Mickey Edwards, the Executive Director of the United Way of the Flint Hills is a new Rotary Club member. Mickey Edwards, the Executive Director of the United Way of the Flint Hills is a new Rotary Club member. 
Dawn Young of the Emporia Arts Council talked to our Rotary Club of their impact on the Emporia Community.Our scheduled meeting for April 28 is during the week that the Emporia Country Club is hosting the Glass Blown Open. Parking is difficult at that meeting. Our club will skip that week and not meet. That would be a good time to volunteer to assist at the GBO!
Patti Mellard, Peace Chair of Rotary District 5710 and a member of the Topeka South Rotary Club, spoke at our club about the fastest growing illicit trade in the world...sex trafficking. Patti provided surprising evidence that Kansas is an originating state for human trafficking. In December 2019, our Rotary district started a human trafficking day center in Topeka for people who are victims of the human trafficking industry. This center provides shelter, food and sleep in an attempt to earn the trust of victims so that they one day will walk away from this industry. Since December, four victims have left the industry.
What can our club do?
- Provide Go Kits for victims
- Profide safe line phones.
- Attend the Human Trafficking Awareness Conference on March 6 in Leawood.
- Learn more about the Human Trafficking Impact Committee.
- Conduct a needs analysis in Emporia utilizing local social services like SOS.
- Increase public awareness.
- Support Love 146 program that provides education in schools about human trafficking.
Our Rotary Club board of directors will be discussing if we want to support this cause in the future. We are going to try to get educated on this issue to make a decision. Learn with us and voice your opinion.
The first US census was taken in 1790, one that has been required every ten years by our constitution. According to Rotarian Steve Hale, a Senior Partnership Specialist for Kansas for the US Census who addressed our group, the results of each census determines the representation of each state in the US House of Representatives. It also determines the amount of Federal programs for which different geographical areas qualify. Kansas received $6 billion from the top five Federal programs as determined by the census. Lyon County gains (or loses) $48,500 in Federal funding for every 2.5 people counted (or not counted) in the 2020 census. The objective of the US census is to count every person living in this country on Census Day (April 1, 2020). For the 2020 census, each person is encouraged to complete the census form online...if not online, then by phone...and if not by phone, then by mail. Those hardest to count are children under five years old and people over 65 years old. Homeless people have also proven to be a challenge to get an accurate count. Kids attending college are counted where they live in college as of April 1. Those living in group quarters, like college dorms, are usually done with the cooperation of the administrative body in charge of each group quarters, and is usually taken using the records maintained by the administrative body. Steve shared a website that anyone can use to monitor the census process: www.census.gov/roam.
Barbara Wry was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow + 8 for her generous contributions toward the great causes of The Rotary Foundation. Great job, Barbara!
Rotarian Bob Wright, CEO of Newman Regional Health, provided our Rotary Club with an update on NRH as a critical access hospital, one of 1,350 critical access hospitals in the United States. Critical access hospitals represent a Medicare reimbursement category for small hospitals with a much smaller economy of scale than non-critical access hospitals, and the acute-care beds are reduced to a maximum of twenty-five. If Medicare expansion is approved by the Kansas Legislature, NRH's situation will be helped. Eighteen percent of NRH's patients are on Medicare, which is the highest percentage of hospitals between here and Wyandotte. Other information provided by Bob:
- The new Express Care + ER is operationally working very well for NRH patients. There is additional privacy for patients, making it one of the best facilities around.
- The pharmacy renovation/expansion at NRH is getting started in the location of the old ER.
- The Corona virus has been around for 10-15 years. What we are hearing about now is a new strain.
- Cardiology - NRH is trying to recruit two more general cardiologists.
- High deductible insurance plans is one of NRH's biggest challenges.
- New anesthesia equipment from funds raised at a recent Denim & Diamonds event - Five were purchased, and are going online now.
- The next Denim & Diamonds event is raising funds to help with the PT renovation.
Dan Robertson was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow + 3 at our Rotary Club meeting for his significant financial contributions to the work of the Rotary Foundation.
"An investment for our community" is what Leonard Dieker called Hetlinger Developmental 
Service's 30 x 70 greenhouse expansion and horticultural therapy program. Leonard is Chairman of the Board for Hetlinger, and whose daughter is one of the clients served. Rotarian Alex Mosakowski, Hetlinger's Development Director, explained that Hetlinger serves 75 clients with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The work that each client completes for the businesses that they serve provide a sense of pride and worth for each of them. This new greenhouse will further provide a sense of responsibility, reduce stress, and provide an emotional uplift as well as life-long skills development. Still probably one to two years out, this new facility will cost approximately $400,000, which includes part of the cost of hiring a new horticultural therapy position at Hetlinger. A capital campaign is going on now to raise the funds needed to complete this project. If you are interested in contributing, contact Alex Mosakowski. Alex reported that there are 4,000 people across Kansas on a waiting list for the type of services that Hetlinger Developmental Services provides. A facility like this is one more reason to have a sense of pride in our community.
Our own club members Senator Jeff Longbine and Representative Mark Schreiber 
provided a legislative preview of what to expect to be debated during this year's Kansas legislative process.
Watch: Italian clubs aim to protect hospital workers responding to COVID-19
Rotary clubs in districts across Italy worked together to procure state-of-the-art equipment needed to combat the deadly coronavirus disease for 26 hospitals around the country.
Rotaract rising
The ongoing evolution of Rotaract is redefining its place within Rotary.
Kenyan Rotarians take action to prevent spread of COVID-19
Rotary clubs in East Africa are forging partnerships to provide hand washing stations and food in areas where social distancing is a luxury that few can afford.
Italian club uses expertise to aid in coronavirus fight
Members help launch site so merchants can sell goods, organize supplies to make sanitizer, and provide food to health care workers.
Hacking a solution to the COVID-19 pandemic
Rotarians in Lithuania and the United States promote the use of bubble helmets to help patients avoid mechanical ventilators.
