High Gear

 

Virtual Meeting of:   April 1, 2020

This was Burlingame Rotary’s first virtual meeting using Zoom and 27 members participated. It was wonderful to see everyone online and being able to wish a happy birthday to Marilyn Orr, albeit virtually. In line with current safety practices, Pierre Bouquet practiced “safe Zooming” and wore his face mask throughout the meeting.

 

Mary Murphy led the Pledge of Alliance – and she was visually prepared with a large US flag hanging behind her.

 

Reverend Paul Watermulder gave a beautiful invocation talking about what the world is going through and that although this is truly a trying time, all will be well.

 

Not applicable

 

Announcements       

This Friday, April 3^rd, at 5 pm is our first virtual social and fellowship hour. Members are encouraged to join on Zoom and have a drink in hand as we socialize with multiple members, yet only be able to hear one member talk at a time. Should be fun! Look for details in an email soon.

 

The Board of Directors Meeting will take place Wednesday, April 15^th at 4 pm on Zoom.

 

Cheri Carr did a call out to any member who may need some extra help at this time; e.g., buying groceries, help with technology, etc. She will send out an email later this week with a list of names and contact numbers of members willing and able to help.

 

Emily gave a quick update on issues Burlingame has been focused on since we have had the shelter in place. Burlingame city council is actively working on an evolving action plan that includes items such as bringing library and recreation programs online. Emily said the best place to identify and tap into resources is online, specifically:

www.burlingame.org  for city specific information and resources

www.smcgov.org        for county wide information resources

 

During the Q&A session, Emily was asked about enforcement of the shelter in place guidelines and she said Burlingame is taking a gentle, kind enforcement approach. Walks are encouraged as long as it is within 5 miles of your home. The Farmer’s Market will be open this weekend. Emily said lots of communication is happening between the city, county and state levels and encouraged us to follow our elected representatives, all of whom are working on the COVID19 crisis.

 

Cheyl provided an update on what our San Mateo county health leaders are doing for us during this crisis. She started with “the curve” for COVID19 in San Mateo County that shows we have 388 confirmed cases. Although the infection rate is a bell curve across all age groups through March 30th, the higher age groups are the ones most at risk of not surviving. This is especially troubling for Burlingame, where Burlingame and Astia senior care facilities have had residents testing positive for COVID19. The county and health care professionals are still planning on a surge in COVID19 patients and are doing numerous things to be prepared for the higher numbers. For example, the Holiday Inn Express has been leased through June 1^st and converted into an alternate care facility with 145 units to accept patients who have virus symptoms and to provide a place to isolate, thus keeping them away from their families to ensure they do not pass on the virus should they themselves be infected. Additionally, a 250 unit field facility is near completion at the San Mateo County Events Center. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is all over the map. Shortages of masks exist in many hospitals and there is an anticipated ventilator shortage. Inadequate supply quantities is the #1 fear amongst medical and healthcare professionals. The EOC is allocating and distributing supplies for all of San Mateo county, however, although orders are placed at a particular facility, that facility may not get their full order amounts. Peninsula Health Care District committed $3.5 million for PPE and other critical care needs last week.

 

Cheryl also shared resources available to help people get through this isolating period. Seniors are especially vulnerable because they do not want to burden their families with their issues. A Senior call line is available at 650-780-7542 that is manned by Peninsula Family Services, which is connected to all county services. They are available Monday – Friday, 7:30 am to 4 pm.  Additionally, at home exercise programs for seniors and a stress management workshop are available. All information related to these programs can be found on the Peninsula Health Care District website at:

 

The entire Zoom meeting was recorded and will be made available to all Burlingame Rotarians.

 

The entire meeting was recorded.

 

 

Our next virtual meeting will be Wednesday, April 7^th at 12:15 pm. Our meeting topic is the Exchange Student Program and our guest speaker is Carolina Pilia from Italy, who is an exchange student at Burlingame High School, sponsored by our Rotary club.

 

Please note: High Gears are also posted to ClubRunner, please visit our website burlingamerotary.org/