Our routine for Wednesday mornings:
Breakfast, Welcome, Pledge, Invocation
 
Welcome of our Rotarian guest, Chris Stewart from the Williston-Richmond Club talking about their ski race fund-raiser at Bolton Valley on March 10th at 3:00.  Dinner will be $30 or $47 for dinner and participating in the race.
 
Sam gave us and update on H2H – things are going well - John Hammer concurred. 
 
Lara announced the month long library book sale.
 
Our guest speaker was Eileen Whalen from UVMMC.  Maria McLellan also joined us. 
Eileen talked about the dynamic time it is right now for UVMMC and health care in general.  The new Miller Building is underway and will be replacing beds that were built in the 40’s.  They are private rooms and are similar to the recently completely mother/baby unit.
The medical center is using over 100 volunteers/advisors who function as patient advocates helping the patients receive the best care possible for their particular situation.   About 40% of their patients are from upstate NY.
There are about 8000 employees within the entire system.  UVMMC has been recognized as one of the top medical centers in the nation.  Safety and quality of care are what they believe in.  The newest affiliate is Porter Medical Center in Middlebury.  It was made clear that these “mergers” are affiliates and not acquisitions.
Stated that in the community health needs assessments, housing is key to health.  UVMMC is working with Champlain Housing Trust transforming local motels into both temporary and permanent housing.  We are lucky to have Harbor Place right here in Shelburne.  They have recently purchased the Bel Aire motel.  With Howard Center, there has been a $1.5million dollar investment in mental health services.
This is just some of the information Eileen told us about – very interesting presentation!
 
Upcoming meetings:
3/1 United Way RSVP and Foster Grandparent programs
3/8 Kelly devine – Exec Director Burlington Business Assoc.
315 Club Meeting
3/22 Bill Shouldice – CEO Vermont Teddy Bear
3-29 Rob Roper – Pres Ethan Allen Institute
 
Happy fines:  (please excuse any misinformation from my translations!)
Ric – great snowshoeing during our “5-day” winter
Sam – good H2H trip and John’s driving
Judy – glad Chris Stewart from Williston-Richmond joined us
Chris – Happy to share his Rotary club’s fund-raiser
Maria – happy to take her family to Mt St Anne for winter break
Carole – 60- degrees tomorrow
Bob – if it gets warmer, he will have to move to Nova Scotia
George – snow
Linda Rt 7
Eileen – Happy Patriots won (but still a bit loyal to the Seattle Seahawks!)
Lara – glad library is not flooding
Dave – Las Vegas
Denny – Catamount ski challenge benefiting Alzheimer’s
Trafton – new grandchild and son-in-law’s film was nominated for an Oscar