THE LAMORINDAN 11-6-09

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY?

Skip McCowan provided today's gems, courtesy of one Mark Twain, who clearly was acquainted with the supposedly-non-word "ain't."

VISITING ROTARIANS

None today. Better luck next week.

GUESTS OF OTHER PERSUASIONS

Erin Lloyd - Dan Garfin's Significant Other and soon-to-be nurse-in-training
Norm Egger - Long-suffering father-in-law of Dave Waal

BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES

Thomas Peeks offered up $20, $1 for each of Yolanda's years on the planet. That's his story and he's sticking with it.

Today was Dave Waal's birthday. Plans included lunch with his lovely bride (properly chaperoned by father-in-law Norm) and a rousing evening at the Acalanes/Campolindo football game. Somehow, $40 sounds like a bargain for all that excitement.

A MOMENT WITH AYMERIC

Aymeric is learning the American education system with a vengeance: He had a PowerPoint presentation for today, but the dog ate it. But he did regale us with the week's doings at Acalanes High. It has been Homecoming Week, which will culminate in the Big Game against dreaded rival, Campolindo High, with a dance to follow. One highlight of the week leading up to all this was the school dodge ball tournament, which, of course, came down to the Juniors against the Seniors. Aymeric was familiar with the game, but reported that his new American friends played with a certain amount of, er, enthusiasm that may not have been duplicated back home. Oh, and Aymeric was planning to participate in Saturday's Interact District Conference. Another busy week in the busy life of our busy Youth Exchange Student.

PUMPKIN CARVING RECAP

Brad Davis rose to report that the Garden Park Apartments kids successfully carved many a pumpkin and not a single one of each other. The enthusiasm level was off the charts, and the fun that was had by the kids, the Rotarians and the Rotarians' kids was beyond measure. Brad thanked all Rotarians who came out, and especially those who brought their kids, as they got right down to it while we Olde Geezers were still trying to figure how to get down on the ground in a way that will permit us to get back up.
And many thanks go to you, Brad. You've kept the spirit of this event going and growing for a good many years, and anyone who has been there knows that this project is a winner.

THE SPIRIT OF THE HOLIDAYS LIVES

It's November again. That means the holidays are fast approaching. It's the time of year when you spend time getting together with your nearest and dearest. Not only them, but with Lamorinda Sunrisers, too. And in that vein, Jim Brencic announced that the Annual Lamorinda Sunrise Incredibly Ecumenical Holiday Party will be held on Thursday, December 3, 2009, at Frank's Church (aka the Orinda Community Church, for those of you who don't know who Frank is or why we so flippantly refer to his church). $30 for adults, $15 for kids. This gets you dinner and your kids a visit from Santa.

In case King John and his minions forget to mention it, if you are bringing a young'un to the Party (and you should), be sure to bring a wrapped and labeled present for Santa to pull out of his bag for said young'un. The present is important because the elves aren't as cooperative about pre-orders as they used to be and the label is vital because Santa has proven over the years not to be a mind-reader when it comes to names and matching gifts to kids.

SPECIAL MEETING AHEAD

Mark your calendars: Friday, November 20, we meet at the Veteran's Memorial Building at 3780 Mount Diablo Blvd., Lafayette. Don't go to Postino that day - we won't be there.

Whyzatt? Because the 20th is a special meeting, put on jointly with the Lafayette Rotary Club (aka "them"), the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Marine Corps League Detachment 942, American Legion Post 517, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8063, and the Military Officers of America Association. The Special Guest Speaker will be California State Controller John Chiang. Y'all ought to be there. And you need to sign up, so pay attention next week for the sign-up list.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES COMING UP

Camp Royal. Just the mention of those words should have you scurrying to find a current high school junior to apply for this great experience. Camp Royal is billed as a one week leadership camp, but that does not begin to describe the positive impact it has on its attendees. So if you know of any high school juniors - better yet, if you have a high school junior laying about the house (this is one perk we can dole out to our kids - not all Rotary programs are like that) - let Alex Arnold know ASAP. And if you want to get testimonials about how high schoolers respond to Camp Royal, talk to Paul Fillinger, Skip McCowan, Steve Ware or Rich Shearer. They'll be happy to fill you in.

