Announcements
Kathy Myers announced Coleman's Unmute the Uncomfortable CEU on May 12. There are two prices; one to get the 6.25 CEU credits, and a lower one if CEU is not needed. Scholarships are available.
Lauren Tallon reminded the Club of the upcoming Rotary Auction May 5. The committee is still looking for silent and oral auction items.
Larry Lohman reviewed the agenda for the upcoming District Conference April 28-29.The focus is on mental health. Our Club has two tables for sharing information and help is needed to "man" those tables. See Larry for more details
Todd Kamenash announced that Rick Bissler won the NCAA Women's Tournament literacy contest. The Club raised $630 for our literacy programs.
Doug Fuller announced the next brew talk of the Kent Historical Society is April 18 at 7 p.m. at the North Water Brewery. The program is Laura Davis and Mark Seeman explaining how the May 4 site became a registered historic site.
Kathy Myers called past district governor Larry Lohman back to the podium to present the new banner highlighting the three Kent Rotary members who have served as District Governor, Leland Keller, Gordon Keller and Larry Lohman.
President Dave announced the next club happy hour is April 18 at the North Water Brewery from 4 to 6 p.m.
Birthdays
Jeff Roeger announced the April birthdays.
April 3, Howard Boyle: first concert Gary and the Playboys with Chas Madonio on guitar; favorite Jimmy Buffet at Blossom.
April 5: Ben Tipton and Lauren Tallon. Lauren's first concert was Billy Joel; favorite was Pearl Jam.
April 6. Joe Marken
April 7. Brian Bachtel
April 10. Amanda Senn and Jim Myers: first concert was the Four Freshmen; favorite was Steely Dan and the Dooby Brothers
April 13: Nick Shearer, Duane Fitts and Anthony Horton: first concert was country and favorite was Salt & Pepper.
April 16. Adam Alderson: first July 4 Cleveland Orchestra and favorite Tom Jones & Etta James
April 30. Jim Bear
Free lunch was Amanda Senn, not in attendance. David Dix played Happy Birthday to the April Rotarians.
Speaker
April Program Chair Nithya Venkataraman introduced Becky Lehman and Emily Speck from the Portage County Health District (PCHD). Emily explained that PCHD serves all of Portage County except for the City of Kent, which has its own health department but that PCHD and Kent work jointly on many projects.
PCHD moved into the former Ravenna Savings building in June and now shares the space with United Way of Portage County. Both PCHD and Kent are nationally accredited agencies. PCHD became accredited in June of 2019 and Kent in 2022. Ohio is the only state that requires health departments to be nationally accredited.
PCHD completed the most recent community health assessment in 2022. The three areas of focus for the district are:
1. substance abuse and mental health
2. chronic disease
3. family, pregnancy, infant & child health
Services provided include permitting and inspecting private water systems (wells) and septic systems; environmental services including food inspections; rabies control; HIV/sexuality education; tobacco cessation and education; emergency preparedness; nursing services, and cribs for kids.
Through grants PCHD has been able to help 109 low to moderate income residents replace septic systems or connect to sanitary sewer. To date the program has provided $1.4 million in funding.
The WIC program for women, infants and children is income based and provides assistance in Portage and Columbiana counties. The program provides education, cribs, playpens and car seats among other assistance. Car seat installation is no longer provided by fire departments but PCHD has three certified techs to assist all residents.
The purpose of Project Dawn is to avoid deaths caused from drug overdoses. The kits contain naloxone/narcan. Portage is the first county in Ohio to have 100% of our law enforcement personnel trained and carrying Project Dawn kits.
Response was provided by Lee Higgins.
Meeting concluded after recitation of the 4-way test.
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