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Thursday March 16 - Club Social at Salvage BBQ - Right after the Locker Project!** (No Meeting Friday)

This Thursday March 16, we have the opportunity to join in on a Community Service Project, and then kick back with a friendly social. The Locker Project (see below) will run from 3:30pm - 5:00pm, and then at 5:30pm we'll be at Salvage BBQ, 919 Congress Street, Portland for good cheer. Dine as you wish, it's a great set-up. Remember this takes the place of our Friday meeting, so please make every effort to attend!

Meeting of March 10 - Charlie Therrian and Scott Oxley - Health Care in Maine | by Bruce Moore

The speakers at our March 10th meeting were Charlie Therrian, President of Mercy Hospital and Scott Oxley, Northern Lights Health SVP and president, Acadia Hospital. (Photo Bruce Jones, Dave Small, Charlie and Scott.)

Scott explained that only 55% of Mainers who are living with a behavioral health condition receive any form of treatment in part due to over-burdened facilities. Acadia Hospital serves patients from all Maine counties and in 2021, served about 1500 patients. About one third came from Penobscot County, 16% from Washington and Aroostook Counties and 15% from Cumberland and York Counties. He said the facilities were set up with semi-private rooms but, with the severity of patients' needs, many rooms were changed to private. This has reduced the number of inpatient beds available, increasing the wait time in the ER. To meet the needs of behavioral health patients, Acadia Health is planning to construct 50 new rooms and renovate 50 old rooms and their outpatient space. This will create 100 private rooms, increasing patient access to inpatient psychiatric care. The project should be completed in ten months at a cost of 49 million dollars. They hope to raise 10 million and have raised 5 million already.

Charlie Therrian of Mercy Hospital spoke next. He first stressed the working relationship between Mercy and Maine Med .They both focus on getting patients into treatment. Often patients are waiting in emergency rooms for hours, days or weeks for placement and sometimes need to go out of state.

He then showed slides of and talked about the New Mercy campus designed to meet the changes in healthcare. The building for outpatient services is separate from the hospital. The slides showed the focus on convenience, access and patient privacy. If you are healthy and need a knee or hip replacement you can receive same day surgery and not need to stay for 2 or 3 days in the hospital as previously. He said the world is changing to more outpatient services. The challenge now is staffing and the need for healthcare workers. Because of the shutdown during the pandemic, today’s demand for healthcare has increased. He noted the original Mercy was built in response to the 1918 flu epidemic and the new campus was built during this pandemic and he expects there will be another pandemic in the future.

BITS AND PIECES | by Ben Lowry

President Bruce called our meeting to order, followed by the Pledge, led by Larry Gross, and a witty invocation from David Small. Dave Patterson introduced our guests and one visiting Rotarian and then Maggie McGauley came to the podium to run our weekly raffle, which promised to pay out $250 to the participant who could draw the Queen of Hearts from a diminishing deck of cards. Paul Gore’s name was drawn but he was unable to pull the illusive Queen, leaving the pot to grow for yet another week.

REMEMBERING BOB TRAILL: Rotarians paid tribute to our own Bob Traill, who passed away last week at the age of 100. Bob, a past president of our club, had a wonderful life and touched the lives of so many,

recalled both Jim Willey (Photo) and Roxane Cole. After meeting his wife Helen while at Brown University, Bob joined the Marines and served as an intelligence officer in the Pacific theater during WWII, living in Nagasaki in the years just after the end of the war. Upon returning home to New England, Bob and Helen began to raise their four children and Bob started a long career with Exxon Mobil, where he would eventually retire after forty years. But Bob (and Helen) were not done, purchasing Olsten Temporary Services, where Bob recruited and Helen served as the office manager for twenty years. During his many years in Cape Elizabeth, Bob was involved with several civic organizations, namely Rotary, The Salvation Army and Maine Medical Center. After he lost his beloved Helen, Bob moved to a retirement community and continued thriving (and driving) into his later years. Roxane recalled that Bowen Depke and Rob Chatfield would periodically “kidnap” Bob and take him out for shrimp cocktail. Bob will be missed by so many, including this writer, who has the pleasure of spending four hours in a car with Bob maybe fifteen years ago, wherein Bob told me of his time in the Marines and in various battlefields in the Pacific….a truly memorable experience. Thank you for a life well lived, Bob.

