President Del rang the bell and opened the meeting, noting that his hands were stained with ink from spending the day silk-screening with a group of 1st-graders. (At least that's the story he gave.) He encouraged club members to volunteer in the classroom as great way to serve the community.
The invocation was provided by Steven Ban who shared some thoughts in honor of Memorial Day.
Announcements:
President Del announced that there will be no club meeting on this Monday, May 29th in observance of Memorial Day. See you on June 5th for our annual Students Award meeting.
It is time to update your Roster information and picture. You can do it yourself in our ClubRunner database or get the information to Sandee
President Del would like members to fill out a form that will outline their Volunteer hours they do in the Community other than Rotary. Click Here
Marty Haines announced that the Rotary Cruise is coming up on June 19th and will be a charter cruise around Orcas Island with a stop at Jone Island for a BBQ lunch. The cruise will depart the Fairhaven terminal at 9:30AM. Reservations are $87 per person and there is room for a total of 40 people on board. Contact Scott Wallace or Sandee if you would like to sign-up. If you have signed up please give Sandee your payment for lunch prior to the cruise, as the club has already paid San Juan Cruises.
Sandy McIntire reported that the club conducted clean-up of Sunnyland Memorial Park over the weekend. The park was created in 1918 by mothers of WW I soldiers, and our Rotary Club serves as stewards for the park – cleaning the grounds, maintaining the monument, and raising funds for incidental costs.
Guests of Rotarians:
Lisa Saar introduced Izaac Burrows with Corion Landscape.
Monty McAllister introduced Jennifer Moehl with Zervas Group Architects and Dan Cybula
President Del introduced Alison Sokol and Paul Bootsma with Evergreen Christian School
Presentations:
President Del presented a Service Fund Award to Evergreen Christian School. Music teacher, Alison Sokol, accepted the award and told how the funds will be used to purchase bongo drums for the world drumming class. She presented a charming video of the students performing world drumming and demonstrating rhythm and improvisation.
Program:
Unity Care NW and the Role it Plays in the Community
Dan Whittle introduced the program speaker: Des Skubi, Executive Director of Unity Care NW.
Unity Care is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) which provides affordable health care in Whatcom County. The FQHC model was created in 1965 as part of the War on Poverty and now serves 24.3 million people across the nation. There are 28 FQHCs in Washington State with 301 clinic sites that serve 14% of State residents with basic health services.
Unity Care NW is a non-profit organization with a volunteer board of directors comprised partially of clinic patients. The organization was founded in 1982 as a network of voluntary physicians, and received its FQHC status in 2007 as a multi-service clinic. The clinic provides services on a sliding scale and offers primary care, dental care, behavioral health and pharmacy services. The use a “medical home” model that provides a range of integrated care to their patients. A primary goal is to reduce barriers to care, with a focus and prevention and wrap-around services, like transportation, case management and interpretation. Unity Care has clinics in Bellingham, Point Roberts, (the only health care facility on Point Bob) and Ferndale and served 80,000 patients in 2016. The organization is planning to open an expanded clinic in Ferndale next year.
A majority (55%) of Unity Care patients are from households below the poverty level. 68% of patients are on Medicaid, 12% on Medicare, and the balance are insured or on a sliding scale payment.
The Affordable Care Act allowed Unity Care to greatly expand services, by enrolling current patients in insurance programs and then extending services to new patients. One area of growth was in children and adult dental care, which is a service that has high demand and low availability in our county. The 340B Drug Discount Program also enabled the clinic to expand but allowing drug purchases at well-below market rates. Unity Care is closely following healthcare legislation, and may need to prioritize services or delay the new Ferndale clinic if the ACA is eliminated. In Washington State, the Affordable Care Act has allowed a great increase in state spending on education, while maintaining stable funding for Medicaid.
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