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President Mike B. was joined today at Cafe Spiga by 10 regular members plus our about-to-be (and longtime past) member, Mark Snyder, who is transferring from Patchogue Rotary (and formerly a member of Rocky Point Rotary, as well). He will be officially re-inducted into our club at an upcoming meeting. Our guest speaker, Club Treasurer Nancy Uzo, was prepared to make a presentation and request/proposal regarding the construction of the new Emergency Department at Mather Hospital. First, the announcements: Jenn handed out a packet of Raffle Tickets to each of those members present who hadn't yet received theirs. She then reminded us that we are each responsible for selling 25 tickets (unless we requested more), and that if we all sold our 25, the 1,000 tickets available for the September 29th Drawing would be completely SOLD OUT. Do your part now: Sell! Sell! Sell! Saranto handed out copies of an article that appeared in the July 23rd issue of Newsday entitled "Ukrainian girl has heart surgery on LI". The article, accompanied by a photo, told of the successful outcome for 9 year old Polina Shchepaniak due to her Gift of Life procedure- and of Rotary's part in helping prolong this youngster's life. (Polina and her mom Kateryna visited with us at a recent luncheon meeting.) Sharon reminded us that the Past Presidents Dinner will take place on September 29th (honoring Rob Dooley), at Savino's, with festivities starting at 5 PM. Please RSVP to your invitations! Remember: each dues-paying club member is entitled to attend with a guest for free, while Corporate Members will have to choose a member to represent them. Others pay $60 to attend this event. All guests are welcome. Our ANNUAL RAFFLE DRAWING will take place at this dinner! Nancy reminds us that DUES ARE DUE. Jenn is our new Membership Chair. President Mike B. wants to hear from YOU about your ideas on what the club should be doing for the community. He will be reaching out to you soon. Rebecca invites all to Saturday's Village event, "Port-A-Palooza", where, beginning at noon in the Harborfront Park, music of all sorts will be performed for the public by a number of talented musicians. It's free! Dennis noted that our club has been invited to attend the Annual Greenport/Southold Rotary Golf Tourney on Wednesday, August 31st, starting at 1 PM. If you wish to become part of a foursome and attend this event, let him know. He needs checks from participants a.s.a.p. Another Reminder: the Port Jeff Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce-sponsored "Summer Concert Wednesdays", FREE events from 6-8 PM, will be held at the newly refurbished Chamber Train Car Park. Bring a chair. Tomorrow, July 27th: "Ice Cream Night"- BMX Stunt Show & School of Rock, Port Jefferson, NY (That's free ice cream for all attendees!) Aug. 3rd: " Shakespeare in the Park": "The Taming of the Shrew" Visit PJSTChamber.com or call 631-821-1313 for more info. Jenn just learned that the Town of Brookhaven is redistricting- and the suggested plan will be splitting Terryville in half, with part staying in District 1 and part going into District 2. Civics meetings about the proposed plans will be held at 7 PM tonight at Comsewogue Public Library (PJ Station Redistricting Committee) and at 6 PM at the Setauket Neighborhood House (Brookhaven Redistricting Committee). President Mike asks if you would like to host an evening meeting in August. Contact him and/or Bob Huttemeyer regarding your desire to do so. Saranto's last opportunity to be this month's Sergeant led him to choose as his topic for questions Rotary's Gift of Life program. He raked in the dollars as he asked basic questions such as "When was Gift of Life started?" (Answer: 1975) More dollars were collected from our members who were happy: because they had experienced enjoyable vacations (ie.,Mike spent quality time with his grandkids); Jen traveled to other states with the kids for their BMX contests (and will keep on traveling); Dennis celebrated his older son Chris's 42nd birthday; Sharon welcomed many visitors, etc. Saranto won today's raffle and donated it back to the kitty. Mike introduced Nancy, who made a thorough presentation about the Mather Hospital/Northwell Health plan, "Re-envisioning Emergency Care". She began by handing out a multi-page pamphlet illustrating the plan and starting with Port Jeff Rotary's link to Mather. Photos were shared on page 1 showing a variety of ways our club has partnered with the hospital in the past, from purchasing paving bricks to holding our Annual Chicken BBQ there, to having club members on staff, like Donald Bilhorn, as well as having club members as part of the facility's Administration and on the Hospital Board. Nancy pointed out that our club has made donations to Mather for over 33 years and has helped this community health resource grow to suit its changing needs. For example, in 1989, we gave $15,200 for the new ED pavilion; in 1997, we donated $12,500 for the new surgical pavilion; and in 2009, we gave $6,643 for the patient lift. Nancy next spoke about the hospital's current make up and mission. An accredited 248-bed, non-profit community teaching hospital, Mather seeks "to meet or exceed each patient's expectations through continued collaborative efforts of each and every member of the Mather Hospital Family". Mather has been nationally recognized as a high performing institution and has received an impressive number of awards and recognitions, including being a Magnet designated hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Mather has been publicly lauded for a variety of reasons, from its exemplary patient safety record to its impressive annual economic impact on the community. Nancy next presented an Emergency Department overview, including specialized care for patients needing psychiatric care and care for the growing number of elderly patients from our community. Mather is one of 29 hospitals to receive the 2022 Lantern Award from the Emergency Nurses Association. In 2021, the ER, which has 42 beds, saw 37,395 patients. Nancy pointed out on a map the hospital's current features and ED deficiencies. The department is only 13,000 sq.ft., has only 1 entrance for both walk-ins and ambulances, 1 triage chair, 4 treatment areas, beds separated by curtains with barely room for 1 visitor chair, is far from the CT scanner in the Radiology Dept., and has a behavioral health area where adults and adolescents are together, and there is a lack of natural light. The ED Redesign proposal would double the size of the department and include a heliport, parking lot renovations (adding around 180 more parking spaces), and a building core and shell for future surgical services expansion. We viewed the new Mather ED floor plans showing corrections to the current deficiencies, including a dedicated CT scan in the department, bigger individual rooms replacing the curtained cubicles, separate adult and adolescent behavioral health rooms, and separate entrances and check-in facilities for walk-ins and ambulances. A proposal was made to our Donations Committee that we help Mather go forward by donating $3,000 for 5 years, totaling $15,000. Assured by members of the Committee that our club could well-afford this donation plan, members present seemed not only in favor, but some suggested that perhaps we donate $5000 per year. The original proposal will probably be the one agreed to- depending on your input. Please communicate with Mike and the Donations Committee Members. The recommendation was made but your opinion needs to be heard, too, before the Donations Committee makes its decision. In answer to a question, Nancy agreed that new staff hiring is needed and is ongoing and difficult. Nurses Aides, especially, are much needed. Also, there are not enough doctors, which is, in part, the reason that the residency program was established in 2013. As long- serving doctors retired, it was planned that the residency program would result in new hires and replacements from that program. |
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