AM CLUB —Meets at 7:30 am on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month on Zoom or in person at Northwest Arena
FALCONER — Meets on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month at 7 AM at the Falconer Fire Department Exempt Hall located at 1 Coleson Drive Falconer NY, 14733.
WESTFIELD / MAYVILLE — Currently meeting on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 5pm via ZOOM. Contact Janese Berkhouse at 716-397-8801 for Zoom details.
FREDONIA/DUNKIRK —
Meet Thursdays at 12:00 PM - Zoom Teleconference Meetings - Effective until further notice - Fredonia, NY 14063
Committee meetings or social events can also be used as make-ups.
Rotarily Yours - November 25, 2024
President Marion Beckerink opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the Star-Spangled Banner led by Cáitlín O'Reilly and Tim Edborg.
Paulette Kline delivered the invocation, reciting the poem "We Give Thanks This Day" by the Rev. O. Eugene Pickett.
Vice President O'Reilly introduced visiting Rotarians and Guests, including: Adam Nagy, who works for Stryker Industries in Florida and guest of Tim Edborg; Jen Lundmark, representing Cummins and guest of Marion Beckerink; and Marci Johnson, who will provide musical entertainment during the upcoming Rotary Holiday Gathering and was a guest of Emily Cama.
For announcements:
Marion reminded members to RSVP for next week's luncheon at First Lutheran by Wednesday, Nov. 27, which will feature the Jamestown High School A Capella Concert. You are welcome to bring spouse, family, and other guests, but an RSVP is required by Wednesday.
Marion also mentioned that she and Ruth Lundin attended the SUNY JCC Global Fest on Nov. 20 and talked with a few potential candidates for the RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) Program and members are welcome to encourage any interested student to apply. Ages 18-25 are eligible. The application deadline for the Rotary Youth Exchange program has been extended to Dec. 2. A workshop to learn more about the program was scheduled for later Monday evening.
Emily Cama also provided a recap of the first Rotary Family Service Night, which included 33 attendees, who helped to accomplish the goal of completing 20 blankets to be donated for the holidays to residents at Heritage. The blankets will be donated following the weekly meeting on Dec. 9 and any member is welcome to participate in helping to donate the blankets.
Andrew Cama, John Kinder, and Caitlin O'Reilly
Ken Omeruo's family on the left with Patricia Graves and daughter
Marion also reminded members that the annual holiday gathering will be Sunday, Dec. 15 and Monday, Dec. 16 will be the annual meeting, which requires a quorum of members so everyone is asked to not miss that meeting, if possible. And Paulette Kline is helping to organize the club's float in the upcoming Downtown Jamestown Holiday Parade on Saturday, Dec. 7. It will be an "all hands on deck" effort so members are encouraged to reach out and to see where help is needed.
The 50/50 of $36 was won by Rhonda Johnson, who donated all proceeds back to the club during Happy Bucks, when she reminded members to attend the Dec. 12 annual holiday benefit for the Boys & Girls Club at Moonbrook Country Club.
Sergeant at Arms Doug Conroe had some Thanksgiving Trivia questions for this week, asking "Who was president when Thanksgiving became an official holiday?" (A: Abraham Lincoln in 1863). "On Thanksgiving, what percentage of families will have a Turkey dinner?" (A: 88%, with 50% of all Turkeys eaten during the year consumed on Thanksgiving). "What is pernil?" (A: A popular way of preparing and cooking turkey in Puerto Rico). Doug also levied fines against any Rotarians who's college alma mater won a football game over the weekend.
Our guest speakers were Carrie Wieder and Nellie Brown, who were on hand to talk about Stress and Self Care and who were introduced by Becky Robbins. Wieder is a licensed master social worker who began her tenure at Erie County Medical Center in 2015. She worked on inpatient behavioral health floors before transitioning to the immunodeficiency services clinic. She's been pat of the Center of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic for the past six years. She studied at both St. Bonaventure University and the University at Buffalo where she received her master's degree in social work. Brown is a certified Industrial Hygienist and is the Workplace Health and Safety Program Director of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She provides expertise for the Cannabis Workforce Initiative. As a certified industrial hygienist provides virtual and on-site training and technical assistance on a wide range of occupational safety and health hazards.
L to R: Becky Robbins, Carrie Wieder (Center of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic), Nellie Brown, MS (Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations), and President Marion Beckerink.
Ms. Weider spoke first and provided details on what the ECMC Center of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic details. Through a state grant, the clinic is one of nine across New York State that provides occupational health services for employers, with the ECMC clinic covering the five counties of Western New York (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, and Niagara). The clinic includes board certified doctors who understand workers, worker health, and how best to help, assess, treat, and then also prevent workplace illnesses and injuries. So our mission as a clinic is to reach all companies throughout the region. She said the benefit of bringing the worker wellness program to companies is the fact that the program is well rounded and covers both medicinal and mental health and education. Anyone interested in learning more about the services is encouraged to reach out Carrie at cwieder1@ecmc.edu or by calling 716-898-4967.
Ms. Brown then spoke about stress and how to treat it. She said there is both good stress and bad stress and her presentation would focus on the latter and how we have the ability to respond to both short-term and long-term negative stress. Short term stress is dealt with through the "fight or flight" response. When a stressor begins to affect us, we start to respond very quickly. Our body secretes hormones like adrenaline and noradrenaline, and our heart rate increases, our breathing rate increases, and our blood vessels dilate out to the limbs so that we can fight or run. More sugar is also secreted in the blood stream so we have more energy, and both our vision and hearing becomes more focused.
For long-term stress, Ms. Brown noted that we also have evolved with a way to deal with it, known as the vigilance response. The vigilance response was developed through evolution when early man had to deal with stresses that went on for weeks or even months, like extremes in the weather, or how we can get through a long, cold winter with not a lot of food. If you're dealing with a stressor, and it's going to go on for a while, your body and mind shift over into the long term or chronic stress mode, which can have an intense toll on our bodies. This impact includes a reduced hormone production, lack of sleep, and weight gain - all of which are ways our bodies evolved over time to deal with long-term stress and which still occur in today's modern environment. But there are several ways we can deal with and reduce these long-term stresses. They include relying on humor, getting more exercise and spending time outdoors, working on getting more sleep, and developing and maintaining personal relationships. Each of these help to regrow the hippocampus areas of our brains, which is used to assist with memory, learning, and emotion - all of which are diminished during times of stress.
Both Brown and Weider also took time fielding several questions from members in the audience. Following the presentation and Q&A sessions, the meeting was adjourned.
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