Rotary Minutes Aug, 8, 2023
President Heidi Fisher opened the meeting on time. She auctioned off 2 tickets to the LOONS game that night. The money went to Rotary Foundation. Dick Nicholson bought them. Dana Bruce introduced our speaker: Russ Hanes. He opened up the company Mental Health Matters – Invisible Warriors Program. Russ discussed how he was a police office, EMT, Corrections officer, 911 Dispatch person, etc so he has a great background for this mission! He spoke to us about the mental health issues he faced and how he opened up this company to help others. It is a way to give back to others. The company specializes in helping first responders, police officers, nurses, doctors, EMTs , 911 people, and those in the front lines of care. It is really a needed thing to do, as those people really needed help. The video he showed talked about a nurse who was so traumatized by the Covid deaths and how much help they gave her. We don’t often think about those first responders. In 2022 they worked with 1500 individuals. They had 200 sessions of woodworking for their clients. A 30 day Chem Dep program. 50 mental health retreats. Trained 200 people in suicide prevention. They have some service dogs available as well. What’s unique about their program is that if you go with a problem they get you into see somebody that day. They have a lot of partnerships with many therapists, and others to help.
Doug Bruce got fined $10 for a pun today !
Submitted by Laurie Murphy scribe.