President-Elect Kelly McDonald welcomed everyone to the Rotary Club of Centerville and led the Pledge of Allegiance. PDG Harvey Smith provided the prayer.
Quote of the day (provided by Don Overly): "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." E. E. Cummings
Today’s Announcements:
- Visitors - Vivette Bowling from the Kettering Club and Erik Collins from the Dayton Club
- Crissy Allums introduced Gina McFarlane-El, our speaker today and also her former boss.
- Pat Beckel’s guest was Lisa Hansford from The Castle.
- Gina Smith’s guest’s were Vivette Bowling & Gabby, who she met recently at a new women’s event
- Thanks to Rotary members, their family and Interact students who helped make blankets & booklets during this week’s service projects.
- 1,000 booklets were produced for Crayons to Classrooms. They give out around 30,000/year
- We purchased material from My Very Own Blanket to make 1,000 blankets for kids in the foster care system. There are still many to do as they take longer than we thought!
- Thanks to the Social Committee for a great event at ZInks. It was a wonderful turnout of Rotarians and friends, and great time.
- The next Board meeting is Monday 5:30 pm on zoom. All are invited. Topics to be discussed include:
- Foundation
- Public image
- Membership
Happy Bucks this quarter will go for Rotary District 5300 Fire Relief (LA area).
Brad Thorp shared a message he received from his friend, the District 5300 Governor. Our District and many clubs have also donated. Our Club has already donated over $6,000.
Dear Brad,
I was going to send you a handwritten thank you to acknowledge the support that you and the members of your district have given to our fire relief efforts, but I thought that it might be easier for you to forward our appreciation to the other clubs that have stepped up if it was in digital form.
I know that the destruction was front page national news, but witnessing what happened first hand a different matter . . . the magnitude is stunning. The entire town of over 42,000 was evacuated along with thousands of others who lived nearby. Well over 6,000 residential homes ended up being completely destroyed! To put a face on what happened, the Altadena club has a little over 40 members; 16 of them lost their homes, and more lost businesses. I’ve attached pictures of the country club where they met. As you can see, it’s completely gone. Most of the Rotarians that were residents of the affected area are still not able to live there due to the amount of toxic fallout from what was consumed in the fire.
On a brighter note, people all over have been doing what they can to help those affected. Although the heart of Altadena community has been shaken to its core, it’s still strong. The willingness of people like you and the Rotarians of Southwestern Ohio, have helped them know that there are others that care and support them in their time of need. Neighbors helping neighbors.
Please pass on my sincerest appreciation to everyone in the Rotary Club of Centerville, and District 6670. As always, they’re changing lives for the better.
Yours in Rotary,
Dennis Franklin
District Governor Nominee
District 5300
Pat Beckel was our Sergeant at Arms with help from Brian Hayes, who didn’t have much of a voice this week!
Happy Bucks were generously given for:
- Pat B paid a fine for wearing the same jacket as last week. The Membership task force sent out 15 letters to prospective members and Lisa Hansford is first from that mailing to join us today.
- Brad H attended a conference in Columbus today where he ran into Lee’s nephew, who told lots of good stories about his uncle
- Wayne D was happy seeing Pat in Dolphins colors, and glad to have Erik visiting here at a “real” Rotary Club
- Lisa GM was happy to have Barry White take her money ;-)
- Ron H gave in memory of his 92 year old next door neighbor who passed away recently
- Chuck K was happy
- Bill M returned from NC where he was studying blacksmithing skills and he thanked the Rotary Board for purchasing a sponsorship to the Friends of the Library fundraiser
- Arnie B happily watched Ron expertly make 2-3 blankets at the service day
- Socks was happy but wants to know what type of manure Lee deals with (after seeing Lee’s hat)
- Gina S was happy to have such wonderful guests. Her book cover is finished for a new release this spring. It is a love story with some sauce
- Erik C was glad to be here today
- Jim H for guests today
- Harvey S for Elda who made the delicious pastry desserts today
- Raj G for being late
- Carol K for today’s guests, and is looking forward to soaking up sunshine in Florida next week
- Elda GG wished all a Happy Valentine’s Day and reminded us it is also Friendship Day
- Dan J said Brian sounded like Froggy from the Little Rascals
- Adam M for Brian’s froggy voice
- Lee H did not have a full Farm Report report today but asked Don O if he knew the five dairy cattle breeds, and he did - Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Holstein
- Crissy was happy
- Brian H for his birthday last Sunday
Our speaker today was Gina McFarlane-El, CEO of Five Rivers Health Centers.
President-Elect McDonald introduced Gina and mentioned Five Rivers Health Centers is a federally qualified health care center (FQHC). It is designed to serve underinsured and uninsured population. They also provide pharmacy, dental, and behavioral health services, and help people figure out how to qualify for other services. There were nearly 90,000 visits last year at Five Rivers Health Centers
Gina shared they are more than a doctor office. They are a non-profit, but community based and have 1400 centers across the nation. They received a some federal government funding, but not all. 51% of the Board members are the patients who represent the community served They serve the medically underserved areas and have 61 centers in Ohio with 8 in Dayton area.
Gina noted they were originally part of Miami Valley/Good Samaritan Hospitals, but broke out to become a FQHC to receive federal funding. Since then, thy have grown tremendously and not operating in the red any more.
The goal was to be a one-stop shop for patients so they provide many services including
- UberHealth getting rides to appointments
- Low cost pharmacy - get at cost and that’s what is charged.
- Free delivery of prescriptions
- All sites have fresh fruits & produce.
Two sites are school based sites - Dayton Public & Trotwood Madison, and they also have a site at St Vincent de Paul.
The Edgemont Campus site is largest FQHC in OH and the building has artist work from Dayton area artists. There are two locations in Xenia: Greene County Health Center & Star Pediatrics. They just purchased the old Rite Aide in downtown Xenia and will be renovating it for another center.
They mostly serve Medicaid & Medicare patients and have a $50 million budget. Most of the funding (82%) goes back to fund the services they provide.
Other services provided:
- A PATH fund to pay for co-payment of mammograms, dental care, and more. Interpretation services are provided for non-English speaking people.
- Five Rivers Has Sole - fitted over 50 homeless with shoes yesterday.
- Shower/laundry trailer.
- Diaper bank
- Find out what patients need and try to fill those needs. Filling all gaps to get best health care they can.
- Happy Pappy Program - free pap smear to decrease cervical cancer
- Caring & Loving Maternity Care (CALM) reduce number of low birth babies
They were featured in The American Delivery on PBS in May for the work done to reduce infant mortality and black women breastfeeding.
Challenges coming up:
- grant funding timing is questionable
- Dayton is a Welcoming City for refugees
- Dental care is the #1 unmet health care within OH
Looking forward to in 2025:
- New Xenia campus
- CALM program published nationally
- Launch Mobile Units
- Reduce sexually transmitted diseases
There are 308 employees at Five Rivers Health Center. Doctors who work for medically underserved areas qualify for a National Loan repayment program.
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