THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Regular meeting of January 26, 2001
MINUTES
President Don Hunziker opened the business meeting with 135 members present.
Current membership is 497 with 3 invited and 22 on the waiting list.
People, etc. According to Don Freud, everyone was healthy this week. Let's see
if we can keep up the good work.
Announcements: The New Canaan Police Dept. is still looking for new patrolmen.
Boy, are they desperate coming to us. Joe Elmlinger announced that dues for this
year have been received from 375 members, leaving 125 still owing. Monies owed should
be in by March 1.
President Hunziker read some very odd news clippings concerning a variety of
subjects such as Bartenders, shady bookkeepers, mufflers, and old chicken, etc.
Activities: Bowling continues with no outstanding achievements for the past session,
4-Fs meets today at Nino's, and we really must be a bunch of dirty old men, because
we've been asked to use the back door. Bridge and paddle continue at the usual times
and Racquetball is now down to playing singles.
Couth: Foxwoods is over, apparently nobody broke the bank. 2/14 is the Cathedral of
St. John the Divine, 3/16 the Bridgeport Downtown Cabaret Theater with gourmet box
dinner, 4/19 the United Nations with, hopefully, a gourmet diplomat's lunch, and 5/22
the New York Botanical Gardens with another lunch. We sure do a lot of eating in this club.
Jester: John Berg once again took us back to Norway, this time to the Olympic games to
demonstrate how some female swimmers take advantage of others.
Speaker: Vice President Bob Witt introduced Paul J. McCool, Director of the VA
Connecticut Healthcare System. It is a very large system, with an annual budget
of $170 Million. It services over 300,000 veterans within the state. There are
two main facilities, one in West Haven, and the other in Newington. There are also
five other community-based centers in Stamford, Waterbury, New London, Windham, and
Winsted. The whole system is affiliated with the Yale School of Medicine, and the
University of Connecticut. The main issues being tackled are medication errors
(now using bar codes), surgical quality, and electronic entry of prescriptions to
compensate for bad handwriting. The healthcare system also has a very reasonably
priced prescription program, but to take advantage of it, you must first go to a
VA doctor. His prescription, however, might be different from your own physician's.
Basically, anyone who has served at least 90 days in the military, and has an
honorable discharge, is eligible.
Eric Musa, Secretary