Al Renz opened our meeting at the Downtown Holiday Inn today with a prayer of thanks, followed by our recitation of the pledge of allegiance. About 30 attended. Al introduced his guest, Mike Williams, one of his softball team mates (I think). Dorothy Clark was another guest and it was great to have her at the meeting.
Pres. Will reported that pancake breakfast ticket sales were going well, but they still needed a few volunteer workers for the event.
Our speaker today was from Wiregrass Hospice. The subject was "Myth Busters", and Missy Field countered several long established opinions of their activities. She said that Hospice is dedicated to making end-of-life experiences as dignified as possible. She added that it was-not true that a patient had no access to his doctor or prescribed medicine. To qualify for care a patient must be deemed terminally ill and care will be provided over a natural-course-of-action period. The organization is set up to bill insurance companies, not patient or families. Any needed equipment or supplies or personal service is provided free of charge. There have even been some cases where patients improve miraculously to the point they emerge from the facility. Hospice provides the same loving care for indigent cases as to those with insurance. The speaker said that volunteers are always needed to visit with patients, to talk with them, read to them, maybe play a game of cards etc. Another service of Hospice is to provide bereavement sessions to those suffering a major loss, especially for children.
There was a large noisy crowd in the adjacent main dining room today, and it would have been advantageous to have a public address system. Pres. Will asked Tom Casteel to investigate what a suitable system would cost and give us a report at next week's business meeting. Also, next week well be voting on a Board recommended dues increase, and whether or not well continue meeting at the Downtown Holiday Inn. We'll soon be modifying our newsletter format with the change in officers. Please let me know of any corrections needed to our roster data. Tom Casteel won the attendance prize today since Thompson and Sloan were not there.
