Call to Order
President Anna Harder.
16 Rotary Members attending.
Guests
Stacy Strilchuk
Makeups
None this week
Announcements
Breakfast next week is pancake and bacon.
There is no meeting next week due to the long weekend. Happy Easter everyone!
Next meeting on April 14th will be a “This is Rotary” meeting and will be a committee meeting time as we are closing in on Flag season and the Rib Tickler.
Reminder that Flag season is quickly approaching. Please start thinking about who you could sell subscriptions to.
The Rib Tickler is set for June 11th. Tickets are $50 (or a table of 8 for $400). Destiny and Lisa will be organizing the tickets. Let’s make this even a sell out J
Carol D-P provided an update on the Days for Girls project. Carol has been working with the Composite High school and the Interact Club on this project. Carol has presented to 4 fashion studies classes and the have 25 kits worth of fabric they are sewing, there is a collection bin and display in the library and Days for Girls has been featured in both the February and March school newsletter. The Interactors have been canvasing local hotels for soap and have also pledged some of their funds to purchase non-sewn components. Faculty members have also been involved, with a few gathering to cut fabric on PD days.
Quilting from the Heart has given the Days for Girls team a blanket 40% discount on purchased fabrics and notions.
The Tofield Quilters Guild completed 25 kits on their sewing day March 28th. They also donated $130 and some non-sewn components.
Days for Girls is hosting another sewing event on from 10:00-4:00 at Certified Training Group (5051-50 St) on April 11th, 2015. Please remember that we are always looking for donations of Large Ziplock bags (without the slider), colourful washcloths (not baby ones), colourful girls panties (brief style sizes 10-14 (Fruit of the Loom brand is best), and hotel size soaps. There is a sign-up sheet circulated at meetings for those who are able to attend that day. We have a lofty goal of completing 100 kits on April 11th, so please come out and help however and whenever you can.
There is a sign-up sheet circulating for people who are interested in attending the District Conference October 1-4, 2015. The conference is in Dawson Creek and accommodations are filling up fast.
The membership committee is hosting a prospective members night at Harry Gaede’s 4210 63rd Street on Wednesday April 22th at 7:30pm
Food For Thought
Lisa was away this morning, but Anna shared some facts from the recent World Round Up article in the Rotarian Magazine.
50-50 Draw
Dave drew the Queen of Hearts and the opportunity to share a food for thought moment in two weeks.
Judge
Members who admitted to travelling south for part of the winter were subject to a “warmth in winter” fine.
Happy Bucks
Happy bucks were given for the following: the Open house at the Chamber of Commerce today, yesterday a son called to say he had received the Vanier Scholarship and will receive funding for his 3 years of Doctoral program, seeing 5 owls during annual owl survey, Ann Fleck for driving to and from Tofield and her hard work all day, Ann Fleck had another happy buck given in her honor for being willing to take over the Days for Girls volunteer coordination, the Easter egg hunt and student art show at AUC X 2, a trip to Vancouver tomorrow, returned home from a family visit to Peace River, for Oil companies because they are suffering, a daughter having her 4th baby and that the baby was not hurt after a super speedy birth caught mom by surprise and forced dad to have some mad baby catching skills, returning home from visiting family, a Joyful Noise concert, and Ashley will perform her speech at provincials on April 11th.
Guest Speaker
This week’s speaker was Stacy Strilchuck from the Primary Care Network. She shared with us some information regarding physician attraction and retention in Camrose.
The Camrose and Area Physician Attraction and Retention Committee was established to support physician recruitment activities within the City and County of Camrose. Stacy shared that currently there are approximately 30,000 individuals served in the City and County of Camrose by three Primary Care clinics, a walk-in clinic and the St/ Mary’s Hospital Emergency Department. At this time the some family physicians area caring caseloads of 1500-2000 patients with only 1 or 2 of the 30 family physicians accepting new patients and a significant number of these physicians are preparing for their retirement. As you can imagine this has a significant impact on access to primary care in the community.
There are not enough Canadian trained family physicians and specialists to recruit therefor the committee is required to seek out foreign trained physicians that may be interested in practicing in our area. It is not an easy or quick process for these physicians to be able to practice in Alberta with the average timeline being one year up to eighteen months. The retention of that physician and his/her family in an ongoing responsibility.
The committee is truly committed to ensuring that physicians who are being recruited feel connected to the community and their families are also included in ensuring Camrose is a good fit. Pre-recruitment visits are one key way the committee is accomplishing this. When physicians come to Camrose for a pre-recruitment visit the committee learns their interests and with assistance from the public, goes to great lengths to make sure the entire family feel welcome and have the opportunity to see all the benefits of our beautiful community.
To date six new physician recruits have come to Camrose with a number of other pre-recruitment visits taking place. There are currently three clear vacancies and it is also under consideration to have six hospitalists in the community who would be responsible for care of patients while in hospital rather than having family physicians also be required to provide in-service care in hospital.
Stacy also shared a bit about the outdoor gym that is going to be built at Jubilee Park. This will be started in August/September and will provide free, easy access to fitness equipment that is suitable for all ages and fitness levels as well as being accessible to all members of the community.
Anna presented Stacy with an End Polio Now certificate ensuring another 10 children will be vaccinated.