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Program for Friday July 18, 2003

Jack Knox
Politics in America

Door Duty: Elof Granberg and Joe Robinson

ADDITIONAL PROGRAM FOR FRIDAY JULY 18, 2003
Agnes Somogyi, Past President of the Rotary Club of Budapest-Danube (Hungary) will inform us on support for a potential Rotary Foundation Matching Grant for an orphanage in Romania. This Matching Grant is being cosponsered by her Rotary Club, Rotary Clubs in teh USA and Germany. The Orphanage currently caters to 400 children and has a Romanian Government subsidy of US $15/child/month. The bare minimum needed is $1/child/day-an additional $15/child/month. The orphanage draws on volunteers from Hungary, Germany, France, Slovakia and USA to keep it functioning. Most of the children are from Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovak and Gypsy "mixed" families.

Agnes will show a short video describing the orphanage project. This seems to be a worthwhile Rotary Foundation Matching Grant program, which we could support during our 03/04 year.

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Program for Friday July 25, 2003

Genevieve Obert, Fast Women

A history of Women Auto Racers

Door Duty: Michael Fenley and Bill Reid

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Program of July 11, 2003

Fred Mayer

Prez Stoney introduced today's speaker Fredrick S. Mayer. Fred is a R.Ph, M.P.H. and is the President of the Pharmacists Planning Service, Inc. (PPSI) and the Pharmacy Council on Tobacco Prevention (PCTP), nonprofit public health, consumer, pharmacy education organizations which specialize in awareness, prevention, and consumer education programs. Mr. Mayer is past President of the California Public Health Association. Mr. Mayer is also a member of several national advisory boards addressing diverse public health concerns including: Cholesterol, AIDS, Cancer, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), Human Rights, Substance Abuse and Smoking Cessation. He is a consultant to the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) and Drug Topics Magazine, a professional journal. Mr. Mayer has lectured worldwide promoting the pharmacist's role in public health. Mr. Mayer graduated from the University of California, San Francisco, School of Pharmacy and holds a Master of Public Health Degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He has completed post graduate cancer research at Stanford University in addition to hormone research at the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy.

Fred's presentation was truly extensive, covering a wide range of medical and health issues. Its recommendation/highlights are outlined below. However, we recommend you take time to visit the Pharmacists Planning Services Inc. web site for access to this extensive information and links to the many programs that PPSI has founded or operated. It is www.ppsinc.org
We note you may also want to contact Fred via e-mail at ppsi@aol.com or phone at 415-479-8628 as we have been unsuccessful in accessing the web site directly.

The big news I the flood of information abut drugs, drug law and health, fred told the club that 107,000 Americans a year die because they have not been given proper medicine, proper advice for taking medicines or they have ignored the advice they were given for taking medications. This is big news that you don't know about and it is equivalent to 3 747 airliners crashing each day. The main reasons for these preventable deaths are:
1.Bad or incomplete instructions for taking medication (like don't take it on an empty stomach).
2.Taking multiple drugs in dangerous combinations out of ignorance or lack of attention to details. This also includes taking medications in combination with other "drugs" that many folks don't think much about, most notably alcohol.
3.Ignoring the direction and warning that have been given or are available about the drugs being taken.
A related growing problem that Fred warned the members about are counterfeit drugs. This is a particular problem for seniors who are trying to save money by buying drugs on-line, through catalogs or by going to Canada or Mexico. "CAVIOT EMPTIOR", says Fred. He strongly advises everyone to by all there drugs from one reputable source, eliminating the counterfeit problem and much of the risk associated with #2 above as each pharmacy tracks all the drugs being taken be each of their clients specifically to prevent unwanted reactions from multiple drug prescriptions.

Fred said these problems are being aggravated by industry developments that include huge growth in the number of prescriptions being written every year, currently three billion a year and doubling every two years with no end in sight. Also there is a major pharmacist shortage as well as market consolidation reducing the number of pharmacy outlets. That is each pharmacist has a much heavier workload and is subject to making more error. Everyone has to double-check the system in their own best interest.

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·Drink water, at least one glass, when you take all medications.
·Read the labels carefully on over-the-counter brand-name medications. For example, there are 26 kinds of Robitussin with materially different formulas that can interact differently with other medication you may be taking, creating dangerous combinations or potential overdoses.
·Know that ubiquitous Tylenol and alcohol taken together create liver damage.
·Beware of sound-a-like and look-alike drug names. Be sure your pharmacist, who doesn't necessarily speak perfect English, is getting you the right medicine and you are asking for the right medicine.
·Vitamins are good, too much vitamins are not good.

