Kitchi Gammi Club

May 8

5:00 p.m.

 

By Anthony Nordan

 

President Elizabeth Simonson rang the meeting to order. We proceeded with recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance and 4-Way Test.

 

Past President Al Makynen delivered our Reflection. Al put $200 into the Golden Can in recognition of his birthday. Happy Birthday Al! His reflection looked at how he had recently purchased staples from Office Max. There were 5,000 staples in that box, and he mused that those staples may outlast him at this point in his life.

 

This year also marked the point in his life at which he has been a Rotarian for more than half of his lifetime. What he has come to realize is that “Service Above Self” is not just a slogan. Service to Rotary projects, both in the community and within the Club provide a sense of purpose- a season of fellowship- a sense of place. All are positive factors for good mental health. “Service Above Self” is not a task to be performed. It is a way of living.

 

We have several guests today. As we traditionally host our friends in service to others – Kiwanis Club of Duluth at this time each year, we warmly welcomed our guests: Kiwanians, Jim, Cyndi, Carmen, and Will. Other Rotary guests today were Judy Sage (Rotarian Allen Anway’s constant companion), former Club 25 member Doug Erickson, and Rebecca Hudoba (from Duluth-Superior ECO Rotary).

 Kiwanis President Cyndi Lewis

 

We had 5 announcements today.

 

 

Mike Waldron.

 

Our guest speaker today is Mike Waldron. Mike is the executive director of 23^rd Veteran. Mike started his presentation with a video displaying how PTSD works. The video used 3 cavemen to display how people can remember things differently. 2 of the 3 cavemen died to a sabretooth tiger. The third cavemen then related the surrounding experience to that of the traumatic experience. Then years later seeing similar surroundings caused the cavemen to have a PTSD episode. This was a great visualization of how PTSD works, especially for veterans.

 

Mike made a few key points during this video. He emphasized that triggers can be innocuous and unknown to the person until they occur. He went through this experience of having multiple panic attacks due to PTSD earlier in his life after his service in the military. These panic attacks eventually got severe enough that he knew something had to change.

 

Mike put together a 14-week program to help people through their panic attacks and PTSD. This program trains people to work through it. There are 2 steps in this and those are: exhaust the fear and fear reassociation. There are three brain chemicals that are key to this program: Dopamine, Serotonin, and Oxytocin. These chemicals affect mood and how people behave. Generally, actions that help these 3 chemicals are: sleep, exercise, and nutrition.

 

There is currently no educational system set up to transition from military back to civilian life. During their classes they exercise before class to get some of those brain chemicals activated. This class lasts from 1:15-2:30 and occurs Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Group fear reassociation occurs on Saturdays. This entire program is to help military veterans work through their PTSD and deprogram them in a sense from military life to civilian life.

 

Mike closed out his presentation by revealing a new survey they recently did. They surveyed program participants who completed the program between one and six years ago. The results showed that people had 80% more trust in others, 85% positive impact on others, 95% higher quality of life. The program seems to have a great impact. Mike is in 4 cities in MN.

 

 

The 50/50 raffle numbers this week were 7375595. The winner received $51.

 

A special thank you from the Gimlet writer (Anthony Nordan) to Past Assistant Governor Phil Strom who assisted Mike in starting this program to help veterans. My dad is a retired 22-year veteran of the Navy.

 

Scan the left QR code to apply to 23rd Veteran – Right for info on the Ruck Life Event on May 31.