Kiwanis marches in November 26, 2010 Madison Christmas Parade

Kiwanis of Chatham and Madison marched in the 2010 Madison Christmas Parade. The above photo shows marchers in the Ambulance Corps parking lot before the parade started.  Madison High School Key Club members pose in front of the Kiwanis Banner and 13 Kiwanians are standing behind the banner.

During the parade, an announcer at Waverly Place briefly described the Kiwanis Club. The above photo show marchers rounding the corner near Gary's on Main Street. Click here to view the Chatham Patch coverage of the parade.

Cindy Caporaso presented November 23 program on Interfaith Hospitality Network

Cindy Caporaso, an Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) volunteer, was introduced by Diane O’Brien.  IHN provides a response to hunger and homelessness in Morris County. Cindy coordinates IHN in the Presbyterian Church of Chatham Township, where she is active in Missions. She also works on “before and after school” enrichment programs at Chatham elementary schools. The above photo shows (L to R) Doug Bryant, Cindy Caporaso and Diane O’Brien.

The parent organizations of IHN are The Interfaith Council for the Homeless in Morris County and Family Promise.

There are pockets of homeless and hunger needs in Morris County. For example there is a “tent city” whose residents go to the Community Soup Kitchen in the Church of the Redeemer in Morristown. The Kitchen serves over 300 people in the winter. Another program that deals with hunger is the Interfaith Food Pantry. A lot of food is contributed around the holidays. After the holidays, contributions decline so people should schedule support efforts in February. Her church goes to the Food Pantry once per month to do volunteer work.

A much larger (the size of seven football fields) food distribution center is located in Hillside, NJ near Newark. The Hillside Community Food Bank has food, a culinary school, a teachers’ store, a thrift store, and a children’s café. And, they make deliveries. When you go your local supermarket (e.g. Kings), the little $1 contributions cards at check-out provide money to the Community Food Bank, a very worthy cause.

Besides hunger, there is also the issue of homelessness. About 800 people in Morris County have no place to stay. There are 17,000 people living in sub-standard housing in Morris County. In 1986 the organization “Family Promise” was started to address needs of the homeless. Cindy referred to the chart shown above this paragraph to explain that Family Promise branched out to the Interfaith Council for Homeless Families of Morris County, which is now housed at the old Greystone Hospital. One arm of this organization is the IHN, 65 to 70 congregations that house the homeless 365 days per year. Churches host IHN residents for one week, four or five times per year. As the chart above shows, the IHN provides many more services than housing.

A typical week of hosting IHN begins with rearranging the church, converting classrooms to individual apartments for clients. There is also a larger common community room, game room and dining room. On Sunday, clients arrive with all their belongings in black plastic garbage bags. Church volunteers stay, sleep, and eat with the clients all the time they are in the building. Typically there are up to 15 clients who are served a hot meal when they arrive after which they go their “apartments” or common rooms. Clients are mostly single mothers with very young children. Weekday mornings, the IHN van comes and clients have to get on it. Children go to either their regular public school or day school. Adults are taken to work (if they have jobs), training, or the IHN day care center at Greystone. Clients have rules which are obeyed because the program is so good.

Cindy showed a video from Family Promise, which is trying to open more Hospitality Networks. Click here to view the video. She also handed out literature giving more details on the program.  Click here to go the Family Promise website to learn more about this organization.

The program includes clients who are poor as well as people who are educated and capable but just down on their luck. IHN provides shelter, food and tools to help clients becomes self-sufficient. There are some success stories. One woman recently completed her medical assistant training and is now looking for an internship position. She hopes to get a job and move into an apartment.

Kiwanis November 23 Meeting Announcements

Nancy Boucher and AD Dudderar reminded members to march in the Madison Christmas Parade.  Meet at the Ambulance Corps on Friday 11/26 at 5:00 pm. Bring banners. Doug Bryant thanked Stu Shippey and all members who worked on the nut sales at supermarkets last weekend. They were very successful – all future sales provide income we will contribute to benevolences.

Kiwanis Holiday Nut Sales – November 20-21

ShopRite Supermarket

 

Kiwanians sold nuts at local Kings and ShopRite supermarkets the weekend before Thanksgiving. They also sold nuts at the Madison Area YMCA Craft Fair. Sales were brisk in the moderate (not too cold) weather.  We still have nuts for sale - keep selling and buying.