Youth Exchange. You see Aymeric every week, and you know Becky Ware is in Argentina this year. In the past year, you've seen Jorg and Lena come visit us, and you've heard updates about Sayaka, Natalia, Ro and Malte, all of whom spent a year with us. This should tell you just all you need to know about how great Rotary's Youth Exchange program is. Preliminary applications to be an outbound Youth Exchange student next year are due November 15, which is officially really soon. If you have or know a high school senior who could benefit from this great program, talk to Gillett Johnson. Soon would be good.

GSE, or Group Study Exchange. This is a Rotary program that sends young-ish folks (up to about 35 or 40, more or less) to another country to compare notes about their chosen careers. Districts are paired up for this, each sending a GSE team to the other. This year, District 5160 is paired up with the District that includes Monterrey, Mexico, and we are looking to send fire fighters, EMT's and the like. If you know any (but they can't be Rotarians for this program), let Alex Arnold (I think) know. The deadline for these applications is also November 15, which is, again, really soon.

WHERE IS BOB SCHWEIN WHEN YOU NEED HIM?

We need a place to store stuff. In particular, a place to store the crutches that we are going to be collecting to send overseas to crutchless people. We may store a few other things there, too. Let His Royal Something-or-Other John Fazel know if you have such a place or any leads on such a place.

And no, do not suggest Joanne Luscher's downstairs.

MEMBERSHIP MOMENT

Hays Engelhart and Walt Nelson are at it again. They refuse to be satisfied with the current crop of recent additionsto our Club, as wonderful as they are. No, they want more. That means we need to crank up the old "2-for-1" program (sometimes known as "2-4-1" for those more given to cutesy shortening of names). That simply means that all of us are responsible for bringing two visitors/possible new members to a meeting during King John's reign. You don't have to do the hard-sell on them - Hays and Walt have that down to a science. You just have to invite them. Hey, somebody had to invite you, right?

MYSTERY ROTARIAN

Proving that he doesn't just dream up bad ideas on his own - no, he's willing to recycle bad ideas, too - President Fazel pulled one of Past-Prez Pat Flaharty's unused Mystery Rotarian sheets today. Today's Mysterious One: (1) has been rock climbing in Yosemite; (2) scaled the Harbor Bridge in Sydney, Australia; and (3) has kayaked in Fiji. Who else could it be but world traveler and bon vivant Skip McCowan? Nobody else, that's who. And not only did Skip climb the Harbor Bridge, so did the entire family, including Linda, who, it turns out, is deathly afraid of heights and probably swore a mighty swear to get Skip for this.

PROGRAM

Health care. It's a hot-button topic these days. Congress is wrestling with how to deal with the millions of Americans who have no health insurance or insufficient health insurance.

And then there are the hundreds of millions - and probably billions - of people around the world who do not have access to what we would consider the most rudimentary health care. What are we to do about them?

Enter Cindy Basso Eaton and John Simpson, respectively the President and Director of the Nepal Project for Global Healing, a non-profit organization "Dedicated to promoting health care reform in areas of the world where modern medical health care is not available."

Ms. Eaton gave us the macro view of Global Healing. As the President for the past ten years and CFO and then Vice-President the previous five, she is uniquely qualified to tell us about how this small, all-volunteer (well, they have one paid staffer now) organization has come to have such an impressive presence in the world.

Global Healing is, first and foremost, about self-sufficiency and sustainability. Global Healing is not about emergency interventions and launching facilities that will disappear after the Global Healing people leave. It is about building the infrastructure and training the local populace so that the facility will survive long into the future.

