Photography Courtesy of Peter Webb,  MD

 

 

Message from Bob Whitehill:  “The Sunshine Committee reports to the Club on members who are ailing and in need of a little sunshine.  The Co-Chairs this year are Cheryl Angeles and Mitch Williams.

Members on the committee are: Bill Kenney, Bernie Mellott.  Please let one of the committee members know of members who would like some sunshine sent their way.”

 

 Thank you to Bob and to John deRussy who so diligently chaired the Sunshine Committee for so many years.

 

Prez Bean-Stalk called the meeting to order.

 

Rosemary Azem led us in the Pledge.  Bruce Bean pinch hit with the thought of the day that included this advice: “The best antidote for international fear is international understanding.”

 

Juan Raigoza gave us the news—real news and historical facts-- and Mitch Williams gave us the Sunshine report.  Mitch reported that Peter Sortwell ruptured his Achilles tendon on a dance floor and has had surgery.  We hope you recover quickly, Peter. That’s painful!

 

Prez Bruce shared a slide of Dick Nelson and Suzie Nelson, who now live in Ohio.  Dick will continue as an honorary member of the club and would love to speak to any of us by phone.  (T. Jack Foster’s reaction: “Can we call him collect?” Badaboom.   You can take the man out of Vaudeville, but you can’t take the Vaudeville out of the man!)

 

Among our guests were Ann(e) Marie Murphy, an attorney with Nanci Nishimura’s firm, two of San Mateo’s finest, with Susan Manheimer, and Rosalynn Marie, a recipient of the club’s special scholarship overseen by Walt McCullough, that goes to an aspiring health care professional.  Rosalynn plans to attend Cal State East Bay and to earn her RN.  Rosalynn was introduced by John Root.  Margaret Taylor introduced a whole crew from the San Mateo County Health System, as well as Peter Gielniak, new President of the MPH Foundation.  Among the many Margaret introduced was Louise Rogers, Director of the San Mateo County Health System.

An update was given for the Guatemalan disaster relief effort led by the Hillsdale Effect students.  Our club donated $1251, plus a later $1350 and the students raised $1000, for a grand total of $3601 to help the victims of the volcano. (Sorry -- I can’t remember who gave the tally!)

 

Alan Talansky plugged the Fun Run and its importance to the scholarships we award, noting that the first $4,000 donated by sponsors will be matched. 

 

With only enough time left to levy a single fine, Prez Bean-ie picked on Chris Eckert, calling for a vote of the members.  The group voted unanimously to ding Chris for a President’s Club membership. 

 

With that, Margaret Taylor introduced the renowned Dan Becker, MD, who is a psychiatrist on staff at Mills-Peninsula, as well as an adjunct professor at a couple of prestigious universities. 

 

Dr. Becker first addressed the opioid crisis, noting that opioids now come in natural and synthetic form, and are highly addictive, potent pain killers with serious consequences that may include breathing issues and death. 

 

Among the points he made:

 

*In the last 15 years, sales of opioids have tripled.

*The U.S. uses more than 50% of all opioids in the world.

*The death rate due to overdue with opioids has quadrupled in the last 15 years.

*Overdoses are starting to overtake vehicle accidents as the number one cause of death in youth 15 to 25 years of age.

*Adolescents’ brains have not fully developed in terms of judgement skills, which contributes to opioid use and the tragedies associated with it.

*There were 5, 000 deaths nationally last year due to opioid overdoses, including 16 in San Mateo County. (This number may actually be higher, because many young people seek treatment in SF or San Jose.)

*Part of the reason for the problem may be because hospitals used to be heavily rated on how well they handled patients’ pain, so many may have gone overboard in prescribing the opioids.  Today, they are prescribing fewer of them.

 

On the subject of Cannabis:

 

*Marijuana is harmful for kids up to age 25 while their brains are still developing

* Today, the perceived risk of smoking/using marijuana has been reduced due to legalization, so people are using it more.

*With alcohol and smoking, we’ve done a good job communicating the dangers to youth, but we need to do a far better job communicating the dangers of marijuana use.

*Marijuana interferes with attention, concentration, memory and problem solving skills and the “average kid” will perform less well if smoking pot.

*It takes 30 days to clear your body of the effects of marijuana, because it stays in our fat cells.

*In people with mental illnesses, marijuana will make their condition worse.

*Nine or 10% of pot smokers will become addicted; 20% of adolescents become addicted.

 

 

Fascinating, frightening talk! ###