Dinner Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
April 20, 2017

Members Attending (14): Debbie Rodriguez, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Roberto Martinez, Jim Leyhane, Dick Drumm, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Terry Brewer, Phil Kellerman, Ray Hannan, Dean Calamaras, Charlie Foote, Carole Spencer.

Guests (5): Edward L. Hannan, Mary Ann Hannan, Jack Faddegon, Maggie Forth, Jeremy Forth.

PROGRAM: Coronary Artery Disease and its Treatments

Carole Spencer introduced our speaker, Dr. Edward L. Hannan, professor emeritus at the University at Albany School of Public Health.

Ed described what constitutes coronary artery disease and what today’s treatments are. He shared background information on the state’s cardiac treatment and data collection efforts. When he spoke to the club in April 2014, he discussed choosing the right treatment, hospitals and doctors. Tonight, he updated attendees on the findings of comparing angioplasty vs. medicinal therapy for stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and the appropriateness of coronary revascularization for certain patients.

Ed explained that in complete revascularization all major vessels that are diseased have been successfully stented. However, there always is a difference when comparing the doctors and hospitals doing the procedures. Inappropriate stenting has decreased substantially, resulting in cost savings estimated at $40 million a year in New York. Also, shared decision-making has improved due to these studies being available to the public even though more are needed. The data comes from annual reports from hospitals, and these are available on line showing results from hospitals in New York.

The latest study looked at background, methods, and results and discovered there is not yet enough information to make determinations for everyone. Ed explained that about $50 million is spent annually on stents that may not be needed. The information gathered is fed back to hospitals, but stenting remains the best treatment for patients with evolving ST analysis. The rate of inappropriate stents has dropped from 18.3% in 2010 to 10.6% in 2014. Also, for Medicaid patients it dropped from 340 to 84 surgeries, a decrease of nearly 75%.

Ed said there now is a change in favor of bypass surgery (CABG), and that patients also had a lesser rate of repeat procedures. He spoke in much detail about two or three vessel diseases as opposed to lesser blockage.

He said that a newer study from the New England Journal of Medicine about the rate of plaque returning shows there is a second generation of stents now in use that have had slightly better results.

Business & Announcements

SHINING STAR OF HOPE — Terry Brewer spoke about this project (above), a $5,000 initiative started by the Interact Club at Columbia High School in 2001-02 when his daughter Hilary was club president. It recognizes students who died before their graduation. That particular club dissolved in 2008, and the memorial, which is on the grounds of the East Greenbush Public Library, is in need of some refurbishing. Terry said our club contributed $500 to the original memorial stone with other funding coming from other community groups, and his research also says per a 2001 agreement with the Library Board the club agreed to be the responsible party. At its meeting next Thursday, April 27, the SRC Board will discuss what sort of commitment the club might make to provide annual upkeep.

AREA 8 WORK DAY — Assistant District Governor Jack Faddegon joined us for dinner. He spoke about the Saturday, May 20, Area 8 — of which SRC is a member — joint project to improve the entry of the Shaker Heritage Site near the Albany International Airport. This may include new signage, plantings and decorative boulders at the entrance. In addition, the pasture behind it needs attention. Lots of hands will be  needed beginning at 8:30 that morning, and a picnic will be held later in the barn. The day  will include a number of activities, so all skills welcome.

RECYCLING & SHREDDING — A reminder that our second paper shredding and electronics recycling day will be held on Saturday, April 29, at the Wainschaf Associates Construction warehouse. Volunteers were asked for to staff the event. A flyer has been circulating for weeks on our club website and Facebook page for members to copy and share on social media.

ROTARY HOME COOKING — Murray and Maggie Forth are hosting a surf-and-turf dinner at their residence on Saturday, May 20. Anyone interested in attending should contact Murray ASAP. As always, reservations for this series are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

NEXT DINNER MEETING — 6:15 p.m. Thursday, April 27, at Quigley’s. We will hear from Rafaella “Ella” Cancio Real, our Rotary Youth Exchange student from Brazil.

Breakfast Meeting at Greenbush YMCA
1 Community Way
East Greenbush, NY
April 20, 2017

Members Attending (12): Ron Annis, Geoff Brewer, Terry Brewer, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Jim Butterworth, Murray Forth, Phil Kellerman, Andy Leyhane, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Shannon Romanowski.

Guests: None.

NEXT BREAKFAST MEETING — 7 a.m. Thursday, May 18, at East Greenbush YMCA.

Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
April 13, 2017

Members Attending (18): Debbie Rodriguez, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Roberto Martinez, Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, Terry Brewer, Geoff Brewer, Julius Frankel, Dick Drumm, Becky Raymond, Peter  Brown, Debbie Brown, Phil Kellerman, Carol Orvis, Monika Annis, Ron Annis, Charlie Foote.