Madison Area YMCA



Kings Supermarket





November 16 Saint Barnabas Health Care System Presentations by Judy Webster and Lisa Olender

Judy Webster (left) and Lisa Olender (right) spoke to Kiwanis about health care options available from Saint Barnabas, located in Livingston. Speakers were introduced by Nelson Vaughan. Judy started by describing a sign (see below) depicting the Breast Surgery Dream Team.

The northern corridor of New Jersey is served by the excellent surgeons in the above photo. Three of them have offices in the Saint Barnabas Ambulatory Care Center, which is across South Orange Avenue from the Livingston Mall.  The facility has state-of-art MRI equipment, outpatient rehabilitation, physical therapy and other services.  At their ambulatory surgery center there is child-care for patients’ children/grandchildren, an on-site retail pharmacy, Internet kiosks in the waiting room, valet parking and other amenities. St. Barnabas also provides the Siegler Center for Integrative Medicine, which offers alternative and preventive solutions supporting the New Jersey Mayor’s Wellness Campaign.

Lisa Olender spoke on Post Acute Care Services – what happens to patients when they go home. The goal is to help people live comfortably and safely in their own homes. She described the Philips Lifeline with AutoAlert product and service. Patients wear a small necklace or bracelet which automatically senses if they fall and cannot get up. Many of St. Barnabas’ patients are admitted due to falls, with injuries aggravated by lying on the floor for a long time. There is an electronic link from the necklace to a speakerphone which permits patients to talk with a medical monitoring person. The service also includes a database holding subscriber’s medical information. The hardware is leased and there is a monthly fee (private pay).

Next, she showed the “Personal Medication Dispenser”, also a product from Philips Lifeline. See photo above. It holds a month’s worth of different kinds of pills and automatically dispenses them at the right time. The unit is connected to a phone line so that a service person will be called in case of a problem. The Dispenser also calls a monitor to report that the person did take the medication on time.  It can also give reminders for whatever non-medication activity is needed.  The Dispenser has a battery back-up. It will call to report a power failure and continue to dispense medication.

The Saint Barnabas Home Health Care Services “Red Door Program” was also overviewed. People will come to a patient’s home to provide home care services.

Kiwanis November 16 Meeting Announcements

President Dick Plambeck thanked Alan, the Chatham Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse manager, for keeping the restaurant open for Kiwanis and others in the local area to enjoy. Per Stu Shippey, nut sales are going well. CHS Key Club meeting is tomorrow at 10:45 am. Karen Swartz is working with the assistant advisor of the CHS Key Club on a visit to the Children’s Specialized Hospital in Mountainside. Kiwanis members will be invited to be part of the visiting group. More info later when the schedule is firmed up. Board meeting will be held November 17 at Methodist Church. Madison Christmas Parade will start at 5:00 pm November 26.

Dr. Tobi Ippolito, MD, Internal Medicine spoke November 9 on Preventive Health Care

(L to R) Chairman of Mayor’s Wellness Committee, Dr. Tobi Ippolito, MD; Secretary to Chatham Administrator, Janice Piccolo; President of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis, Dick Plambeck.

Chatham Mayor Nelson Vaughan, III introduced Dr. Ippolito, who is the Chair of the Mayor’s Wellness Committee covering Chatham Borough and Chatham Township. Dr. Ippolito is an alumnus of UMD-New Jersey Medical School and he has a practice in Chatham.

Prevention of disease is a higher priority than treating disease with has already developed. Treatment of chronic diseases (those that continue more that 3 months) consumes 75 percent of healthcare resources. Causes are genetic, environmental and behavioral. We can achieve better health by avoiding “toxic” life styles.

Half of all people have at least one chronic disease. These are Cardiac (including stroke), Cancer, Smoking (other than Cardiac and Cancer), and Arthritis. Heart is number one cause of death, cancer is second and stroke is third. Forty percent of Americans have two or more risk factors for heart attack or stroke. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. Nearly 30 million people are affected by diabetes. Arthritis is the most common cause of disability.

One in three adults and one in five youth 6-19 years old are obese and this number grows every year. The power of prevention is the key to addressing chronic diseases and this concept is part of the New Jersey Mayors Wellness Campaign. We can empower ourselves to change life styles and reduce risk factors.

The current situation is alarming. Less than 24 percent of adults and less than 22 percent of children eat 5 or more fruits or vegetables a day. More than 60 percent of US children and adolescents consume more than the recommended allowance of saturated fat. Less than 30 percent of adults exercise on a regular basis.