Photo: Jim Willey, Rich Campbell, Rob Chatfield, Bob Traill, Roxane Cole,and Mike Fortunato)

FLAGS ON FILM: Charlie Frair took the microphone next, introducing a polished video which will be used as our primary marketing tool as we begin the slow buildup toward this years “Flags for Heroes” campaign, our club’s

biggest fundraiser. The video, with moving statements from many within our club, was produced by Tom Talbott and Reggie Groff/Groff Video, and will be used as we recruit many from outside the club to join in sponsoring a flag for a loved one, neighbor, teacher, first responder, or anyone else who may have inspired us. Last year, we had forty flags out of the one hundred displayed sponsored by someone outside our club. This year, we are looking to move up to 150 flags for this moving and powerful project. (Photo Tom Talbott, Reggie Groff, Charlie Frair and Paul Tully)

** LOCKER PROJECT: This coming Thursday, the 16^th, our club is looking for folks to join together from 3:30pm - 5:00pm at The Locker Project at 111 Wescott Rd. in South Portland. As Amy Chipman explained from the podium, this project is designed to provide services for students around the state who suffer from food insecurities and lack of adequate supplies to flourish in their academic environments. We will spend 90 minutes stuffing duffle bags with food and other items and then the group will head over to Salvage BBQ where there will be a social hour for any and all to enjoy.

DONATE MUD: Our first annual “Mud Sale Auction” is an online event where you can bid on lots of great items. But first, we have to get those items, so Tom Talbott reminded us that this fun fundraiser involves members donating something they have tucked away in their basement, attic, garage, den…that you can part with, and others would love. Of course, we greatly appreciate items such as gift certificates to events, retail stores, restaurants, and so on, as well as donations that may involve your time and participation. The latter could be hosting a round of golf, a boat ride, a fishing trip, whatever you can think of! Dick Hall is our curator, posting the items our auction website. See below for more details!

ONLINE AUCTION: APRIL 8-16

TIME TO START SUBMITTING YOUR ITEMS FOR THE EVENT!

Items can be new, or gently used, and have some redeemable

value that would be of interest to others. We know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if you don't think it would fetch at least $10, think twice.

HOW TO SUBMIT, Please provide the following:

1. One good photo.

2. Written description, including condition if used.

3. Value - This is your best estimate on a fair market price. Research if

necessary to come up with the appropriate value.

4. Minimum Bid - If you donate an item that comes with some expense to you

in money or time, the minimum bid assures a fair price is paid.

5. Fulfillment - Pick One

a. Small, manageable items -

Bring it to a club meeting, we will store it and deliver it to winner

b. Large, heavy, bulky item - you agree to deliver to winner

c. Large, heavy, bulky item - you request the winner pick up at your home

Email this information with the photo to Dick Hall. Click his name!

More to come on the auction....but that's enough info for today! Let's build up our items and roll from there!

Speaker Schedule

March 24 - Ashley MacMillan, LifeFlight of Maine

March 31 - Ron Joseph, Bald Eagles, Bear Cubs, and Hermits: Memoirs of a Wildlife Biologist

Portland's PolioPlus Society

Brenda Cressey, the District's Foundation Fund Development Chair, officially recognized members of Portland's PolioPlus Society at a club meeting on November 11, 2022. Members of the Society understand that as long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. They've committed to donate $100 or more each year and pledge to do so until polio is completely eradicated.

Bridge the Gap to End Polio - October 20, 2022

1st Annual Bridge the Gap to End Polio a Great Success!

Wearing bright red End Polio Now tee-shirts and hoodies and carrying banners, seventy Rotarians with friends and family lined the Casco Bay Bridge from Portland to South Portland on Thursday, October 20th to raise awareness of Rotary’s worldwide effort to eradicate polio. Our first annual Bridge the Gap to End Polio bridge walk ended at the Sea Dog Brewery, for a Pints for Polio fundraiser.

We were joined by District Governor Claudia Frost and members of the Rotary Clubs of South Portland-Cape Elizabeth, Bath-Sunrise, Freeport, Ogunquit, Westbrook-Gorham, Falmouth, and Brunswick.

It was an afternoon of raising awareness and funds for PolioPlus, and a time for fun and fellowship for the eight community Rotary Clubs. By all accounts, our first annual Bridge Walk was a big success!

Meeting Structure

Portland Rotary is HYBRID! You can still catch our meetings online, or you can join us IN PERSON for a live meeting at

Portland's Italian Heritage Center

40 Westland Ave, Portland, ME 04102

(off Congress Street near behind Shaw's Market)

As always, we meet every Friday at 12:15 PM!

Due to ongoing uncertainty about who can attend each week

it is currently necessary to RSVP before Wednesday for the Friday noon meeting. Please contact the club at

portlandrotaryclub@gmail.com

(you can use the "contact us" form below too)

To sign up and purchase your lunch ($20) or

to receive an invitation to attend online.

The Windjammer