Grinnell Rotary Club

09/25/2024

The Grinnell Rotary Club held its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. Following the opening of the meeting, members shared good news and general club business regarding the upcoming Kites Over Grinnell event on September 28.

Rotarian Denny Snook introduced the guest speaker, Patrick Duffy, Assistant Fire Chief and Director of EMT Services. Duffy has been with the Grinnell Fire Department since January 2023. He reported that the EMT services have been certified and running since mid-September 2023. He shared that there have been fewer than eight days since December without an available paramedic. Duffy expects most staff will be certified as both paramedics and firefighters by 2025.

Duffy reported that the department recently broke its all-time call record with 1,004 calls, and they expect to reach 1,300 to 1,400 calls per year going forward due to the EMS calls. More than 50% of their calls require a paramedic. They cover an area of 156 square miles including 60 square miles in Jasper County. They do not do interfacility transfers (from the hospital to another healthcare facility) but can take patients directly to a hospital other than UnityPoint Health – Grinnell if the patient agrees and the attending paramedic determines it is the best option for the patient. However, the paramedics generally prefer to deliver patients to the closest facility for stabilizing. While they are delivering care to the patient, they are in contact with the hospital so the emergency department staff are aware of the situation and the care being provided.

Duffy shared the department’s appreciation for the support from the community. Without the community’s support they would not have the two new units now in service. He invited everyone to the firehouse on Sunday, October 6, 2024, from 6 AM to 11 AM, for their annual breakfast fundraiser.

The Rotary Club thanks Patrick Duffy and all the firefighters and EMTs for their service. If you are interested in joining the Grinnell Rotary Club, please visit our page for more information.

--Submitted by Donna Fischer

09/05/2024

09/05/2024

The Grinnell Rotary Club held its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, September 3, 2024. Following the opening of the meeting, members shared good news and general club business regarding the upcoming Kites Over Grinnell event on September 28.

The guest speaker was Sharon Falck, a member of First Presbyterian Church. For more than ten years, Sharon has visited churches in the Dakota Presbytery, which is not defined by geographical boundaries like most presbyteries but consists of churches on Indian reservations located in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. The tribes who live on these reservations are the Dakota, the Lakota, and the Nakota.

During her visits to these churches and reservations, Sharon has learned about their culture, traditions, and challenges. During the first seven years of her visits, she just went and listened, learning American history from a different perspective.

One challenge of the churches on the reservation is ordaining pastors to lead their churches. The University of Dubuque recently discontinued a program for training Native Americans for ordination so the Dakota Presbytery has developed a program for lay preachers to achieve ordination following a three-year study plan. They recently ordained seven new pastors.

The tribes continue to feel the lasting effects and trauma of mission schools which, a couple of generations ago, forcibly took children away from their families and placed them in boarding schools where they were punished for speaking their native tongue. In recent years, though, the people are re-learning their native language and culture.

Poverty, drug and alcohol addition, and a high rate of su***de are also affecting these tribes. Additionally, there are many missing girls and young women from the tribes. In Minnesota, 27-54 Indian girls and young women went missing in any month between 2012 and 2020, and reports of abused females range in ages from 3 months to 83 years old.

During Covid, Sharon, a sewer and quilter, remembers calling a friend at one of these churches to see if they needed masks. The reply was affirmative but the friend also mentioned that if they had machines then they could make masks for themselves. So, Sharon bought three sewing machines and was given one and she shipped them to the church. Since then, Sharon has taken 81 clean and repaired machines to the Dakota Presbytery churches. Now, the women want sewing machines in their own homes. They are making traditional ribbon skirts and shirts to sell at pow-wows and regaining their creativity.

The Rotary Club thanks Sharon Falck for sharing information about the Dakota Presbytery and her commitment to providing sewing machines to the women of those churches. If you are interested in joining the Grinnell Rotary Club, please visit our page for more information.

--Submitted by Donna Fischer

06/05/2024

The Grinnell Rotary Club held its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. Following the opening of the meeting and sharing of news from members, club business was discussed, including finalizing plans for the annual Rotary Chicken BBQ on June 6th.

Scholarship checks were handed to Sara Ashing and Joel Dressler. To be eligible for a scholarship from the Rotary Club, senior must attend a minimum number of club meetings and participate in a club activity. The Rotary Club wishes Joel and Sara much success as they head off to college in the fall.

Final plans were discussed for the annual Rotary Chicken BBQ on June 6th. Set up begins Wednesday evening and the pit screw will start the grills at 7:00 AM on Thursday. The Grinnell High School baseball teams are helping with the set up on Wednesday, Bayer employees are helping on Thursday and the Tiger Paws will help with bagging meals. Fastenel is providing the water for the BBQ meals.

Other club business included an update on the community garden planting, news that a grant of $5,000 is pending from Rotary International, and the award of a mini-grant from Grinnell College for the Kites Above Grinnell event in September.

The Rotary Club is grateful for the assistance with the BBQ from students and community members and is also grateful for the financial support from Rotary International and Grinnell College. If you are interested in joining the Grinnell Rotary Club, please visit our page for more information.