Guests (2): Bob Bode, Leonardo Gonzalez.

PROGRAM: “What’s the Buzz With Bees?”

Debbie Brown offered a presentation called “What’s the Buzz About Bees?” based on a program she created for the Fort Orange Garden Club.

Tracing the history of bees and their importance to the human race, she spoke about their pervasive in such areas as mythology (Melissa, the Bee Goddess, for example) and art, and the many uses of the honey they produce — in cooking, cosmetics, beverages, nutrition, medicine, plant pollination, etc. Among its other properties, Debbie said, honey keeps virtually forever. Containers of it have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs.

She explained the life cycles and duties to the swarm of the queen, the drones, and the workers. And, she addressed the widespread problem of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which began being noticed around 2005-06, showing slides of the interior of both healthy and collapsed hives. Research has revealed that CCD is caused by one or more of a variety of factors, such as pesticides, mite infections, malnutrition, various pathogens, loss of habitat, and some beekeeping practices such as moving hives too often which puts great stress on the bees.

Debbie noted that it is possible to rent bees to pollinate orchards when the resident bees leave or die off. She cited as an example Indian Ladder Farms in Albany County where rented bees from a Schoharie County bee farm were used to handle the pollination needs of the large commercial orchard.

Debbie advocates creating a bee-friendly environment. Some things to consider are sun exposure, open spaces, multiple large clusters of flowers, having a variety of species and native varieties of plants, and avoiding GMO (genetically modified organism) products and pesticides.

She outlined the various research and legislative actions relating to CCD: the Protection From Pesticides Act in  2013; banning GMOs from wildlife refuge area in 2014; the Pollinator Protection  Act in 2016.

Business & Announcements

WELCOME — President Debbie Rodriguez greeted attendees and welcomed Lorenzo Gonzalez, an Eagle Scout candidate from Troop 41, which our club  supports.

ADG VISIT — Jack Faddegon, Assistant District Governor for our Area 8, will visit the club next Thursday to explain a multi-club work project he is creating for the Shaker Heritage Society site, a hands-on work day in May for which we will need volunteers from the club.

EASTER BASKET PROJECT — The final count on baskets for needy kids through the family assistance organization Circles of Mercy was overwhelming, literally. Details and photos are available on our website.

PROGRAM AD — The club will take a quarter-page ad in the program for next month’s District Conference in Lake George. Debbie R. said she has asked Bill Dowd to design the ad.

PLAYGROUND PROJECT — Guest Leonardo Gonzales described his Eagle Scout project, an  outdoor training and exercise station in the Schodack Town Park. His effort will lay the groundwork for the effort, with other Scouts expanding the resource year-to-year, eventually covering an approximately 100 square foot area. The project is based on a Viking playground design created in Sweden. Club support was recognized by Ron Annis who made a light-hearted presentation (above) of a Viking sword to Leonardo, shield to Jim Leyhane, and princess crown to Monika Annis. The playground project is being developed in conjunction with the our sister Rotary Club in Gefle, Sweden, Monika’s hometown.

POLIO HISTORY VIDEO — The polio history video project, a joint effort by the club, CASDA, the UAlbany School of Public Health, and District 7190, is into the final editing stage. It will be shown at the District Conference at about 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May.

ROTARY HOME COOKING — Murray and Maggie Forth will host a surf-and-turf dinner at their home at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 20. Twelve guests can be accommodated, with reservations accepted on a first come-first served basis.

RECYCLING DAY — Our next electronic recycling/paper shredding day is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 29. It is co-sponsored by club member A.J. Amato and the club itself. An event flyer can be copied from the club  website or Facebook page. Next week, we will call for volunteers to staff the event.

LOCAL HEROES PORTRAITS — Roberto Martinez introduced Bob Bode, a local artist whose work can be seen on  display in the East Greenbush Town Hall and elsewhere. Bob is creating a series of paintings of local volunteers to be displayed at the East Greenbush Public Library. He works from photos taken of the subjects. Jim Leyhane last week was chosen as the Rotarian to be included in the project.

COOKING @ RONALD McDONALD HOUSE — The volunteer ranks have been filled for two club cooking efforts at the Ronald McDonald House complex in Albany. Terry Brewer is coordinating a breakfast service for Saturday, April 22, and Bill Dowd is coordinating a dinner service for Wednesday, May 31.

BALLPARK PICNIC DATE — Terry Brewer said he has reserved 45 tickets for our annual outing at the Bruno Stadium picnic pavilion and ValleyCats baseball game. The date is Thursday, July 27. He also said he is working to get Rotarians from other clubs to attend, as was the case last summer.

GIFT OF LIFE — Jim Leyhane announced that a child from Bolivia will be admitted this month to Albany Medical Center for lifesaving pediatric cardiac surgery supported by the District 7190 Gift of Life organization.