Global Healing is also committed to not duplicating the efforts of others, and Ms. Eaton described some of the efforts to coordinate with other organizations so that services are made available to as many people as possible. For example, Global Healing's first project was in Georgia (the country, not the state), setting up a pediatric intensive care unit to handle pediatric cardiac surgery and a blood bank in Tblisi, the capital. Other medical needs were being met, but the only options for kids with heart problems was to (a) die or (b) manage to survive to their teens when adult cardiac surgery became viable. Child and even infant cardiac patients now have a fighting chance. The blood bank was an outgrowth of the cardiac care, as one of the main volunteer doctors insisted that there be a supply of safe blood. So now, thanks to Global Healing, there is a first-class pediatric facility and a blood bank to assure a clean blood supply in an area where not long ago no such thing existed. The before-and-after photos Ms. Eaton showed us were a powerful statement of the success of Global Healing's approach.

Sustainability also means making sure that there is a trained staff to run the facility. Global Healing brings in volunteer medical personnel to work with local health care professionals, training them to take over and keep the facilities running. This takes roughly three to five years, and according to Ms. Eaton, this is the hardest part of the process. Getting equipment? Not too hard, as medical facilities in the US are always upgrading, meaning there is usually a good amount of viable equipment to send overseas. Getting volunteer doctors and nurses? They fairly come out of the woodwork to do this work. No, lining up the local team in the area to be served is usually the toughest part.

So why Georgia to start? Because Former Soviet Foreign Minister and then-Georgian President Edvard Shevernadze asked Global Healing to come in. The next stop was Armenia, chosen because of its proximity to Georgia and, thus, the ability to use Georgians to help set up the Armenian blood bank facility. Ms. Eaton told of how she had been warned that this would not work because Armenians and Georgians hated each other. The result: no problems. None. Isn't it amazing when old enmities are forgotten when everyone is working towards a common humanitarian goal.

Global Healing has started a facility in Honduras. This project has not taken off the way Ms. Eaton had hoped. It has seen successes - training local physicians has been a bright spot, but there have been problems getting the Honduran facility to achieve the level of self-sufficiency that Global Healing strives for. Ms. Eaton said that a fair amount of time has gone into both making the Honduras project work and learn from it so that other projects will be even better.

Other projects have been launched in Dominica (an island nation in the Caribbean), Moldova and Nepal, with future projects slated for Tanzania and upgrading the Georgian facility.

John Simpson also addressed us. He spoke of trekking in Nepal in 2004, minding his own business, and encountering Thiley Lama, a leader of Lantang Village, which is about 70 kilometers and seven hours by motor vehicle north of Kathmandu. Mr. Lama saw a need for his village and the surrounding area - a viable health care system. He believed in it so strongly that he sent his son, Mipsang Lama, off to medical school. When Mipsang's medical education was complete, Thiley built a clinic in 2007, with Mipsang as the doctor. The clinic sees about eight outpatients a day, and Mipsang travels around Lantang and other villages in the region the rest of the time, treating the ill and educating the villagers about health-related issues.

Global Healing is now involved in expanding the clinic in Lansang (elev. 11,417 ft.) and setting up a satellite clinic in Kyangjin Gumpa (elev. 12,800 ft.). Mr. Simpson is in charge of coordinating these efforts. As with all Global Healing projects, the goals are to obtain and deliver needed equipment and supplies, send skilled medical staff to help train local providers, and make the improved health care delivery system self-sustaining.

Based on the great photos we saw, and the enthusiasm and past successes of Ms. Eaton and Mr. Simpson, is there any doubt of the past and future positive impact of Global Healing on the world?

Thank you, Cindy and John, for sharing and letting us know about Global Healing. If any readers wish to learn more about Global Healing - like, maybe, how to help - check their website at www.globalhealing.org.

CALENDAR

Friday, November 6 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Global Heating program.

Tuesday, November 10, Board Meeting, 7:00 a.m.

Friday, November 13 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Mr. EBMUD, John Coleman

Friday, November 20 - Joint meeting with the noon club at the Verteran's Center 7:00 a.m. John Chiang, State Controller

Thanksgiving weekend, November 28, DARK! Happy Holiday

Friday, December 4 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m., Ray Welles revelations.

Friday, December 11 - Budd Mackenzie is back to talk about trust in education in Afghanastan. How timely can this be?