--Submitted by Donna Fischer

05/14/2024

The Grinnell Rotary Club held its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Following the opening of the meeting, club business was discussed, including updates on sponsorships and ticket sales for the upcoming annual Rotary Chicken BBQ on June 6th.

Rotarian Bill Hammen gave an update on the beginnings of the interior construction of the Grinnell Museum project.

Rotarian Effie Hall gave an update on the application for a Community Grant of $5,000 from Rotary International to be used for a special project. If this grant is awarded, the Grinnell Rotary Club will match it for a total of $10,000 for the project.

Two Grinnell High School students who completed the requirements to apply for a scholarship from the Club presented a short speech about what they learned about Rotary after attending a minimum of three regular weekly Club meetings and how this may affect their future involvements in community service. A vote was taken and the club approved scholarship awards to both students. They will receive their scholarship pat the upcoming Senior Awards night. The Grinnell Rotary Club is very proud of the graduating seniors of Grinnell High School.

If you are interested in joining the Grinnell Rotary Club, please visit our page for more information.

05/11/2024

GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY

05/06/2024

Grinnell Rotary Chicken BBQ
June 6th, 2024
Drive Up Chicken at
United Methodist Church
Lunch: 11:30-1:00
Dinner: 3:00-6:30
Get your ticket from any Rotary Member
Medicap, Browns, Total Choice, Grinnell State Bank
Ticket price $12
Includes 1/2 Chicken
Potato chips, pudding, and water

05/04/2024

Grinnell Rotary Grilling at Summer Street Park

05/04/2024

Mighty Mason Lighthouse Presentation

04/25/2024

The Grinnell Rotary Club held its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Following the opening of the meeting, club business was discussed, including the upcoming annual chicken barbeque on June 6th.

The guest speaker was James Kaup, manager of the UnityPoint Health – Grinnell Regional Medical Center (GRMC) Emergency Department. Kaup joined GRMC in this position in 2020 after retiring from the United States Navy where he had a 24-year career as a corpsman and nurse, with most of his time working in emergency medicine. He and his family reside in Grinnell.

Kaup began by sharing a few statistics about the Emergency Department (ED) at GRMC. The 6-bed ED sees approximately 9,000 patients per year, average 25 patients per day. Last week, the ED saw the highest number of patients in one day with 43 patients. This record naturally impacted other department, such as Radiology which also reached its highest number of patients seen on the same day. Most patients are discharged to home, but 30% are transferred to other hospitals for a higher level of care, and 30% - 40% are admitted into GRMC.

Kaup shared that 3% - 4% of ED patients come in for mental health concerns and there are challenges caring for patient with mental health issues within a medical environment. To ease those challenges, GRMC has a Patient Safety Companion program. Patient Safety Companions are paid, part-time team members who are on call as needed. They help keep eyes on the patients who need extra attention, providing someone to talk to and comfort them. The companions receive internal training on what to observe and how to interact with the patients. Currently, GRMC has 10 Patient Safety Companions on the call list.

The ED is staffed with an emergency medicine physician 24/7. Most of the physicians come from UnityPoint Health – Des Moines to work 12-hour shifts, a couple of days at a time. Dr. Longobardi serves as GRMC’s emergency medicine director and he also takes shifts here. Generally, there are 12 physicians who rotate at GRMC. Kaup manages a team of 29 nurses and patient care technicians. The nurses are trained in emergency medicine and trauma care and work 12-hour shifts. There are two nurses during each shift. The patient care technicians assist the nurses. When Kaup is not taking care of administrative tasks, he is often providing patient care alongside his team.

Kaup and the ED team are also involved in community outreach. They were at RAGBRAI last year staffing the medical tent in partnership with the Grinnell Fire Department and arranged for extra team members to be on hand in the ED that day. They also have a table at the Grinnell Farmers’ Market each year to address topics such as fall prevention, general emergency medicine, and mental health care. Additionally, they will meet with community groups, employers, and schools to teach Stop the Bleed sessions.

Stop the Bleed is a program developed by the American College of Surgeons especially for rural communities. It focuses on stopping the bleed after an injury because minutes count. A person can bleed to death is as little as five minutes. The program teaches participants how to identify what a major bleed is and then three possible ways to stop the bleed: apply direct pressure, pack the wound, or apply a tourniquet. Kaup has taught sessions at area schools and at Brownell’s and hopes to start bringing this education to local farmers soon.

A future project for the ED is the renovation of the ED and Radiology waiting rooms, thanks to a grant from the USDA. Currently the two departments share a waiting room, but this construction project will split them into two separate waiting rooms for improved safety.

The Grinnell Rotary Club is grateful to James Kaup for his leadership of GRMC’s ED and for sharing information about the ED with the club members. If you are interested in joining the Grinnell Rotary Club, please visit our page for more information.

04/10/2024

The Grinnell Rotary Club held its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Following the opening of the meeting, club business was discussed, including early planning for the upcoming annual chicken barbeque.

