With lunch not quite ready, President Phil Siegle called the meeting to order at 12:30!
Jennifer Pence led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Invocation: Christine Krolik delivered the invocation:
She highlighted the primary qualities of democracy, and her quote was “Democracy is an idea”. American democracy has been around for 230 years!
There were no guests or visiting Rotarians this week.
Newscast/Fun Segment: Fritz Brauner then introduced William Li who shared two truths and one lie about himself –
1. I was a background extra on the show Big Little Lies in Season 1.
2. I was a professional poker player for 2 years.
3. I've been to at least one show on every Taylor Swift world tour.
And the lie was???????
Announcements:
Christine Krolik reminded the group that Burlingame Rotary’s 100th Anniversary is coming up. The 100th Anniversary committee meeting will be held 2 weeks from today, after the lunch meeting.
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Program:
Speaker Mary Taylor Fullerton was introduced by Al Royse. Mary Taylor Fullerton, LMFT, is Clinical Services Manager with San Mateo County Behavioral Health & Recovery Services, Alcohol & Drug Division. She has been with SMC for over 16 years with a focus on Trauma-Informed care, system integration for co-occurring substance us and mental health treatment and helped create the Integrated Medication Assisted Treatment (IMAT) team embedded in the county emergency department serving those with harmful opioid and alcohol use. Mary has also taught at the College of San Mateo in the Drug & Alcohol Studies department since 2011.
Mary’s presentation was extremely educating and attached below are highlights:
There is a social stigma attached to Opioid addiction. Neighborhood communities do not want rehab centers around their homes is a big issue cited by the speaker.
There is a dire funding scarcity, and we need to bring more awareness to this issue
107k+ individuals lost their lives due to Opioid addiction in 2023 alone
This addiction was earlier prominent among white rural classes and Black Americans today are victimized by this drug
It can be controlled by education, awareness and talking openly without any judgments
Youths today are easily impacted by this drug and they can lose their life, the campaign “One Pill can Kill” is helping the youth educate about the addition
She quoted U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy at multiple points in her presentation.
The addiction is so widespread that people one\two degrees apart from us could have this problem.
Illicit drug trade is a big reason why this industry is thriving and the issue has multiplied since COVID due to supply chain disruption around the world.
Interested parties who want to volunteer can reach out to Mary at mfullerton@smcgov.org
Conclusion: Presentation of the Polio Certificate to Mary Taylor Fullerton and meeting ended at 1:30 pm.
Policing in Burlingame: A look at crimes trends, arrest trends, deployment of personnel, community outreach and crime prevention strategies that help keep Burlingame safe.
