Meeting of November 13, 2012

At Monday's Memorial Day Ceremony, President Joan laid a wreath on behalf of Oak Bay Rotary.

President Joan Peggs started the meeting with a presentation about the Foundation donations. To become a Sustaining Member, one donates $100 during the Rotary year. Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY) is when every club member donates a minimum of $100 each year. To attain a Paul Harris Fellow (PHF), a donation of $1000 is made. A member of the Paul Harris Society is one who commits to donating $1000 every year. A Benefactor donates $1000 to the Permanent Fund or in one's Will. A Major Donor is a PHF who has donated more than $10,000. A Bequest Society donor is one who includes a donation of $10,000 to the Foundation in one's Will. The Arch Klump Society donor is one who donates $250,000.

Tom Lidkea led us with O Canada and George Pritchard said the Grace. Neil Rawnsley introduced our guests: David King, guest of Don O’Coffey and Warren Brown, our guest speaker.

We had a small crowd today - only 20 members and 2 guests!

Health of the Club

Mary Canty announced that John Edgell had been ill; a card was sent around, and tha Peter Lawrie would  be back next week.

Announcements

Joan Peggs reminded us that next week our District Governor, Judy Byron, will be at our meeting which will start at 12:10 rather than 12:15.  Please add that fact to your calendars.

Fines' Master

Next week Jessica Van der Veen will be fining those who were not at this week’s meeting! Jessica read an article in the latest Rotarian magazine about fresh water. She asked those who wanted to vocalize their ideas on what they would do if in charge of water, to have their say and contribute a loonie to the pot. Mary Canty said she would conserve; Joan Peggs told of her experience in Hong Kong where water was rationed to 4 hours every 4 days; Joan Firkins talked about a Rotary project regarding waterborne diseases; and Bill Burns has a "rain shower" and he stays for ½ hour in the shower.

Tom Croft won the draw. We sang Happy Birthday to Bill Burns. Rod Sims gave a sad dollar in honour of a past member's (Gordon Fowler) wife, who recently passed away. Phil Neroutsos gave a happy dollar as he just came back from Croatia where he played tennis where he won 7 out of 13 matches. Joan Firkins just returned from Squaw Creek in Lake Tahoe, California where she organized a Foundation conference.  She announced that our District (5020) won the following awards: First place for PolioPlus Challenge ($187,637) and First Place in total contributions ($1,017,962) for Zone 25.

Guest Speaker

Lynn Murray introduced our speaker, Warren Brown, the President of the Procura Group of Companies. Procura is a Victoria-based company established in 1989 that provides home care and hospice software. Warren has led Procura since 1995. The company operates in Canada, Australia and the United States.

Warren spoke about the Health Care situation in Canada and suggested that if you want to know more to read the book “Chronic Condition: Why Canada’s Health Care System Needs to be Dragged into the 21^st Century by Jeffrey Simpson.

The Current State: We are generally proud of our health care system which is provincially mandated. However, the cost is 11.4% of GDP. The cost in 2012 was $207 billion; this increases 6% annually.  The factors that increase the costs are labour, new tests and inefficiencies. The evidence is mounting that our health care system needs some repair. It is not the best health care system in the world as many Canadians still incorrectly believe. Funding from governments is facing serious constraints, service delivery is fragmented and uneven within provinces and across the country, and demand pressure will only grow with the rise of chronic diseases and an aging population.

The Conference Board of Canada held a Summit on Sustainable Health and Health Care. The five key priorities for reform emerged:

• 1.     Fix the gateway to the health care system. Interdisciplinary family care teams should be the standard model for primary care.
• 2.     Invest in and use technology more in the health care system.
• 3.     Change health professional compensation. The compensation model for physicians and other health professionals should be linked more to patient outcomes, not to activities like treatment or consultation, within a clear accountability structure.
• 4.     Build an appropriate support system to care for the elderly. Few older Canadians want to be hospitalized for chronic conditions. They want to be cared for and healed where they live - in their homes and communities.
• 5.     Improve the state of Canadians’ overall health and wellness. A healthier population would slow the growth in chronic diseases and in health care demand.

Overall Warren’s objective of his presentation today was for all of us to think about our health care system.

Phil Neroutsos thanked our speaker and we ended the meeting with God Save the Queen.

REPORTER: ANNE SIMS