Fred concluded with a Q&A period that agreed with observations that Americans are over medicated and paying too much for the drugs they do take. He believes the high cost is a result of the USA being the only country that pays for the R&D to develop drugs and the rest of the world gets them "for free". While being over medicated, he said that drug therapies, when used properly are very effective and can be very cost effective, given the problems they are controlling. Everyone in the room is healthier and living longer because of the modern pharmacopoeia.

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Last Week
Inaugurating the new 2003-'04 Rotary "Lend a Hand" year, our new President Horace "Stoney" Stonework rang the bell. Prez Stoney asked the members to observe a moment of silent prayer for David Ninomiya who is in hospital, seriously ill with leukemia. Prez Stoney then asked Dr. Herb to lead the members in the pledge of allegiance. Prez Stoney's thought for the day is, "Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except for the things that just don't add up."

Prez Stoney asked the members to "Lend a Hand" to club operations and sign up on the sign-up sheets that are circulating around the room. Those who missed the sign-ups are invited to contact Stoney directly about positions that need staffing.

Visiting Rotarians

Guests
The writer notes that today is Spouses Day with at least a dozen and a half spouses and partners in attendance. We recognize all guests, spouses and partners en mass lest we recognize them inaccurately as individuals.

Announcements
Prez Stoney asked David K. if he had any announcements for the Sunshine Report? David K. reported that Secretary-For-Life Joe Nusbaum was in the hospital for three days this week, but he must be OK because he is sitting at a back table. The members immediately responded with thunderous applause.

Pezidential Prerogative
Prez Stoney took a few moments to emphasize his objectives for the club in the coming year. Working with Jon Lawlis and Mark Howe, he (we) want to create a membership campaign that will double our membership. This can be done by each member bringing one new member to Rotary. The Board of Directors will also be working hard to bring in new members with double digit membership the goal. The other objective is to increase club financial support and contributions to its community outreach activities. Prez Stoney expressed great confidence in the members, given their general knowledge and creativity, to rise to the financial challenge.

Coming Speakers
8/01 Sally DeWitt Peres School Volunteer

8/08 Jim Briggs Outside the Box-Decision Making

8/15 Steve Grossman Oakland's Airport of the 21st Century

8/22 Dr. Robert Hirst PhD Tales of the Mark Twain Archives

8/29 Dr. Joseph Marshall The More You Know, The More You Owe!

Recognitions
Launching right into recognitions, Prez Stoney asked Werner Schwarz if he has had an anniversary? After kibitzing about "two years.. two good years…and not necessarily together…" Werner acknowledged he and Lea are celebrating 51 years of happiness "…and suffering." Lea and Werner (Lea for sure) received a hearty round of applause from the members.

Prez Stoney asked Ted Abreu if he has had a birthday? Ted acknowledged it is today and that he is going to celebrate it at a polka fest. Also his daughter cleaned out all the closets at home which is as good as birthday presents get.

Happy/Sad $$
Josh Genser had Happy and Sad and Dollars. Sad because we missed his anniversary on July 5th (oops). Happy because he's going on vacation for the next two weeks to Olympic National Park and the San Juan Islands. Also Happy for all the Cal fans in the room as Cal has just finished their best intercollegiate sports season ever, ending in ninth place, Cal's first finish in the top ten. Josh was also Happy that Stanford finished it's nth year in first place.
Leslie had $22 happy Dollars as she and Steven have just been installed in their brand new house.
·Jon Lawlis had $20 Happy Dollars for his soon to be vacation "back home" in Maine. Jon had $21 additional Happy Dollars for his son's 21st birthday today, which he is spending in Las Vegas.
·Mark Howe had $20 Happy Dollars for his wife being at the meeting within 10 minutes of the planned arrival time, and, $15 Happy Dollars for being at the meeting at all, and, being in the Coastal Cup (yacht race) Report that told about the Adventures of the White Fang et al during the race. Capt. Mark then tried the member's patience by reading the entire article about the race.
·Judge Joanie had $10 Happy Dollars for being at the meeting after being away so long.
·Oscar Lugo had "a check in the mail" for the celebration of his 24th wedding anniversary July 8th and his birthday (no #) June 28th.
·Ren Partridge had Happy Dollars for being back at the club after his motor cycle accident.
·Dandy Don Lau had $5 Happy Dollars for his wife's favorite and soon to be retiring physician Dandy Don Miller. Dr. Don did not confirm or deny his alleged retirement.

Raffle
There was $125 at risk. Fred picked Dr. Herb as the rafflee. Herb picked a white ball.