Byesville Rotary and Southeastern Med serve over 120 people at their 12th Annual Health Screening Event

Pictured: Larry Miller, Byesville Rotarian, Southeastern Med staff, and health screening participant.

This health screening is offered to provide low cost health screening to community members who are uninsured or underinsured. Through this event Byesville Rotary and Southeastern Med hope to improve the health of the local community.

Judge Ellwood speaks to Byesville Rotary

Pictured: Oziel Jeffries, Byesville Rotary President; Nellie Bichard, speaker host; Judge David Ellwood, Guernsey County Common Pleas Court; and Cpt. Tim Oliver, Chief Probation Officer.

Attention--meeting rescheduled:

Interact Induction will be held May 7, at the Meadow Brook High School Library. The April 30 meeting will be a business meeting.

Judge Ellwood stated that the Common Pleas Court is busy. Guernsey County has more cases per capita than average. He explained that the high number of cases is in part due to the I70/I71 interchange. The interstates are a major route used by drug traffickers. Many of the criminal cases heard by the court are a result of drug stops made by the Highway Patrol.

A comparison of statistics for 2011 and 2012 reveals that total number of cases processed by the court has increased. Of the nine classifications of cases tracked by the Civil/Criminal and Domestic Relations Statistical Reporters, numbers have increased in five of nine classifications. In 2012, the total number of cases terminated by the court increased by 37. The number of criminal cases pending in 2012 increased by 15 over the number pending in 2011. The oil and gas boom has accounted for some of the increased activity. Twenty three new oil and gas cases were filed in 2012.

Judge Ellwood pointed out that responsibility for dealing with jury trials is shared by the court and the members of the community. To preserve the right to trial by jury which is guaranteed by the constitution, citizens must be willing to take the time to serve as common pleas or grand jury members.

His goals for 2012-13 include obtaining a grant to support a drug court. He would also like to change the arraignment process by increasing the use of the Grand Jury. Cases could be processed more quickly by holding Grand Jury every 2 weeks. And finally, Ellwood would like to increase the Community Service Work Program. This program is consists of supervised felony drug users who are available to work on projects for non-profit organizations. To date, 26 participants have graduated from the program. In order to graduate, participants have to prove they have not used drugs for a year.

Drugs are having an effect in Guernsey County. Experience has shown that providing early intervention to people involved with drugs increases the success of the intervention. The Community Work Service Program helps provide and support early intervention efforts.

The club meets 7:30 am every Tuesday at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary can call Membership Chairs Marty Patchen, 740-685-3828, or Evelyn Spring, 740-439-4343.

Interact Club paints pinkies purple to support polio eradication

Pictured: Many of the Meadow Brook students who donated to the Purple Pinkie “End Polio Now “fundraiser.

Readings for next meeting: April Rotarian, "President's Message," p. 1, and "
World Roundup," p. 14.

The Meadow Brook Interact club raised $200 to support worldwide polio eradication. Club members encouraged students and staff to donate a dollar. Each person donating had his or her pinkie finger painted purple to indicate their support of this effort. Every $60 raised by Interact guarantees that 100 children can be vaccinated. 

Through this fundraiser, the Meadow Brook students joined hundreds of people worldwide who are working to eradicate polio. Their partners include the World Health Assembly, who launched the polio eradication effort in 1988, Rotary International, US Centers for Disease Control, UNICIF, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Polio can be prevented by vaccination, but it cannot be cured once a person is infected. Even though no polio cases have originated in the United States in over 30 years, it is important to eradicate the disease because it would only take one traveler with polio from another country to bring polio back to the United States. 
 
According to the Centers for Disease Control, poliovirus is very contagious. The virus lives in an infected person’s throat and intestines. It spreads through contact with the feces (stool) of an infected person and through droplets from a sneeze or cough. Once infected, most people do not have any symptoms and are unaware they are unintentionally spreading the virus. An infected person may spread the virus to others immediately before and usually 1 to 2 weeks after developing symptoms. 

The “End Polio Now” effort that the Interact Club members are supporting has been very successful. This year, the World Health Organization reported that polio cases have decreased by 99% since the polio eradication campaign began in 1988. In 2011, four countries reported cases of polio. This year, only 3 countries continue to report polio cases. 

 

Byesville Rotary meets every Tuesday, 7:30 am, at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary is welcome to attend a meeting or call 740-685-3828, or 740-685-8294.

Byesville Rotary plans spring service projects

Reading for next meeting: March Rotarian, "Friendly  competition," p. 23.

Reminder: Current and future officers should consider attending the April 13 District Assembly. There are training sessions scheduled for President-Elect, Secretary and Treasurer as well as sessions aimed at the club PR, Membership, and Foundation chairs.

On April 26, the club in partnership with Southeastern Med will host its 12^th Annual Health Screening Event. The goal of Southeastern Med and Byesville Rotary is to provide low cost health screening the community members who are uninsured or underinsured and to improve the long term health of the community.

The cost for a Health Profile Screening package is $50. The package includes complete blood count (CBC), comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), lipid profile, and hemoglobin A1C.  Screenings for thyroid stimulating hormone and prostate specific antigen (PSA) will be offered for an addition cost of $15 for test.

No walk-ins will be accepted. Call in registration for appointments begins April 15, at 9:00am at 740-435-2900.

On Friday, April 5, the Meadow Brook Interact Club in partnership with the Byesville Rotary will hold a Purple Pinkie event from 11:30-1:00 in the high school cafeteria. Interact members are holding this event to raise money to support the elimination of polio worldwide There are are only 3 nations reporting polio cases. It is important to eliminate every case because air travel makes it easy for one infected person to spread the virus inadvertently to people in uninfected countries.

Everyone making a donation will have finger painted purple to show their support for this effort. Byesville Rotary club members donated $100 to help with the Interact Club meet their goal. Additionally, club members voted to send $200 to the Rotary International EndPolioNow fund.

The club provides 5 scholarships to graduating seniors from the Rolling Hills School District. Jim Bacos reported that applications are being read and interviews with scholarship finalists will be held soon.

The club finances these scholarships by hosting an annual golf scramble. The club will hold its 27^th golf scramble on May 5 at the Wildfire Golf course. Larry Miller, co-chair of the scramble committee, invites all area golfers who believe post secondary education help local seniors succeed to reserve this date and enjoy a morning of golfing. The club provides hot dogs and drinks at the turn and provides a catered lunch.

Byesville Rotary meets every Tuesday, 7:30 am, at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary is welcome to attend a meeting or call 740-685-3828, or 740-685-8294.