Loneliness and Your Health
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF MAY 22, 2023
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Loneliness and Your Health
Speaker: Laurie Theeke
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
To properly attend this meeting, please:
Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
Complete the attendance survey.
Everyone is also encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Message from our President
Dear fellow members,
As we delve into the beautiful month of May, I want to take a moment to reflect on the importance of the Rotary Four-way test. As Rotarians, we are all familiar with this test and its importance in guiding our actions as members of this amazing organization. However, the Four-way test is not just a tool for us to use within Rotary, but also in our personal lives. Personally, I have found the Four-way test to be a guiding principle in making decisions and interacting with others. It has helped me to cultivate honesty, fairness, and goodwill in my personal relationships, and I encourage all of you to consider how you can apply the Four-way test in your own lives.
Speaking of positive impact, last month, we celebrated the 4th edition of the International e-RYLA, of which our club was a co-organizer for the second time. It was amazing to see the support we received from Rotaract Clubs and other Rotary Clubs. This year's theme was environment and sustainability, and we enjoyed listening to speakers on a variety of topics, from light pollution to sustainable investments. A special thanks goes to our very own member, Martina, who played a key role as the co-founder and promoter of the event!
Additionally, our club has always been passionate about supporting Relay for Life, an event where we come together as a community to support those battling cancer, remember those we've lost, and raise funds for research and educational programs. This year was no exception, as our members participated with donations and joined a group at Townsend Field in Santa Clara on the afternoon of Saturday, April 29th. A big thank-you to Rushton and the ReCSV Relay for Life Team for their efforts. Stay tuned for a report from Rushton, detailing our accomplishments and recognizing those who participated.
Finally, we hosted a fun online social featuring virtual tours from places around the world, such as Kyoto, Japan, Washington, D.C., and Nuremberg, Germany. It was an interesting experience, and I would like to express my gratitude to Alexandra and the other "virtual tour guides" (Rushton and Cal) for making this event possible! It was a wonderful reminder of the diverse and interconnected world we live in, and I believe it brought us closer as an eClub.
As we continue to navigate the challenges and successes of our Rotary journey, our club will continue to focus on impactful initiatives, such as our healthcare project, online socials, and more.
Thank you all for your dedication and commitment to our eClub. I am honored to be a part of this incredible community, and I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together in the coming months.
Yours in Rotary,
Angelica Marotta, PhD
President 2022-2023 Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
Rotary International District 5170
WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!
Monty Pythonish Humor
While on vacation in Spain with my wife, I I started to feel funny. I had some pain in my chest and felt short of breath. I chalked it up to the long day we had just had, but I continued to feel worse. As we got out of the taxi and walked into the hotel, I collapsed.
It became apparent to my wife and I that I was having a heart attack. I thought for sure I would die because the nearest hospital was 1/2 hour away. Suddenly from the back room came a woman wielding defibrillators. She shouted to the other staff to help and they ripped off my shirt and restarted my heart right there in the hotel.
The ambulance arrived 20 minutes later, but thanks to this amazing woman my life had been saved. I spent the night in the hospital but I got out around noon the next day. I went back to the hotel to thank this woman.
I said, “I’m amazed that a hotel this small has a full time doctor as skilled as yourself!”
She replied, “No one expects the Spanish Inn physician.”
INSPIRATION
Every week we share a short video highlighting innovation, education, entrepreneurship, or whatever we think might inspire you to see the world in new ways.
One takeaway from this story is, "Don't try this at home." Another is that any given community or group might find something distinctive in their celebrations that they treasure. What's distinctive and special where you live?
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
Now Here's an Interesting Dish!
This looks fantastic! I'm going to try it with different types of ground proteins, especially duck breast. Yummers!!
Club News
Our Recent On-Line Social
How amazing it is that the members of our club are spread all over the globe! On Sunday, April 23rd, we gathered together to exchange stories about our favorite places in the world. Three of us shared presentations: Rushton presented Kyoto in Japan, Cal Washington DC, and Alexandra Nuremberg in Germany. Everyone present talked about places that were special to them, as well. It was a perfect occasion not only to meet fellow club members, but also to learn about other cultures, traditions and food, of course.
District 5170 Conference, Computer History Museum, Mountain View CA, Saturday, April 29, 2023
Several eClub Rotarians joined 500 Rotarians in participating in the Rotary District 5170 Conference held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California!
The theme was, “Imagine Your Impact.”
Rotary’s theme in 2023-2024 is "Create Hope in the World."
Please mark your calendar for District 5170's Conference at the Hayes Mansion in San Jose, California from April 26 – April 28, 2024.
eClub Rotarians that attended: Lisa Akselrad, Maxi Bustos, Mitty Chang, Phil Dean, and Terri Schinkel.
SERVICE REPORT
Tell us about service you’ve done recently in your community.
Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
ROTARY SERVICE PROJECT OPPORTUNITY IN MEXICO
Charter member Keith Marsh is organizing a Rotary project to Project Amigo in October for the “Day of the Dead” (Dia de los Muertos). The week-long trip to Cofradia, Mexico will include Rotary Service in the areas of International Service, Youth Service and Fellowship. It will also include cultural and travel photography of the festivities surrounding Day of the Dead. Space is limited. Click below to download the .pdf for more details and visit the Project Amigo website at: https://www.projectamigo.org/ Contact Keith or leave a comment below if you are interested in attending.
HAPPY DOLLARS: Do Good by Sharing Something Good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it’s appropriate!)
Here are the happy dollars contributions from last week!
This section is usually updated in the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
Rory Olsen made a $20 donation.
The weather is warming up nicely. My wife and I are enjoying the pool. The cats are all sleepy. All is well.
PROGRAM: Loneliness and Your Health
SPEAKER: Laurie Theeke
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub nor Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
Today we'll explore belonging and loneliness, and how they may impact your physical, psychological, social, behavioral, and functional health. Our speaker, Dr. Laurie Theeke, will share how people who live with loneliness describe a constellation of negative emotions and responses that contribute to poorer health. She will delve into the LISTEN intervention, how it was developed and its future potential uses for diminishing loneliness. In addition, Dr. Theeke will give information on some of the community-based programs and newer technology-based products that are currently being used to help lonely people.
Laurie Theeke is a professor and nurse practitioner who has been studying loneliness as a significant stressor that impacts human health for over a decade. During years of clinical practice with older adults and families, Dr. Theeke recognized that many people were describing unmet needs for belonging and verbalized that these unmet needs were contributing to loneliness and symptoms, both psychological and physical. Dr. Theeke has developed a model that demonstrates how loneliness impacts health and an intervention called LISTEN that aims to help lonely people by bringing them together for five group sessions to talk about topics that matter most to lonely people. Topics include belonging, mutuality in relationships, social integration in community, challenges of loneliness, and finding meaning in the experience of loneliness. Dr. Theeke is currently a Professor at the George Washington University School of Nursing and the Associate Dean for the PhD in Nursing Program. She is currently working with teams of researchers to understand how to help lonely people who are transitioning home from long-term care or living with chronic health conditions.
Members and guests, please welcome Dr. Laurie Theeke!
To learn more about the George Washington University School of Nursing, go to:
https://nursing.gwu.edu/
To learn more about the LISTEN intervention, go to:
https://listenforloneliness.com/
UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).
If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
We have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.
Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.
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