June 17, 2009 - Lunch

Another beautiful day in our community. We sang our club song and then “America the Beautiful.” We gave the Pledge. Ted Dimon led the invocation. Our greeters were Hans Thiele and Heb Hayde. Our ticket winners were Kevin Wilson and Bob Hesselgesser. Our House Committee had their names missed by the reporter.





Lou Snodgrass reported that Ray Arnold was suffering from Valley Fever, and a card was passed among us for signatures. We were pleased to have Blaine Keith among us for lunch.

Guests

Nancy Carpenter had Justin and Nick who served as honor guard last week. Bill Rintelmann and Lloyd Meyer had Past Mayor of Carefree Wayne Fulcher as a guest with the announcement that he would be joining our membership. Pam DiPietro, Director of the Foothills Foodbank and Resouce Center, was the guest “Just” Bob Hutson. And Cheri Morrison, former waitress at our lunches and former Marine, was the guest of Blaine Keith – she is interning with Glenn Hanf.

President Dave Bell reported that at the last Board meeting, an expenditure (maybe $2,000) was approved for the school back-pack program. We have participated in this joint program with the Soroptimists for years – we do the money and they do the work.

The next Board meeting is this coming Tuesday at 8 AM in the community room of the Harris Bank at the Pedregal. It is open to all to attend.

CCUSD – issues now – will be considered by a discussion group this Saturday 9:30 AM at Desert Foothills Church. CCUSD Supervisor Debbie Burdick will be present. All are welcome. For more information contact Dick Stewart at 488-9659.

Herb Hayde solicited another volunteer for an Interclub meeting with Daisy Mountain – our last chance this year to complete the inner circle. Nancy Carpenter answered his call.

New member George Buehler was inducted today. He is sponsored by Jacquie Goodspeed and Ralph Pipp. His areas of interest are Youth (Key Clubs), Science Fairs and Funds Requests. He grew up in Boston and graduated from Harvard. He was a real estate investor. He has three daughter – two grown and a 15 year old adopted from China. He is very knowledgeable and passionate about wine. He also cares about books and money management.

PROGRAM

Speaker (and member) Dr. Seth Jorgensen was introduced by Ralph Pipp, who briefly explained the topic of sleep apnea was a sleep disorder where one stopped breathing.

Dr. Seth Jorgensen acknowledged a personal bias in this disease since he personally suffers from it. It is the most undiagnosed disease even though 24% of men and 9 % of women suffer from it. Basically, for a variety of reasons, people stop breathing while sleeping because a breath passage closes. These “episodes” can occur hundreds – even thousands – of times each night. Cases have been recorded where the breathing stops for over 6.5 minutes.

The most serious result of sleep apnea is sudden death syndrome – all others pale compared to this. Obviously loss of cognition can also occur. The most common complaint is tiredness throughout the day. (This is dangerous if one is driving – say a “semi” – and naps off at a light. This can happen.) Snoring, high blood pressure and stroke, minor headaches and erectile dysfunction can result.

The procedures to eliminate or at least improve this condition are not usually discussed over lunch and are not reported here. Do your own homework if you really care.

The cases that are diagnosed often happen because the sleep partner “rats out” the possible sufferer. So a significantly higher percentage of men than women get screened and diagnosed.

Perhaps the most actionable part of awareness of this issue – given our average age – is to watch our grandchildren. Kids who hyper act – then crash and sleep – should be checked.

For more information, please contact Seth at 488-9735.

Thanks to Photographer Elaine Adrian and Reporter Michael Moore for making this issue of the Sundial a reality.