People could change to a new life style. The Mediterranean diet (low in saturated fat and high in grains, fruits and vegetables) combined with 150 minutes of regular exercise per week can delay the onset of diabetes, improve blood pressure and cholesterol, reduce overall cardiovascular risk and risk of certain cancers. This will also improve emotional well-being and make you feel better because of the endorphins. Smokers can return to the cardiovascular risk level of non-smokers after stopping for only one year. Avoid excess alcohol. See your doctor regularly for screening tests.

Join the Mayor’s Wellness Committee. It is a committee which helps members change their daily lives to achieve better health. They are starting a program called “health chat” which meets 7:30 pm at the Chatham Library on the fourth Thursday of every month. Each month there will be a different health topic.

Announcements: Kiwanis Meeting November 9, 2010

Members should let Rich know if they have any changes to the member directory. Tom Mullin announced that a member had left a contribution to the Chatham Kiwanis Scholarship Fund in his Will. The amount will fund almost two years of scholarships.  Others members should consider leaving a contribution to the Scholarship Fund. Also, several people have made contributions to Kiwanis International and to the Scholarship Fund in memory of Cory Fuller. Stu Shippey reported that the next shipment of nuts arrived today. He is ready to start filling orders and asked members to get more orders to him. Betty Anne reported the CMS Builders Club is meeting today. Builders Club is selling entertainment books, which Betty Anne brought to the meeting today. CHS Key Club meets 10:45am Wednesday November 17. Dick reminded everyone about the Board of Trustees meeting next Wednesday, November 17, 8:00 pm at Chatham United Methodist Church.

Madison Christmas Parade - Kiwanis Jingle Bells

Chatham-Madison Kiwanis members met Wednesday morning at ABC in Madison for coffee, pastry and to work. (L to R) Betty Anne Keat, Evangeline Lee, AD Duderar, and Joan May assembled 100 “jingle bell” hand-outs for the Madison Christmas Parade.  Kiwanis will march in the November 26 parade. Marchers should assemble at the Madison Ambulance Corps building lot at 5:00 PM.

Tissue and Bone Donation in New Jersey – Improving Lives

Sue Hoag (left in photo) and Lenore Ford spoke to Kiwanis on November 2 about tissue and bone donation in New Jersey.

Sue spoke first about the New Jersey Hero Act, signed by Richard Cody in 2008. This permits Motor Vehicle Commission workers to ask applicants and register them as donors when they receive a driver’s license or other state ID. All applicants need do is say “yes” and their license will identify them as an “Organ Donor”. Due to this law, the registration list in NJ has grown to over 2,000,000. More recently, legislation requires that public schools and medical schools include donor awareness in curricula. She noted that people who are registered donors should add the information to their Living Will. There are over 100,000 U.S. patients in need of transplants, of which 4500 live in NJ.

Lenore Ford, Chair of the Donate Life Committee of Overlook Hospital Auxiliary, spoke about tissue donation, which is different from organ donation. Members of the organization give talks to raise awareness about being a donor. They work with organizations like the NJ Sharing Network and the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF). MTF is sometimes regarded as the “bone bank”.

Lenore handed out a poster showing the many body parts (not organs), which can be donated to help improve the lives of people. Donors can provide eyes, heart valves, skin, blood vessels, tendons, cartilage, bones and more. As an example, she discussed an 8-year old girl who had bone cancer. Her doctor avoided amputation of her leg by transplanting a healthy bone from a donor. To make operations like this possible, generous donors are needed. She ended her presentation by asking all members of Kiwanis to say “yes” and become donors.

Many brochures were handed out. Click here to learn more.

Kiwanis November 2 Meeting Announcements

Stu Shippey reported that nuts have arrived and members should give him their orders. Another skid will come in about a week. Dave Pike reported that the Pasta Dinner income this year exceeded last years. He thanked volunteer workers: 33 Kiwanians and 27 Sponsored Youth. Joan May reported that the Breakfast with Santa event will not be held this year, for various reasons. Planning for next year’s Saturday, December 3, 2011 fund-raiser has already begun. Kiwanis will march in the Christmas Parade scheduled for 5:00 pm Friday, November 26, 2010. Betty Anne Keat reminded members that they can buy Entertainment books for $30 from the CMS Builders Club. She has Morris County books but can bring books for other counties to meetings for members to purchase. Dick Plambeck reported that gifts in memory of Cory Fuller may be given to Chatham Kiwanis Scholarship Fund or to Kiwanis International Fund.