NEXT MEETINGS — We have two meetings scheduled for next Thursday, April 20. At the 6:15 p.m. dinner meeting, Dr. Edward Hannan, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UAlbany School of Public Health, will speak on cardiology outcomes. At the 7 a.m. breakfast meeting at the Greenbush YMCA, Phil Kellerman will speak on immigration.

Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
April 6, 2017

Members Attending (17): Debbie Rodriguez, Murray Forth, Bill Dowd, John Sawchuk, Terry Brewer, Ron Annis, Jim Butterworth, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Ray Hannan, Phil Kellerman, Charlie Foote, Dick Drumm, Roberto Martinez, Carole Spencer.

Guests (2): Chris Smith, Vivian Brehm.

PROGRAM: “Internet Safety: How To Catch A Predator”

Our speaker was Chris Smith, a Colonie Police Department detective who for nearly seven years has been assigned to the FBI’s Albany office Child Exploitation Task Force. That staff, which has just eight fulltimers, covers an area consisting of 10  New York counties and the entire state of Vermont.

Smith said the epidemic of online pedophelia is growing exponentially despite the success task forces such as his have had in combating the problem in recent years.

“The availability of pornography and online stalking and followup sexual abuse of kids has grown because of the internet and social media, but we now have better software and other tools to catch them,” Smith said. “We have software programs running 24/7 year-round to fight the problem.”

He explained that the “darknet” is a major problem for law enforcement, using cloud storage, DropBox and other methods to collect and share child pornography. (Note: The darknet is an overlay network accessible only by specific software, configurations, or authorization, often using standard communications protocols and ports.) Not only can predators gain access to children through commonplace social media such as Facebook and Twitter, they also can get around privacy blocks through certain apps and even  such gaming systems ax PS3, PS4 and X-Box. Often, such access is not readily apparent to parents who are otherwise diligent in trying to monitor what their children are doing online.

In just the past several years, the local FBI Task Force has executed more than 200 search warrants and made more than 100 arrests. Smith said its conviction rate is 100%. In addition to monitoring, legally trapping and arresting suspected predators, the Task Force provides programs for schools to warn students about the dangers and works with them and their teachers and school administrators to create an awareness of how to avoid predators.

Smith himself is trained in how to pose online as an underage child, and is forensically trained in how to interview children about abuse or being threatened. He spends a lot of time in such pursuits as well as in questioning arrestees in such case.

VICTOMOLOGY

• Usually teens ages 10-15, but the age is getting younger and younger.
• Race used to be predominantly white, but now is mixed.
• About 16% of victims are boys with concerns about their sexuality.
• About 84% are girls often “in love with” the offenders.
• Victims often come from single-parent or dysfunctional families with minimal  supervision, and who are looking for self-worth.
• Children often have unsupervised access to electronic devices.
• They are easily led by adults.
• They often have a need for adult attention or a need to defy parents.

PERPETRATOR TRAITS

• Usually age 25 to 50, although the trend seems to be toward younger perps.
• Expert manipulators who know how to “groom” potential victims.
• Rather than using common  popular websites or direct cellphone conversations with children, they tend to use a growing number of apps accessible via cellphones — Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, Twitter, Ask, Whisper and, most popular of all and without privacy blocks, Kik.
• They can be married men — and they are virtually without exception men — with families and jobs doing this, but there are cases of unemployed men who learn how to become experts at the games children use so they can enter into the child’s world.

“The situation is outrageous,” Smith said. “Our kids are getting inundated. It’s killing them. By sixth grade, virtually every kid has a cellphone and can’t be constantly monitored. If you don ‘t get them a phone, they’re ridiculed as the kid with no phone; if you give them a phone they’re immediately vulnerable.”

He also shared anecdotes about several predators the Task Force has arrested and who now are serving lengthy or life sentences in  prison. “I also end up talking to their families. Sometimes they are completely unaware, but in one case we wound up arresting the parents.” It turned out their adult son had been molesting infants in the parents’ day care center and they knew about it.

ANNOUNCEMENTS & BUSINESS

PAINTING PROJECT — A local painter who is creating a series of images based on local volunteers to display in a show at the East Greenbush Public Library asked the club to  nominate a member to be portrayed. By acclamation, we selected Jim Leyhane.

EASTER BASKET UPDATE — Project coordinator Bill Dowd reported that between  the club’s efforts and a parallel effort at Columbia High School led by John Sawchuk it appears we will come close to or slightly surpass last year’s 50-basket level for Circles of Mercy’s annual “Easter Baskets for Cate’s Kids.” He noted, however, that member contributions were less this year than last year even though we have more members now. He thanked everyone who did contribute for their generosity.

