The meeting was opened at 12:15 by Club President Patti Van Cleave and followed by the pledge of allegiance. The lunch meeting was held in the Northfield Park District conference room at 401 Wagner Road. There were 29 people at this Thursday lunch
ANNOUNCEMENTS: President Patti read a long list of member’s birthdays and the crowd sang (sort of) Happy Birthday to all. Then President-Elect Tom Nash reminded us of the Benefit Dinner the next night at the Kenilworth Club.
Jessica Rutstein, the WYO Ex. Dir. reminded us that the WYO has its annual benefit a week from today at Pinstripes . Festivities start at 7:00 and a nice crowd is expected.
Mark Kotz described a brief saga of danger and daring as he and several others took their life in hand and cleaned out the Rotary closet in the WCH. While no skeletons were found, there were some usable items!
The Ex. Dir. of the Northfield Park District, George Axelrod, made a brief speech of welcome to all of us.
SPEAKER: Our speaker was David Donnersberger, MD & JD. He is head of the Clinical Ethics Committee for the Northshore Hospital Group (Evanston, Glenbrook and Highland Park) whose task it is to deal with end-of-life issues either in the emergency room or at the bedside. This Committee started in reaction to the new equipment popping up in 1962 that could significantly prolong life.
The Committee was initiated at the Evanston Hospital in the early 1970’s by Dr. Bernard Adelson, continued by Dr. Dennis Murphy when Adelson passed away and taken over by Dr. Donnersberger when Murphy retired.
The challenge he detailed is that a patient’s wishes are paramount and not always clear at the bedside. Many have carefully made up a piece of paper stating exactly what they wish – but that document is often elsewhere and thus not available..
Dr. Donnersberger urged we all look at the POLST website to download a 2-page form. When filled in, we should send a copy to our Primary Care physician. That doctor will then have it available to hospitals in case of deathly disaster.
After the Rotary Four pledges, the meeting was closed at 1:30.