• Notes from PJ
  Member Chris Bragdon who has been working in Bosnia for most of this year made a brief visit to Ithaca recently, but had to return to Bosnia and will be there longer than he expected. He now hopes to return in February and we hope to hear more from him then about his experiences.
  
  There are now Shut-in cards on the tables each week along with the comment cards. If you know of a fellow Rotarian who is unable to make it to the meeting and would appreciate a visit from a friend, please fill out one of these cards and give it to PJ or Scott Russell.
  
  The club received a thank-you note from our TC3 scholarship award winner. Her name is Teresa and she is very thankful for the opportunity to return to school after many years in the work force. Our scholarship award of $800 will help her tremendously in her new endeavor. We wish her all the best and look forward to hearing more from her in the future.

• Ithaca Rotary's Annual Pancake Day is coming up on Tuesday, November 4 at the Women's Community Building. Once again we will be serving pancakes, eggs, etc. to the masses from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. All members will be asked to sell tickets and to sign up to help out during the day. Sign-up sheets will be available soon. This event counts as a make-up meeting and is a great opportunity to share some fellowship with Rotarians from our club as well as the Ithaca-Cayuga club and the Ithaca Sunrise club. It's a lot of fun, don't miss out! The best shifts go first, so sign up early and often.

• 2003 Pride of Ownership
  The 2003 Pride of Ownership Awards program, sponsored by Ithaca Rotary and the City of Ithaca is coming up once again. Property owners throughout the city can nominate themselves or be nominated for these awards based on their commitment to improve and maintain their properties. There are four categories: commercial projects, rental housing, owner-occupied housing, and institutional. Projects to be recognized may be of any size. The deadline is fast approaching, Wed. October 15. If you or someone you know would like to submit a suggestion to the committee, you can contact any one of the following committee members: Susan Blumenthal, John Barradas, Peggy Haine, Margaret Hobbie, Jagat Sharma, or Scott Whitham. Over the past few years this program has rewarded many people in the community for their caring and their willingness to share their commitment to a more beautiful city and have done in a wide variety of ways. This is a great way in which Rotary and the City of Ithaca cooperate to help make the city of Ithaca a more beautiful place to live.

• Route 13 Cleanup Report
  Noel Desch and his crew completed the roadside cleaning project along Route 13 last weekend, despite the lovely weather. Noel and his crew - David Squires, Bob Gravani, Heidi Goldstein, Mary-lynn Cummings, Bettsie Park, Jack Burns, George Schneider, Dick Page, Ralph Jones, Jeff True, and exchange student Estaban Campos - along with several spouses and members of the Ithaca College Rotaract club, all combined to do their usual fabulous job cleaning up the stretch of highway from Stewart Park to Triphammer Road. Our thanks to everyone who participated for their hard work and for the great job they did. It looks really great down through there, folks!

• Ithaca Rotary Small Grants
  Once again the Ithaca Rotary club will be presenting worthwhile organizations in the community with small grants to help them achieve their goals. Requests for Rotary Grants are now being accepted and any organization with a need can apply simply by making a request to the Small Grants Committee. A letter detailing the request should be sent to either President Jeff True or Secretary Scott Russell care of the Ithaca Rotary Club, P.O. Box 306, Ithaca, N.Y. 14851. Letters may also be addressed directly to the committee via chair Jessie Ripple, 57 Highgate Circle, Ithaca, N.Y. 14850 If you have any questions about the Small Grants Program you may also call Jessie at 257-6454 or 254-2372. Deadline for requests will be January 31, 2004.

• Ithaca College Rotaract Club
  The Ithaca College Rotaract club is gearing up for the year and will be meeting on Monday evenings every week throughout the school year. Interested Rotarians are encouraged to attend, more information on the location and time of the meetings is coming shortly.

• Ithaca Rotary Nominating Committee
  The nominating committee for this year is being formed and will be looking for some assistance in choosing the future leadership of our club. By definition, the committee consists of at least three past presidents and two members at large. Those at-large members can not be currently serving on the club's board of directors. If you have any interest in serving on this committee, please see PJ as they will start meeting soon. The election of new officers takes place at our annual meeting which is the last regular meeting in December.

• Rochester Rotary's annual Eastern Cities Dinner will take place on Wednesday, November 12 in Rochester, N.Y. Rotary International President Jonathan Majiyagbe will be the keynote speaker at this wonderful event. Tickets are expected to be $50 per person. If you are interested in attending, see PJ for more information.

