Today's Events:

President Mike Mills presiding

while President Mike Mills is in New Orleans

assisting the ESGR (Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve)

We welcome all of our visitors:

Andrew Hall, Ameriprise Financial (Assad)
Adrianna Farelo, Farelo Group (Asaad)

* * * A N N O U N C E M E N T S  * * *

$  It’s IRS Appreciation Day $ 

Ouch…

Jim Stehle’s Essay Contest at South Miami Middle School

The RCSM winner’s name is on a multi-year plaque hanging on the in Principal’s office.  This year, Roy Gonas will represent the club at the Social Science Fair to present the winners with certificates and checks for the three.  This year’s topic was a discussion of  the Electoral College – the good, the bad and what  would replace it with?  The Social Science Dept. Head told Diana that all of the classes got involved and the discussion got heated!

Kathy Miller – RI Foundation: 

There is $550 in matching funds.  The club will accept up to $100 per member that will be matched and go into your R.I. Account towards your goal of a $1,000 Paul Harris Fellowship.

Leo Haskins

is moving to Lake Ashton near Winter Haven in central Florida:

He’s building a brand new house on a golf course  which should be completed at the end of September. Lake Ashton is three ½ hours north of Miami.  There are three Rotary Clubs around this area that he can pick from to join. 

Last Friday’s

Barbeque Party

Thank you XXXOOO

Donna (coordinator)

Ed and Ann Fischer (hosts)
for a truly enjoyable event!

This Saturday, April 19, 2008

Rotary District 6990 Assembly

Signature Gardens, Kendall

HAVE YOU REGISTERED YET? 

Are you going to be there to get your Rotary Infusion???    The 2008-2009 District Assembly is shaping up to be one of the most interesting and informative ever.  We promise that you will learn new tools that will make your Rotary life more successful.  You really don't want to miss it this year.

Many good things are planned for you.  if you're looking for a new project you could find it at the EXPO.  Want to learn how to use Humanity in Motion to benefit your club?  David Pearson will explain how you can easily market your Rotary Club for maximum attention. 

Facing your first year at the microphone?  Jessica Wotherspoon of Toastmasters will help you to understand how effective communication builds leadership. 

Want to apply for a Rotary Grant?  You can learn all about it at the Assembly.  Interested in growing your club through the New Generations?  They'll be there to tell you all about it.  The list of good things you can learn goes on and on.  You just have to make plans to be there.

You don't want to miss our Bahamian Model Lunch hosted by the Rotarians from Freeport GBI.  Just remember to bring plenty of cash so you can buy lots of raffle tickets to win the weekend at Port Lucaya.  The raffle proceeds will benefit the District PolioPlus efforts.  You will certainly enjoy our keynote speaker, David Lawrence, Jr., Chairman of the Children's Trust will speak about "Making Dreams Real for Children"

The on-line registration for District Assembly  is still available. 

HOW TO REGISTER:  See instructions in the 3/11/08 newsletter

EARTH DAY

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Kathy Miller: 

SAVE THE DATE:

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Annual Rebuilding Together Volunteer Day

in Coconut Grove

http://www.rebuildingtogethermiami.org/index.html

When the choice for families in need to choose between medicine and a roof over their head, Rebuilding Together steps in to help.  Subcontractors volunteer their goods and services. 

This year’s home is owned by Ms. Irina Dingle, age 77 who is caretaker to her sister who is handicapped and her husband  who has Alzheimers. They have lived in this house for 44 years. 

Restaurants supply breakfast and lunch. 

You can see, when you leave at the end of the day, that you’ve made a difference.

SOUTH MIAMI ROTARY ARTS FESTIVAL

Saturday & Sunday, February 21 – 22, 2009

www.southmiamiartfest.com  (official site)

 www.myspace.com/southmiamiartfest (unofficial site)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Miami_Rotary_Art_Festival (wiki encyclopedia article)

$$$ PRINTER CARTRIDGES FUNDRAISER $$$

Our club goal is 100% Attendance!

If you miss a meeting, it can be made-up within 2 weeks, before or after, of the missed meeting date.

