May 19th Meeting

Marana Rotary Club met on May 19 at Nana’s Kitchen for our weekly meeting, with 17 members and 6 guests in attendance. Our speaker was Callene Bentoncoury with Casa de la Luz Hospice, and she was accompanied by Marilyn Hansen. Our exchange student, Jeanne Gachon, brought her two brothers, Jeremie and Jonas, who had just arrived from France to visit her. It was quite a treat to meet them! Jo Holt’s guest was Brian Bickel, who lives in the Catalina Foothills and will be running for the Pima County Board of Supervisors from District 1 in 2016. Part of Marana east of I-10 lies in this District.

A remarkable event occurred at this meeting. Harold Burtzloff forgot his Rotary pin. What makes this remarkable is that this is the first time in 47 years that he forgot his pin. He paid a fine, but several members felt that he should have been given a mulligan. On the other hand, his excuse involved a laundry issue and seemed pretty lame.

Harold also updated everyone on the Club website, which can be found at www.MaranaRotary.org. He reminded us that we can add items of interest to the Calendar – just send the information to Harold. The website contains a wealth of information and forms and photo albums!

Callene Bentoncoury gave a great talk on hospice care. She highly recommends the book “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande MD. Over 1.5 million people were in hospice care in the US in 2013, half of whom received care for fewer than 18 days. The great majority of hospice patients (97%) are treated at home, but inpatient hospice is available as well. Hospice is designed for those with a life expectancy of less than six months. One of the great benefits of hospice care is the emotional support they provide. Thank you Callene for your insights on a very important subject