| Rotary Flash for Meeting on January 5, 2010 |
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Our meeting began in the usual way with Bill McGrath leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and God Bless America. Our invocation was given by Chuck Strobel. Sergeant at Arms Report John Hanna reported 51 of our 104 members in attendance today. Rotary Foundation Moment Bill Thorne gave our Rotary Foundation Moment. Last year Rotary clubs in Brazil and Mexico and the United States joined together in a matching grant to aid the Lar das Criancas Children’s Home in Tanabi, Brazil. This institution provides free extracurricular activities and much needed daycare for low income families. A matching grant was used to help the Home purchase uniforms for all of the children. Each student also received school supplies, gym shoes, swimsuits, and caps. Tanabi Rotarians have seen the students’ interest in learning and participating in activities improve as well as the childrens’ sense of self worth after the uniforms and equipment arrived. This is just one of the many examples of how the Foundation’s humanitarian grants programs can make positive changes for children. Students Dan Carr brought three students from Hempfield High School. Anthony Nemanic (Ed’s son), Jessica , and Anthony Hawkins joined us for lunch today. Announcements There will be a board meeting at Bill McGrath’s home on Thursday at 5:30. A reminder that as of January 26, we will be meeting at Courtyard Marriott weekly instead of meeting at Four Points Sheraton. It was a long deliberated process, but next week Bill will explain all of the reasoning behind this decision. Bill announced that Will Brown’s brother has passed away and he wanted to express our concerns for him and his family. So far we have had 27% of our membership donate to the Rotary Foundation. We ask for $100 each year, but anything from any member makes difference. In March we’ll be having a club photograph. There will be plenty of time and we’ll be doing it at our weekly meeting. Dennis Cremonese resigned from our club because he is working in Brownsville. He is sorry to leave. Also Kris Agarwal has resigned due to health concerns. Word of the Week Bill’s word of the week is holm (pronounced HOM). It is a small island in a lake or river. Speaker Bill McGrath is our speaker as well today. He spoke to us about colon cancer. It is the third most common cancer in men (after skin and prostate) and the third most common in women (after skin and breast). One in 19 people will get colon cancer and there is a 5.6% mortality rate. There are 50,000 deaths each year. There’s a 25% risk of getting colon cancer hereditarily. As we age our risk goes up, especially after the age of 50. After age 80, it usually goes down. 90% of all colon cancer begins in polyps. So if we can remove polyps, we can prevent the vast majority of colon cancer cases. Pesticides are growing as the major cause of colon cancer. Specifically arsenic and perchlorates. Perchlorates are salts and found mostly in SW United States. They come from and are used in manufacturing of rockets, batteries, air bags, jet fuel, explosives, and fireworks. It usually gets into the water supply from these sources. So how do we prevent consuming perchlorates? It has more to do with the soil than what we eat, so there is very little that we can do to prevent this. The diagnostic tools involve checking for blood in your stool. 90% of colonoscopies are normal, so we are trying to come up with a more efficient method of checking for this. There is a new method being used as a screening tool that catches 80% of all individuals, and it’s difficult to convince people that this makes sense. Colonoscopies are expensive because they require sedation. Virtual reality CT scanning is not here yet, though it will be coming. It will likely be the best method to screen for colon cancer. 172,000 incidents 10 years ago has been reduced down to 148,000 incidents, so it is definitely curable and treatable. After showing us a colonoscope, many were a bit perturbed. But regardless, Bill ended the meeting in the usual way with the Four Way Test. |