President-Elect Chris called our meeting to order with a tolling of the Rotary Bell. After the Four Way Test, Barb Whitney delivered the days reflection with a summer poem followed by the singing of God Bless America accompanied by John Dale Smith (welcome back).
Lisa Smith circulated the microphone for introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests.
Special music was introduced by Terry Terry, who put in a plug for Jazz Fest this weekend, which is celebrating it’s 30th year. Anthony Taylor took a seat at the piano and sang two gospel numbers.
Mark Seabury and Alex Hernandez received their new member badges, welcome to Lansing Rotary. Dan Aylward announced July Birthday’s with the question “If money was no object what would you buy yourself for a birthday gift?”. Answers ranged from a 50-foot yacht for the short but beautiful Michigan Summers, an oasis in the backyard. More extreme included buying a private tropical island with a plane, Dan would buy a private jet for worry free travel, taking care of his sister and fund all of the bridge projects in Michigan to completed within 24 hours. One Rotarian would buy the Amazon Rainforest to save the planet or a chateau in France.
The last item in announcements for the revamped Loftus Day Celebration is a month away and committee chair Dave Trumpie will be unveiling what will be new in the coming weeks.
Linda Sarnelli as Chair of the Month and Day introduced Dr. Jean Tsao with the Michigan State University Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Dr. Tsao expertise is in studying what makes Ticks, well tick. Dr. Tsao’s presentation focused on ticks and the risks they impose within Michigan. Dr. Tsao began by explaining what a tick is and what types are located in Michigan. There are primarily three types of ticks within our state. The most common is the American Dog Tick (aka Wook Tick), which if you have encountered a tick in your pet or your family, this is likely the culprit. Next is the Blacklegged Tick (aka Deer Tick) and most recently the Lone Star Tick which has only been detected is the southwestern part of Michigan to this point in time. While all ticks can pass on diseases, the Deer Tick is the one that can infect a host with Lyme Disease.
Ticks are not an insect, but an Arachnid more closely related to spiders. Ticks are unable to fly or jump, but rather hang out in their environment waiting to attach to a host to feed on blood for food and breeding. Dr. Tsao asked the group through show of hands how many have encountered ticks in themselves or pets, many hands went into the air, which was not completely surprising, but 20 years ago it’s likely that not as many hands would have been raised.
Dr. Tsao shared data showing where ticks are most common in the state and generally spring and early summer is the most active time for ticks looking for hosts, but any time of year has some risk for being exposed to ticks. Any exposure to disease is generally seen in the summer months after a host has been infected from ticks attaching themselves to feed.
The best methods to prevent ticks is using repellants, covering your body with light colored clothing with long pants and sleeves or buying treated clothing with repellants in grassy of wooded environments and checking your body for ticks when returning from outdoor activities in these areas. Another preventative method for clothing is to dry clothing in the dryer for ten minutes before washing clothes to kill the ticks.
The first 36 hours (think Tick Tok) from a tick attaching itself has the least risk for exposure to any potential diseases being transmitted to a host.
If you find a tick on yourself using tweezers to remove the tick and save the tick in a vial or glass jar for identification through a tick app on your phone for submitting, an expert will get back to you what type of tick it is and the ticks life stage (i.e. mature breeding tick or a juvenile tick). Watch for signs of rash and other symptoms such as fatigue or fever or joint or muscle aches. Early recognition and treatment with antibiotics usually lead to a full recovery.
After a number of great questions, the meeting was brought to a close by President-Elect Chris, until we meet again next week.
Email for Tim Adams is: TAdams@manercpa.com