For online make-ups:

http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/downloadcenter/pdfs/eclub_list.pdf

For make-ups anywhere around the world when traveling internationally: http://rotary.org/support/clubs/index.html

2007-08 RCSM OFFICERS:

President:  Michael Mills
millsmike@aol.com

President Elect:  Bill Enright

bill@handsonmiami.org

Vice President: Linda Kaplan

lk@lindakaplan.com

Secretary:  Doreen Reitnauer

dhiker217@aol.com

Treasurer: David Jacobs

david@jnccpas.com

Sergeant at Arms:  Hampton Booker

Hg262@bellsouth.net

To send an E-mail to the Rotary Club of South Miami’s Board of Directors, board@southmiamirotary.org

South Miami Rotary Club:
www.southmiamirotary.org

Rotary District 6990:

www.rotary6990.org

World Organization:
www.rotary.org

Mission Statement

The mission of Rotary International, a worldwide association of Rotary clubs, is to provide service to others, to promote high ethical standards, and to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.

THE 4-WAY TEST OF THE THINGS WE THINK, SAY OR DO:   

Benefits of Being A Rotarian (Membership)
Rotary membership provides the opportunity to:

¨       Become connected to your community.

¨       Work with others in addressing community needs.

¨       Interact with other professionals in your community;
assist with RI's international humanitarian service efforts.

¨       Establish contacts with an international network of professionals.

¨       Develop leadership skills.  Involve family in promoting service efforts.

Renewing or Joining
To Renew ($250) or to become a New Member ($300) contact

Asaad Massoud, at www.racharters.com

Fundraisers
Interested in putting together a fundraiser? Contact Club Service Chair Linda Kaplan at lindakaplan@lk.com

April Programming Committee Member Ann Fisher introduced our speaker

Ken Trachy

Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine

University of Miami School of Medicine
Highland Building-JMH
1801 NW 9th Avenue, Suite #150-A
Miami, Florida 33136

800-232-2892

From:

http://surgery.med.miami.edu/x274.xml

Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency (LAORA), formerly known as University of Miami Organ Procurement Organization, is a non-profit community service organization certified and regulated by the federal government. The agency obtains organs for clinical transplantation throughout southeast Florida and transports them to transplant centers within the United States . LAORA procures an average of 400 organs annually from 66 donor hospitals within the agency’s area of certification. LAORA’s catchment area, designated by the Department of Health and Human Services, is comprised of six counties in South Florida --- Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe, Palm Beach, Collier and St. Lucie.

LAORA is dedicated to procuring and fairly distributing organs and tissues for transplantation, providing comfort and assistance to bereaved donor families, educating healthcare professionals and the community about organ donation, and improving transplant success rates by researching innovative organ recovery techniques and preservation technologies.

A division of the DeWitt Daughtry Family Department of Surgery, LAORA has grown to become one of the most active procurement organizations in the nation, in both quantity and quality of organs recovered. LAORA rescued organs from over 131 donors in 2002, and since the program was initiated in 1978, more than 4,000 organ retrievals have occurred resulting in transplantations for nearly 12,000 persons across the United States .

The public’s understanding of donation and transplantation is often based more on myth than reality. The instinctive fear of the unknown, combined with those superstitions surrounding death, may decrease donation and limit the life-saving potential of transplantation medicine. Broad-based public understanding and acceptance of organ donation is essential to provide transplantation to those in need.

While there have been phenomenal advancements in vital organ transplants to save and improve lives, 100,000 are awaiting a vital organ in USA and 10’s of thousands are awaiting eyes, bone tissues for those facing amputations.

Each day:  132 life threatening organ failure are placed on the waiting list 78 are transplanted, 18 die a day

Because of technology, the operations are more successful and can save more people, but the organs are not available.

97% of family members say if my loved one had approved organ transplantation prior to dying, we would honor their wish.  There’s a disparity between actions and attitudes.  Mr. Trachy’s challenge is to make people aware of their right to intelligent, informed, intentional choices of potential organ donors PRIOR to a death occuring.

The love of his father and then years later, the caring and compassion of a donor family, twice saved his life.  He had end stage kidney failure as a teenager.  Dialysis was ineffective. 