Rotarian Gerry Adams and his wife, Sara, presented part two of their talk about the trip they took to Africa aboard Holland America’s Zuiderdam between October 10 and December 22 in 2023. They shared the trip with approximately 1,500 passengers and a crew of 800 members. This segment of their cruise took them along the west coast of Africa starting from Capetown in South Africa to Cape Verde, an island country of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean.

After visiting Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held a prisoner for 17 years, they saw other sites in Capetown, South Africa. This included the oldest existing shanty town in Capetown where they met an enterprising woman who started a restaurant in her shanty and in time added more structures to create a good-sized business. Many residents in these shantytowns find ways to upgrade their lives.

On Thanksgiving Day, they spent a “typical” day at sea. For Sara it started with participating in a 5-K run where she walked 1.3 miles. On deck were various fundraisers, one for Ukrainian relief, another for an orphanage in Nambia. They then listened to a lecture about how South Africa transformed to a democracy. There was an interdenominational Thanskgiving service, followed by a question-and-answer session led by the captain. The evening highlight was a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with escargot. The evening was capped off at a piano bar where “turkey tunes” were played.

The next day the Adams visited a winery in Capetown that could rival any winery in Napa Valley. Gerry commented that South Africa is known for its “diamonds, gold, and wine.”

In Angola, they were entertained by local people. In Rwanda, they were given a police es**rt so that their tour bus could make its way through congested roads and to keep panhandlers away from tourists. In Ghana they saw cocoa beans drying under the sun. Since Ghana does not have processing facilities, the cocoa beans are shipped elsewhere to be made into chocolates.

Gerry observed that African countries do not have cruise terminals. Rather, their ship would dock at a container terminal and they would be bused to a shopping area. Gerry said they did not see any supermarkets. Rather, there were many small stalls selling a great variety of products. It was not uncommon to see women balancing on their heads large tin buckets with goods to be sold somewhere.

There are impressive structures as well such as St. Paul’s Cathedral in the Ivory Coast. Built in 1985, the church can accommodate 5,000 people. Elsewhere such as in Rwanda, typical modern skyscrapers overlook waterways dotted with garbage or upscale restaurants lined outside by small market stalls.

Two adventures are worth noting. In Gambia they sailed aboard a two-story wooden riverboat on the Gambia River which is twice the size of the Mississippi River and in Senegal, they joined a “Safari 101” tour that brought them to a reserve where native fauna is being reintroduced.

The Adams noted that they embarked on their cruise on Oct. 10, three days after the Israel-Hamas war started. Gerry speculated that their cruise ship was likely the last ship to go through the Suez Canal.

The Grinnell Rotary Club is grateful to Sara and Gerry Adams for sharing highlights from their trip to Africa. If you are interested in joining the Grinnell Rotary Club, please visit our page for more information.

04/03/2024

The Grinnell Rotary Club held its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Following the opening of the meeting, club business was discussed, including early planning for the upcoming annual chicken barbeque.

Rotarian Effie Hall introduced the guest speaker, Ryan Solomon, the associate director of civic education and innovation for the Center of Careers, Life and Service at Grinnell College. Solomon facilitates community engagement opportunities for students at Grinnell College through funded programs like Service-Learning Work Study and volunteer opportunities. Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Solomon completed his PhD at the University of Wisconsin. Following graduation, he taught at Colgate University and the University of Chicago. He specializes in community dialogue work and has run a range of community engagement programs from migrant rights programs to anti-racism projects. Solomon is a keen believer in the role of community engagement in building democratic skills and attitudes.

Solomon began by stating he has the best job in the world as it allows him to be involved in the community and with the college students. He is involved in a few local nonprofit organizations, such as Grinnell Community Meals and Renewed Hope. In his work, he he recognizes the challenge of translating democracy into spaces other than politics (like home and work and school) and shared that to transform these spaces into democratic spaces we need to find ways to live together in community and collaboration. Originally, Solomon went into this work naively, wanting everyone to get along, but has learned that being nice doesn’t always sustain through disagreements, but dialogue can be powerful when done in kindness and respect.

Solomon shared he was excited to build the Listening Project where people can come together to facilitate dialogue. Through the Listening Project, people get to know one another, learn about the differences between the city of Grinnell and Grinnell College and understand the disconnect between their lived experiences and hearsay. It’s become a great opportunity for college students and townspeople to interact and build common ground while still respecting and honoring their differences.

Solomon’s next project is “Bursting Our Political Bubbles,” a community dialogue focused on listening to other people’s political stories. The first gathering will be on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, from 6 PM to 8 PM in the United Church of Christ Friendship Hall. The dialogue will focus on not assuming who our enemies are, recognizing that individuals are not a straight-forward red or blue, and will provide an opportunity for attendees to share their unique story. If you are interested in attending this event, please RSVP by emailing Solomon at [email protected].

The Grinnell Rotary Club is grateful to Ryan Solomon for his work with the Grinnell College students and the townspeople of Grinnell in creating safe spaces for dialogue and thanks him for sharing information about his work. If you are interested in joining the Grinnell Rotary Club, please visit our page for more information.



Submitted by Donna Fischer