Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Associate Member Pilot Program

Well, last weeks program was certainly interesting. And instead of Rotary buying a book on behalf of the Program, all the Rotarians got a book to take home!

Upcoming Programs

Nov. 1 - Dr. Mike Jorgensen's program is Curt Mayer, Principal at the Washington Middle School (the former High School).
Nov. 8 - Rev. Bob Wollenberg's program is Pedro Lujano who will give a presentation on the new stained glass window he created for the lobby of the Library.

RI Associate Member Pilot Program

At last week's Washington Rotary Board meeting, it was decided to adopt the Rotary International's Associate Member pilot program. Click on that link to download a small PDF about the program.

The reason the club is hoping to use this tool is to make it easier for prospective new members to "try out" Rotary for 2 months, without any cost. If they like it, hopefully they'll join. And we'll have longer than just 1-2 meetings to help them feel comfortable and welcome.

Get out there and ask someone to come (or come back) to Rotary. The Club will cover their lunch for a couple months, and they don't have any strings attached.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Jerry Rhoads - Never Too Old to Live

It was great to have Jerry Rhoads, owner of All-American Care in Washington, speak at Rotary today about his new book, "Never Too Old to Live: Always Too Young Too Die."

Looking for a Christmas gift for someone newly old, like Ed Lins, or just old at heart? Consider Jerry's book - the Amazon Kindle version is only $3.99!

In addition to being a software developer and elder care pioneer, Jerry has written a number of other books.

Upcoming Programs

November 1st, Dr. Mike Jorgensen has the program.
November 8th, Rev. Bob Wollenberg has the program.
November 15th, Dennis Hunger has the program.

Xicotepec Project Application!

The Rotary District 6000 Xicotepec Project application form for the March 2013 project team trip to Xicotepec is now available online. The deadline to submit your application and the initial $200 deposit is Nov 9, 2012. You know you want to do this.

Trip dates are March 16 – 24, 2013.  2013 will be the 11th consecutive year in which a project team from our district has traveled to Xicotepec to support the projects of the Rotary Club of Xicotepec de Juárez.

All the information needed in order to apply will be found at the online site, which is: http://sites.google.com/site/xicoproj/

Friday, October 19, 2012

Reliant Long Term Care Pharmacy presents for Business & Industry Day



Jon Thompson explained that he and his cousin, Todd Thompson started Reliant Long Term Care Pharmacy three years ago to fill a niche that they saw for nursing homes. The two men created a partnership based on their existing ownership of three pharmacies, including Bean's Pharmacy in Washington.

Jon's father-in-law and business partner, Gary said that today, they have 18 employees, and serve 18 area nursing homes and have over 1,000 patients. 

August Schrock is a software developer hired last year to help develop advanced software to help nursing home nurses dispense medicine correctly. Their advanced methods of using scannable packets of medicine, integrated with the real-time software, reduces the opportunity for error. Currently 6 nursing homes are using this technology.


Another opportunity they saw for small towns threatened with losing their local pharmacy service, was to develop an innovative and proprietary telepharmacy. Todd's son Roby Miller is the software developer and president of Telepharm Technologies that has installed its first telepharmacy in Victor, Iowa. This effort was coincidentally highlighted on the front page of the Gazette newspaper today.

They have been winning business plan competitions and raising their profile regionally at events like "Pitch & Grow" at the Innovation Expo at the Coralville Marriott last month.

Dr. Ann Harris uses her hands to explain something to Sarah Thompson
Thanks for the fantastic program. These new businesses have tremendous potential and we're glad to have you in Washington County.

Crop Walk


Dick Colby thanked the club members for contributing $250 in pledges for his Crop Walk last weekend.

Next week (10/25) - Jerry Rhoads of All-American Care

Ray Poe's guest speaker next week is Jerry Rhoads. Jerry is a published author and software developer. 
All-American Care, Inc., Jerry's long term care operating company owns two skilled restorative care facilities in Muscatine and in Washington. They are models for franchising his company's software, management policies and procedures to other locations.
This will be a very interesting and energetic program, so be sure to attend!


Xicotepec Project Application!

The Rotary District 6000 Xicotepec Project application form for the March 2013 project team trip to Xicotepec is now available online. The deadline to submit your application and the initial $200 deposit is Nov 9, 2012. You know you want to do this.

Trip dates are March 16 – 24, 2013.  2013 will be the 11th consecutive year in which a project team from our district has traveled to Xicotepec to support the projects of the Rotary Club of Xicotepec de Juárez.

All the information needed in order to apply will be found at the online site, which is: http://sites.google.com/site/xicoproj/

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Hear Larry Marek talk about Soybean stuff in Africa

You won't want to miss Dr. Rob Negret's program today at Rotary - Larry Marek will be here to talk about his recent trip to Africa's Uganda and Ghana for the Iowa Soybean Association's World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH).
The Iowa Soybean Association will continue its support of the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) Program launched by state soybean checkoff boards, including Iowa, and the American Soybean Association in FY 2001. The program's goal is to increase the international consumption of soy protein by humans in new markets and developing markets, thereby creating new opportunities for consumption of soybeans and providing higher economic returns to U.S. soybean farmers. Initial efforts will focus on introducing soy protein for human consumption, and will ultimately be expanded to include all derivatives of soy for food use.

Oct. 18 - Business & Industry Appreciation Day

Also, don't forget to sign up to bring a guest (ideally a prospective Rotarian) to hear Jon Thompson and his partners talk about their groundbreaking initiatives for Beans Pharmacy/Reliant Long Term Care Pharmacy.  

Thanks to those of you that signed up last Thursday. You'll get another chance at Rotary today, but you could also just send me an e-mail at ed@washingtoniowa.org with your guest.

You can get a sneak peak by checking out this KCRG story on their Victor, Iowa tele-pharmacy from Oct. 3rd (last week).

Club Forum last week

Thanks to everyone for a successful Club Forum last week.

Here is the FY 2012 (and FY 2011) fiscal report that was presented.

Rotary Financial Report Fy2012