April 7 - Video Meeting Notes

Our club's video meeting was called to order at 7 a.m. by President Taro Masuda and meeting moderator Jim Adamson.

Our guest Rotarian was District Governor Elect Richard DeRock. Our non-Rotarian guest (and program speaker) was Katie Blair.

After our exchange of greetings, we said the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

Happy Bucks

One Happy Buck was given by Wayne Massing, whose pool was opened yesterday for the summer season. Water temperature was 54 degrees! Brrrr!

Announcements

Erik Holmberg discussed the small figurines he was creating with his 3D printer. The figurines were for Chris McDarment's son Brian for his Dungeon and Dragons game. Brian hand paints each figurine; a task taking up to four hours!

Program

Katie Blair, (our program speaker) joined our video meeting from her apartment in New York City. She was introduced as one who helped found the Wenatchee High School's INTERACT Club in 2005, which is still in operation. She is a recent survivor of the CoVid-19 virus and gave her story about how she suspected she contracted the virus, her symptoms, and her ongoing recovery.

Katie's background includes being a Rotary Youth Exchange Student to France in 2006-2007. (Her French host family were winemakers so she got an early exposure to wine making.) She taught English as a Second Language in South Korea. Other jobs she held were Short Term Excursion Host on a Hawaiian Cruise Ship, Global Wine Steward and also worked at Disney World.

In relating to her CoVid-19 illness, she recalls possibly getting exposed to the virus while working at a wine store where she had a lot of exposure to the public. After 2 weeks from her suspected exposure, her immediate symptoms were her loss of taste and smell. Other later symptoms included coughing, vomiting, fever, body aches, and shortness of breath.

Her doctor's appointments were conducted via telephone. She monitored her own temperature, oxygen level and blood pressure for the doctor. She attributed her recovery to hydration with electrolyte drinks, day/night cough syrup, nasal spray, and Tylenol! A humidifier helped in her recovery. Due to her lack of taste, tomato soup was the only thing she "thought" she could taste. Raw honey was like the consistency of sand, and grapes had a weird texture as well.

She is in her 2 bedroom apartment in New York City where she is recovering. Best wishes, Katie, for a speedy and complete recovery!

District 5060 Status

Richard DeRock, District Governor Elect of District 5060, gave an update on our District's events and CoVid-19 status. He said that about 20 of the 57 District 5060 clubs have gone to a video meeting format, with more changing over all the time.

District Governor Peter Schultz is endorsing the video District Conference on April 25-26, 2020. Click on this link to get info on: DisCon 2020. It will be free to all attendees, but you MUST register to get video meeting link and password. The original speakers has agreed to give their same speeches, but via video.

The Rotary District 5060 Club Spring Team-Building Experience (RD5060 CSTBE!!) will still be held on May 16 (Wenatchee and Yakima) and May 23 (Summerland and Kamloops), but it will be a video presentation. It is a free training, and club members who already paid will be refunded. Each day will start with all participants in a large group via video, then they will break out into smaller video meetings, and rejoin later in the day. Details to follow.

The Rotary International Convention 2020 in Honolulu, Hawaii, is cancelled, and registration money is being refunded.

Rotary International has been working closely with The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) regarding the possibility of another recurrence of the CoVid-19 virus later this Fall. Therefore, RI has been cancelling events scheduled later this year.

Our District is awaiting the opening of the Canadian-US border so we can travel within the district. Right now, going either way across the border results in a 2 week self-quarantine period in the destination country, and another 2 week quarantine when you return home!!

The CDC and WHO are looking at possible antibody tests this Fall to determine if anyone has the CoVid-19 virus, but doesn't feel sick. A vaccine for CoVid-19 is still at least a year away.

The District has been looking at cost structures for club meetings. Money is being saved by not renting a meeting room, but clubs may be losing money from their fundraisers that can not be implemented. Almost 30% of the clubs' fundraisers have been cancelled.

The Youth Exchange is a challenge, to say the least! Visas and student permits are not being issued, so there are not inbound or outbound YE students. Overseas partner countries want the students, but we can't send them because of government restrictions. Possible shorter visits might be the answer.

-A final announcement from after the meeting: Tom Utigard called to report that Len Noss is recovering after a recent fall. He is out of rehab (24 days there!) and is back home resting. His son, 3 doors from Len, visits him at least twice a day. Len said he would enjoy getting some calls from club members!
Give him a call. 662-2076.

The video meeting ended at about 8 am.

Join the fun next Tuesday at 7:00 am. Jim will send out a link to join Sunday or Monday.