Allentown West Rotary Club
ZOOM Meeting Notes August 19, 2020
Today was a Zoom meeting, After some conversations President Ralph Witcher opened the meeting at 7:30 A.M. Ernie Boll gave a very nice invocation.
GUESTS ON LINE:
Kathy Ott, incoming member; Pat Witcher, wife of Ralph; and DGE Bob Hobaugh, Kutztown RC.
Pres Ralph began the meeting by having Ernie Boll lead the members in reciting The Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Then he asked Marlene Heller to take over.
THE FOUR-WAY TEST EXAMPLES:
Marlene asked for a volunteer or two to tell a story indicative of their application of ethical standards recently.
Pres. Ralph told us about a woman who overheard that his birthday was a week away, and on that date she arranged a special acknowledgement. This woman is Kathy Ott who soon will be joining AWRC.
WHAT ROTARY MEANS TO ME:
Ernie Boll explained hoe working among Rotarians allowed Sandi and him to meet so manty people year after year. For 7 years they were on the District Summer Youth Exchange committee, and Ernie was its chair for 4 years. They chaperoned two groups of 49 students each plus one of 80 students , and visited Wales, England and Mexico with those groups. Many still keep in touch.
Pres. Ralph showed the list of members have celebrations during August.
WALL OF HOPE:
Pres. Ralph displayed this new feature and announced some new additions of special people who have done special good things.
Capt. Nick Millward, our district nominee for a Peace Fellowship, was added for his recent help getting supplies to the Mongolian flood victims.
Marlene Heller was added for her creating, producing and delivering over 100 Mask “ear savers” to essential workers.
YVETTE PALMER 5K PURPLR PINKIE RACE:
The race this year will be virtual and is on Oct. 24 which is World Polio Day.
Some volunteers are needed; please contact John Scott.
AND we need some Corporate sponsors.
KINGDOM LIFE FOOD CENTER:
Three AW Rotarians plus 9 other Rotarians on Saturday August 15 distributed food items.
LOTTERY RAFFLE UPDATE:
Pres. Ralph reminds us that the goal is to raise $20,000 to fund our community projects.
Tom Friday said that 218 Raffle tickets have been sold with about 3 weeks to go. Right now we have $3,241 net after expenses - a good start.
YOUR SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES:
Please take a look at this new section on the left side of this bulletin.
SIERRA LEONE SUPPORT:
The Parkland H.S. students a few years back held fundraisers to help the school students in Sierra Leone. Last June the remaining $2,000 was sent to them to pay for materials to make 100 desks and chairs. We saw photos of the great results.
STATUS OF MORNING MEETINGS;
The AWRC B.O.D. has suspended all AWRC face-to-face meetings until further notice. Zoom meetings are now scheduled for each Wednesday at 7:30 A.M.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Wednesday August 26th starting at 7:30 a.m. We will use Zoom to meet Our program will be DG Janet Kolepp with her Annual Club Visit & Kickoff Presentation.
NEXT THURSDAY EVENING MEETING:
August 27 as a Happy Hour Zoom meeting starting at 5:30 P.M. Please join us.
HAPPY DOLLARS and MEMBER NEWS:
Gary Heller was out riding his bike in the rain and he missed the meeting.
Sue and Bill Weber were calling in from their Hilton Head home today. Their home had no damage from the recent storm.
Marlene Heller had a view of Israel as her background.
Tom Friday had a view of Berlin, Germany as his background today.
Bill Weber told the story about Sue going shopping in a dry cleaners while they were in Germany.
Ralph Witcher revealed that he wanted to be a fire truck when he grew up --- so he could help people.
Sue Weber is happy to be back in Hilton Head.
Marlene Heller is happy that their grandkids are coming to celebrate her birthday and their wedding anniversary.
Bob Hobaugh is happy to be going to a huge car show on Friday and Saturday.
Tom Friday is happy that he got excused from Jury Duty.
PROGRAM:
Pres. Ralph Witcher introduced J. Matthew Vines, Sq & VP Sunbelt Health Partners who joined us from Tampa, FL. Mattes topic today is “Health Insurance During the Time of Covid-19”.
Matt is the senior executive with 18+ years of progressive leadership experience in healthcare and
Matt is an Experienced Executive with a demonstrated history of working and leading in the hospital & health care industry. Skilled in Legal Operations, Organizational Leadership, Management, Operational Efficiency, Team Building, Mentoring, Strategic Planning, Human Resources, Training, Compliance, Client Services, Client Issue Resolution, Business Development, Branding, Sales, and Marketing. Strong professional with a law degree focused in Healthcare Law and Labor & Employment Law from University of Richmond School of Law.
The insurance industry is generally well prepared for major loss events, including pandemics, but the financial impact of Covid-19 will take time to assess.
In this presentation, Matt explored the impact that Covid-19 has on the insurance marketplace and on the individual consumer. The
Matt addressed the following issues:
• How Covid-19 impacts insurance company's behaviors towards paying claims.
• The role that Telemedicine plays in dealing with a Global Pandemic.
• The limitations and risks associated with Telemedicine.
Matt said that he has deep roots in Rotary over the years. And his wife is a Nurse Practioner and is a good source of information within her work.
Matt said that there are so many changes evolving, and we need to protect both the patients and the Insurance companies. For changes he noted that in the 80s we had C.O.B.R.A., and in the 90s the HIPPA laws were introduced. Then in 2010 came the Affordable Care Act.
In 2018 about 2% of patient visits were via Tele-Health means. Now with the covid19 issues this has increased dramatically to about 50% of visits.
Protecting employees from forced co-pays is an issue. Patients should not have to pay for covid19 testing.
Matt answered some questions from attendees.
CLOSING:
Pres Ralph led us in the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
.png)
