The meeting was called to order by President John Woodbery at 6:40 pm. The flag salute was let by James Nevers. Tonight’s Greeter’s were Rick Ostrander and John Pruitt.

 

The meeting had only one visitor tonight: Kiavash Maadanian. It is already his third meeting with the club.

 

Dave Aubry – On Wednesday March 11^th a work party will help to move all parts of the semaphore from storage to the actual location. Dave has some volunteers, but everyone is more than welcome to show at 9 am at Public Storage 724 8th St in Kirkland.

 

Gary Cohn – The scholarship packages are all sent out, and are due back March 20^th. Please let Gary Cohn know if you want to help or more important if you want to sponsor an additional scholarship.

 

Dan Bartel – the next event at North Western Harvest is scheduled for April 11^th – the second Saturday of April. He will let the group know more details soon.

 

Rick Walter – Past Presidents Meeting will happen at the Rick Walter residence on March 14^th from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Arrive at 5:00 pm if you want a parking spot.

 

Also be aware that Bunco is happening on March 28^th starting at 6 pm at the Shinstrom residence.

 

There was a change in the calendar. Next week on March 16^th the club will welcome Curtis King with his presentation of the ‘Development of a New Hearing Device’ at the usual location and time.

 

The event at Top Golf has been moved to a new date that will be announced later.

 

The speaker worked as a chiropractor for more than 20 years, and also worked for United Health care for the last 13 years of his career - one of the biggest health insurance companies in the nation – in an administrative role. The presentation started with Gordon stating that he has a personal connection to the opioid crisis and shared his story: His son in law got addicted after using opioid for pain management, and his grand-daughter got a prescription of 100 opioid pills when presumably something less powerful would have been sufficient. This changed his approach to traditional medicine and he tries to work towards better collaboration between healthcare disciplines.

 

He pointed out that the addiction to opioids can start early in the treatment, but it is possible to overcome the addiction. Furthermore he quoted the CDC that more than 47.000 people were killed by overuse of opioids in 2017 and 36% of these deaths were caused by prescribed medicine.

 

The rest of the presentation focused on alternatives to opioids and that even well-known authorities are supporting these evidence-based non-pharmacologic strategies for comprehensive pain care. He referred to a white paper on the topic, and listed some alternatives: massage therapy, mind body interventions or transcutaneous electric nerve stimulations seems to help most with chronic pain, and chiropractic and osteopathic treatments or physical therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy might help with acute pain. Also yoga, Pilates and ta-chi was mentioned. He pointed out that nothing works every time and to make sure to get professional help referrals are recommended.

 

The speakers main objective is to tell the community that there are non-addictive alternatives to opioids, and he hopes to spread awareness through the participants of his presentation.

 

After a discussion on the topics the meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM.

 

Submitted by scribe for the week: Stefan Landvogt