He lived through the chronic process of deterioration for two years.  His father was a compatible donor. The transplant operation was in its infancy so there were many bad outcomes.  He luckily had 25 years of kidney function and normalcy through his father’s gift.  He got married and then has a son (now 17 years old.) 

After 25 years, his body rejected the kidney.  He moved from person to patient again.  He learned two things definitively:  transplantation works, he needed the generosity of strangers.

The generosity came when Dawn died at 16 years of age.  One night he gets a call – there is a kidney.  His hospital roommate got her kidney and her pancreas.  She’d had a head on collision with a reckless driver.  At Pembroke Pines Hospital she was declared brain dead. 

You can choose to be bitter about the grief and loss or you can choose to be better.  Her parents’ choice of giving her organs provided consolation and pride for their daughter’s last act.  They were so glad that the organ went to him, so he could continue to create and share memories with his son.

Live as full a life as you can and make choices and directives in your life.  Decide that you want to make these decisions – don’t become a Terry Shivo and let the government intervene.

The organs need to be infused so if you die at the scene – the organs are not viable.  Eyes and bone can be taken up to  24 hours after death

Usually donors are the results of head trauma, car accidents, those on life support who have lost the capacity to think and feel, no personhood, Only those who are brain dead – lost cerebral cortex and brainstem controlling brain and spinal column are candidates.

Those who are not dead like Terry Shivo, those who are in a coma are not dead. They are not candidates.

~Organ harvesting is not done prematurely.  It is a fair process which is part of end of life care.
~All religions support donation as a humanitarian charity. Think of it as a sense of community.  An unpredictable need for ourselves and our families. 
~There is no disfigurement of the person, no cost to the family – the cost of the process is  borne by the organ donation organization. 
~There is no cost for the organ.
~Person with active cancer, sepsis, communicable diseases virus are not eligible.
~Allocation is determined by blood matching with organs:  tissue type, body size, distance from hospital, and other criteria.
~No consideration of wealth or social status or celebrity.
~Age is not a factor – might give the organ to an older person

Put the language of the donor card in the estate’s will
When families are in terrible grief, people are not able to cope.  Thinking this topic through in advance makes everyone aware that they MUST be sensitive and honor the wishes of the donor…

How to Become a Donor/How to Help

Organ donor cards are available from a variety of sources. 

1)     You may call LAORA at 800-232-2892 to request a donor card and donor information. 
2)     The Florida Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) provides information regarding organ donation and an opportunity to complete a Uniform Donor Card to every person receiving a new license or identification card. Your wish to be a donor is then indicated on your driver’s license or identification card.
3)     A donor card may also be printed here. There are two things you must do to ensure that your wishes are acknowledged: first, sign and carry your donor card in your wallet and second, notify your next of kin that you wish to be a donor.

Uniform Donor Card
Print, sign and carry this donor card in your wallet:

The undersigned hereby makes this gift, if medically acceptable, to take effect
upon death. The words and marks below indicate my desires:
I give:
(a) __ any needed organs or parts;
(b) __ only the following organs or parts; specify the organ(s) or part(s):
___________________________________________________________
for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, medical research, or education;
(c) __ my body for anatomical study if needed. Limitations or special
wishes, if any; (If applicable, list specific organs/tissues): ___________________
_____________________________________________.
Signed by the donor and the following witnesses in the presence of each other:
Signature of donor:_____________________________________
Please print your name:_________________________________
Date of birth of donor:___/___/___ Date signed:___/___/___
City and state:______________________________
Witness:__________________________  Witness:_________________________
Address:__________________________  Address:_________________________

Become a Volunteer
Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency (LAORA) believes that volunteers can help make organ donation awareness activities possible. The volunteers play a vital role by making informational presentations to civic groups, corporations, schools, and religious organizations. Many of the volunteers are donor family members and transplant recipients who share their stories with the community.

Volunteers are also needed to help distribute organ donation information at health fairs and to assist with bulk mailing projects. We invite you to become a Life Alliance Ambassador. For more information, call 800-232-2892 or email your request to airumlui@med.miami.edu.

Click on our generous sponsor's business cards to visit
their website: