Next week: There will be no regular Rotary meeting on 8/6/15, as we have initiated our new two-meetings-per-month trial. Our next regular meeting will be 8/13/15.  Remember our Adopt-a-Highway clean-up this Saturday, 8/8/15, starting at 10:00 a.m. at the St. Anthony’s parking lot!

Prez Jody Stickel opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Today’s Guests: Donna Bayles (Chico), and Richard Green (Mendocino).

Visiting Rotarians: Judy Katz (Chico), and Ruth Sparks (Fort Bragg).

Thought for the Day: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.” -A. Einstein.

Happy Dollars:
– Ruth is happy about a recent Press Democrat letter to editor from Fort Bragg Rotary Prez Dave Simpson about their Read-Aloud program.
– Erich is happy to report that fishing was great!
– Pete is not so happy to announce that he lost his a** in poker last week – though he’s in very good spirits now!
– John P. is happy for our great salad today, and that their Rotary Park soliciation has now raised $3840 from local business! Great work!!
– Joe is happy to report that Sue Ellington is out of hospital and home!
– Kevin is happy to be back from his leave of absence. Welcome back, Kevin!
– Gary has been playing “old man’s baseball” on the Harvest Market team; he’s happy to report that it’s over and they had a perfect record (all losses!).
– Donna is happy that she had a beach party last night, impromptu, and will crew a wooden sailing boat Saturday.
– Jerry reports that they had to put their dog dobie down last weekend; but happily he’s now in dog heaven resting peacefully.
– Lindsay happily announces that in Chatter’s love of community, she donated a portion of her trust to the Community Foundation and to 11 organizations in the area. She will keep on giving!

Sunshine Report:
It was reported that Frank E’s not feeling great; Wilma has let him know we’re missing him here. We hope you feel better soon, Frank!

Announcements:
Jody announced that next week is our first dark week under our newly adopted plan to hold our regular meetings on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month. Our Secretary will post modifications to our website posting regarding meeting dates.

Our quarterly Adopt-A-Highway clean-up will be Saturday, August 8, starting at 10am. Meet at St. Anthony’s parking lot. Bring gloves and sunglasses; we’ll provide the bags, hats, and pick-up-sticks.

Chatter Bishoff’s memorial service is this Saturday, August 1, 1:00 p.m. at Mendocino Presbyterian Church.

Kira announced the Golf Tournament update: we need teams!! We have 6 confirmed teams, but we need more. We also need more hole sponsors and raffle prizes. Wine to serve with dinner is needed — Gary has a stash that he can provide. Sean will place announcements on the radio to publicize the event. We need help with set up and clean up. Check in will start at 8:00 a.m. on the day of the event.

Bingo Bash update: Mendocino Soroptimist Club is trying to re-band, and may still share the Bingo Bash fundraiser with us. It’s on hold until September…

Today’s Program:

Jody introduced Jerry Karabensh, local pharmacist and a member of our club, who will talk about personal health data.  But first, Jerry shared the following facts via the Finemaster questions:

Jerry as Finemaster and presenter.

Jerry as Finemaster and presenter.

Finemaster questions:
– Sleeping burns more calories than watching TV.
– 54% of people did not access personal health records online when given the chance.
– 10% of these people viewed their records regularly, at least 6 times.
– 400,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors.
– Of these 400,000, 80,000 died because their doctor did not have adequate information on-hand about their patients’ health.
– It’s TRUE that many medical apps are free because they sell your personal health data. (You can usually opt out so that your information is not sold to another party.)

Jerry has been a licensed pharmacist in this state for 56 years. At recent Pharmaceutical Association meeting, there was a lot of talk about electronic health records. He’s come up with his own personal health data system, which he’ll tell us about today.

“It’s your health — it’s time you took control of it.” Why should you care?

Health records are generally not easily transferrable. Your health record is located at disparate places: your MD’s office, hospitals you’ve visited, your insurance company, at your home, or you don’t know where it is.

There is no standard format for electronic medical records; they are not easily accessible; and they are necessary in our mobile society. Jerry offered the following advice:

– Demand your data – ask for medical, lab and surgical information, and immunizations, childhood diseases and family health.
– Organize your data – put everything in order.
– Share your data – your spouse and other family members should have access to it. All of your physicians should have it.
– Generate your data yourself – update it regularly. You are the one who knows yourself best.
– Protect your personal health data – put it into an unhackable area of your computer. Make it portable, but not online. – Understand HIPAA rules. (These are the rules governing the privacy of your health data. HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.)

Include the following information in your personal health data: name, address, phone numbers, email address, age, weight, height, DOB, emergency contacts, employer, profession, insurance info, primary and other physician data, other healthcare professionals, diagnosed diseases, past surgeries, allergies, pregnancies, RX drugs (including what you’re currently taking, when a refill is due, etc.), over-the-counter drugs and supplements, pharmacy, lab results, immunizations, radiological data, smoking and alcohol consumption data, and medical info on parents, siblings and children.

Jerry will send a blank template for health record data collection to the club.

“You are in charge of your health — take charge of it!” says Jerry.

Today’s Raffle Winners: Kira and one of our guests.