Greetings fellow Rotarians! Today we welcomed Pat White as the 64^th member of our Club. If you haven’t done so already, please introduce yourselves to Pat and make her feel welcome.  Our speaker today was Dr. Allan Ramsey who was on hand to discuss a proposed universal primary care system in Vermont.  Dr. Ramsey discussed the various types of health coverage and explained the systems we currently have in place. He opined that the state would greatly benefit from all Vermonters having full coverage for primary care. He pointed to studies that have shown how preventative care helps people avoid costly long-term healthcare problems in the future. As is the case with any proposal, there are questions as to the cost of universal primary care coverage.  Dr. Ramsey pointed out, however, that many felt the state would not be able to afford other healthcare initiatives such as Dr. Dynasaur, but we did it and he feels strongly that there is a way to put this initiative in place as well. He concluded his talk by answering several very good questions about this proposal and healthcare in Vermont in general.

 

 

            Just as a reminder, we will be holding a joint meeting with the Burlington and Colchester-Milton Clubs in the atrium room at The Essex on February 7^th.  Our speaker will be Donald Benton from Selective Service.  As our group will be larger than usual, we ask that you please sign up ahead of time to let us know if you will be attending.  This way we will be able to give The Essex a more accurate head count for that lunch.

 

 

            Don’t forget to put the annual Service Above Self Dinner on your calendars.  This year’s event will be held on the evening of Wednesday, February 21^st at The Essex. In addition to recognizing several first-responders who have gone above and beyond the call of duty this year, we will be recognizing our very own Dave Johnson as this year’s recipient of the “Service Above Self” award.  The cost for this dinner is $35.00 per person and a sign-up sheet will be available at our meetings. 

 

 

            Thank you to all who have volunteered to cover shifts at the Food Shelf in January.  Presently, we have enough volunteers for this month. We are currently looking for volunteers for dates in February (Monday, February 12^th and Thursday, February 22^nd) and March (Monday, March 12^th and Thursday, March 22^nd).  Please let Sharon Dettenreider know if you are able to fill any of these slots.

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  Wednesday, January 31st – We will be hosting a round of the Rotary Speech Contest in which a number of local high school students compete for the right to advance to the next round.  We will also be holding committee meetings after the fact.

 

For the complete list of upcoming speakers and information about the Club, please go to our website at www.essexrotary.org   Be sure to also follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EssexVermontRotary , on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/essexvermontrotary/ and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/essex_rotary

 

 

       Yours in Rotary,

 

Jason Ruwet