SHELTER BOX REPORT — ShelterBox has been working for several years with Hand In Hand for Syria, also a humanitarian organization. The recent chemical warfare attack on civilians there is putting a further strain on supplies and human resources. Bill Dowd, our ShelterBox liaison officer, said that while it seems we are continually asked for donations, anyone who pays attention to the news knows there never is a shortage of disasters and people in need of assistance. He asked that people willing to make contributions small or large go to the ShelterBox website for information on how to help.

COOKING AT RONALD McDONALD HOUSE — Terry Brewer will talk to the breakfast meeting attendees about the need for volunteers to help cook breakfast at Ronald McDonald House on Saturday, April 22. Anyone interested should contact him ASAP. … We have the full complement of six for the Wednesday, May 31, dinner there being coordinated by Bill Dowd. He has April Dowd, Carole Spencer, Roberto Martinez, Debbie Brown and Peter Brown volunteering to assist him.

EXCHANGE STUDENT UPDATE — A second host family was found for Ella Real, our Rotary Exchange student from Brazil. They will host her through mid-May, although we hope that can be extended through the end of her stay here in June. Ella will visit the club before her departure to tell us about her experience here.

AREA 8 PROJECT — Assistant District Governor Jack Faddegon continues to plan a joint work project with the Area 8 clubs — SRC, Colonie-Guilderland, Lansingburgh and Cohoes — to help the  Shaker Heritage Society in May. Potential chores include creating a stone fence, installing a new sign, plating flowers, cutting weeds, etc. A picnic lunch would be provided. Debbie Rodriguez said she will share details as they become available.

DISTRICT CONFERENCE — Member were reminded they can register at a discounted price through this Friday for the May 5-7 District Conference in Lake George.

NEXT MEETING — 6:15 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at Quigley’s. Club member Debbie Brown will speak on the topic “What’s the Buzz About Bees?”

Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
March 30, 2017

Members Attending (18): Debbie Rodriguez, Pat Bailey, Murray Forth, Roberto Martinez, Phil Kellerman, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Ray Hannan, Monika Annis, Ron Annis, Bill Dowd, John Sawchuk, Stewart Wagner, Dick Drumm, Julius Frankel, Jim Leyhane, Terry Brewer, Becky Raymond.

Guests (4): Jeff Simons, Kathleen Curtin, Maggie Forth, Jeremy Forth.

PROGRAM: “East Greenbush Schools Capital Budget Referendum”

Terry Brewer introduced Jeff Simons, who became superintendent of the East Greenbush Central School District eight months ago. Jeff’s topic was the district’s $39.7 million capital budget proposal that will go before the voters on May 16. His PowerPoint presentation can be found on the club website’s page at https://srcrotary.org/program-presentation-archive/

                                                  ANNOUNCEMENTS / BUSINESS

DISTRICT SEMINAR DEADLINE — This Friday is the final day to register for the Saturday, April 1, District Training Seminar. Jim Leyhane and Roberto Martinez will rotate to three different classrooms with three different classes of Rotarians, and ask them to explain their clubs’ best practice  in membership. Each time there will be a facilitator present to draw out participation with the class and work them to achieve our goal. Debbie Rodriguez, Becky Raymond and Ron Annis will represent our club during the Grants Management training portion.

EASTER BASKET PROJECT — President Debbie thanked Bill Dowd and John Sawchuk for their organizational efforts on behalf of our project creating baskets for Circles of Mercy’s annual “Easter Baskets for Cate’s Kids” effort. Tonight was the deadline for donations.

COOKING VOLUNTEERS NEEDED — Three more volunteers are needed for each of two meals the club will be preparing at Ronald McDonald House in Albany. If you would like to volunteer to help prepare breakfast on Saturday, April 27, contact Terry Brewer. If you would like to help prepare dinner on Wednesday, May 31, contact Bill Dowd.

POLIO HISTORY FILM — This joint project with CASDA, the UAlbany School of Public Heath, and Rotary District 7190 is near the editing stage after some reshooting. It still is on course for its debut at the District Conference in May.

CLUB ASSEMBLY TOPICS — Two club assemblies are scheduled in May, one for viewing the above-mentioned polio film, the other for a club awards ceremony.

SAVE-THE-DATE ITEMS — The outdoor sign has gone up at the Wainschaf Associates warehouse to publicize our next electronics recycling/paper shredding effort there, set for Saturday, April 29. A print ad also will be published. A.J. Amato is underwriting costs of  the shredding equipment. … The  next Rotary Home Cooking event will be hosted by the Forth family, with a menu to be announced. … There still is time to register for the May 5-7 District Conference in Lake George. Just go to the district website (it’s under the links list on our website).

NEXT MEETING — 6:15 p.m. Thursday, April 6. The speaker will be a detective from the Colonie Police Department on internet predators.