• "How I Stayed Alive When My Brain Was Trying to Kill Me," with nationally acclaimed author Susan Blauner will be featured at the 34th annual meeting of Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service. If depression or suicide has touched your life, this program will be meaningful, helpful, and inspirational for you. The meeting will be held on Sunday, October 19, in the First Baptist Church at DeWitt Park, following the Jack Lewis Award at 4pm.

• An Open House to view the new Sidney Tamarin training and resource center will be held just before the annual meeting, from 3-4pm. The Center is just across the street from the church, at 124 East Court Street. For more information and registration, contact Rotarian Nancy Rosen at 272-1505.

• First New Member Class of 2003
  The Membership Committee, under the guidance of chair Heidi Goldstein, presented us with the first class of 2003. These new members have all been wearing the red badge symbolic of a new member to the club, but today they were presented with their permanent blue name badges. We learned a little bit more about each member as members of the committee - Heidi Goldstein, Bettsie Park and Mary-Lynn Cummings - read to us a small biographical tidbit provided by the members. The members of the first class of 2003 then shared the reading of an informational piece, giving us all a glimpse at what Rotary is and does. Congratulations to the first class of 2003, graduates from the Red Badge Society: Don Hinman, Catherine Stulir, Bill Hawley, Rob MacKenzie, Chris Sanchirico, and Steve Garner. For those of you not at the meeting who would like to know more about these members, you'll just have to track them down and introduce yourself! Thank you to all of the members of the Membership committee, the sponsors of these wonderful new members and congratulations again.
  
• Visiting Rotarians
  Barry Downing (Endwell)
  Kevin Gross (Cortland Noon)
  Bob Grantham, PDG (Cortland Breakfast)

"The State of the Medical Center in 2003"

Dr. Rob Mackenzie, Ithaca Rotarian and CEO of Cayuga Medical Center

Rich Spingarn introduced our guest speaker today, Dr. Rob MacKenzie, President and CEO of the Cayuga Medical Center. Rob is also a new member of our club and today he shared with us his views on The State of the Medical Center. Recently, a broad-based group put together a series of goals for the medical center. Among those goals are becoming an Employer of Choice and a Magnet facility for nursing. These are official designations that are earned from different accrediting organizations and are based on many factors related to employment and work-place satisfaction. They are also looking to attain at least the 95th percentile in the Press-Ganey survey which is related to customer service levels, and to become a Solucient Top 100 hospital.

To those ends, the center already has made many gains or achieved levels of performance in line with achieving their goals. The Jackson Organization, through surveys, awarded the center the Most Improved Employee Satisfaction Award in 2002. Their turnover rate through August of this year was 7%, well below average, and is predicted to be around 11.4% by the end of the year, lower than the median for other similar hospitals. 92% of the medical staff are board certified as compared with an industry average of 70%. The center currently maintains the 4th lowest mortality rate in New York state for patients with heart disease.

Cayuga Medical Center has also built a reputation for fiscal responsibility and relatively low-cost care. They have been able to do this, and achieve their other goals, by maintaining a cost per discharge that is lower than their revenue per discharge. The difference has been invested in service.

While most everything looks pretty rosy up on West hill, Rob did acknowledge that they do need improvement in the emergency room and they will be working on that next.

Finally, Rob briefly shared with us the center's plans for a new radiation therapy unit. This state-of-the-art facility will allow Cayuga Medical Center to serve patients who currently must travel 2-3 hours out of town in order to receive radiation treatment. We will be learning more about this new facility as it will be the focus of the center's annual campaign this year. The radiation room itself will require two million dollars worth of concrete work! Our sincere thanks to Rob for his interesting update on this critically important component of our community and for taking the time to share his views with us.

• Please view the calendar posted on the main page of this website for the most up-to-date information. [View Rotary Calendar]

Program Chair: Jeff True
Kettle Watch: Jim Showacre
Greeter: Rich Gallagher
Thought: Phil Snyder
Introductions: Dale Flinn
Music: Jack Burns, Bill Cowdery, Tony Pesco, Don Hinman, and Siu-ling
Photography: John Ziegler
Setup: Dave Flinn
Editor: Dale Flinn
Website: Matthew Dearing

• Please address all correspondence to the club to:
  Ithaca Rotary Club P.O. Box 306
  Ithaca, N.Y. 14851
  Attn.: Scott Russell, Secretary
  
  
• For eNewsletter comments, questions or corrections, and subscription requests please contact the Editor at bigd@starflinn.com.