THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of July 11, 2008
President Jack Messert opened the meeting with 86 members present. Current membership is 482 with no one waiting.
Announcements: President Messert announced that EJ Morgan is now co-chairman of the refreshment committee. Bob Moylan announced that Bill Kapp is back in Norwalk Hospital and Ed Gutt is still at Waveny Care Center. Kent Barker is looking for volunteers to work for the New Canaan Arts Center board of trustees. There will be an AARP driving safety course held September ninth and eleventh, which will result in a 5% deduction in insurance rates to those who pass the course.
Activities: Bridge had its final session until fall, tennis as usual, racquetball had 5-3-0 this week, and chefs will meet 7/24 for a lobster feast at Lapham. The next golf outing is 7/30 at Whitney Farms, and trailblazers next hike is 7/31 to The Westmoreland Sanctuary in Bedford, N.Y.
Couth: 7/22 is the New Canaan historical sights trip, and 9/13 a trip is planned to go into New York City to see the waterfalls of New York, $53 per person.
Humorist: A married couple, left post-it notes on the refrigerator to each other, explaining the difference of being 54 years and 18 years of age, and the advantages thereof.
Speaker: Former Vice President Roger Rothballer introduced fellow SMC member Jim Cole, Director of Emergency Preparedness for New Canaan. Jim started off by talking about the major disasters such as the China earthquake, the Myanmar typhoon, and at home, the Midwest floods, tornados, and the western wild fires. In New Canaan we have to prepare mostly for snow storms, ice storms, heavy rainstorms, and of course, power outages. Public response is important in battling these problems; unfortunately over the past five years, interest in the response team initiative has decreased. At the same time, interest in the Fire Department, Red Cross and NCVAC has increased. In assessing risk in an emergency, most people do not judge the danger accurately; many think that they won't be directly touched, and in general, people are very skeptical about official advice. Back in the 50's, most people did trust the government, but only 4% acted to prepare for a disaster. People in general have too much to worry about instead of disasters. In a pinch, however, the community itself has a lot of power and will respond. Here in New Cannan new initiatives have been implemented. We are now giving emergency training to HS juniors, there has been increased training of Red Cross volunteers, churches have been brought into the picture, and the Red Cross has been given new communication equipment. We are also in an area which has a regional response team, which would be used to augment the community team if necessary. Let us all hope and pray that all of this is rarely needed to be put into effect.
Eric Musa, Asst. Secretary
Here is more information from Elaine Abrams on the Shingles Vaccine.