassan Espabodi, Ken Harp, Ted Pawlias, Joe Vandemark and Owen Thompson
We received an email from a lady in Alaska who found a Macomb Kiwanis Club historical item that may be of interest. It's a trophy on E-Bay. Here's the link if you want to check it out.
"Kiwanis International is an international organization of member-volunteers who give more than 6 million hours and more than $100 million each year to help change the world one child and one community at a time. Any community need can become a Kiwanis service project, especially if the need involves children, who should have the help and the right to lead healthy, successful lives. We believe that helping a child helps the world."
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