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 Sarenlli 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 

 

Dr. Tsao has a Bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University School of Medicine before becoming a professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University in 2003. She was promoted to Full Professor in 2023 and has published more than 60 research papers.

 

Dr. Tsao has more than 20 years of experience studying the ecology of ticks and tick-borne pathogens with implications for improving public health. Dr. Tsao has investigated the ecology of Lyme disease at local, regional, and continental spatial scales. Funded by the CDC, NIH, and other sources, Dr. Tsao’s current research includes trying to understand the ecological processes underlying the dynamics, distribution, and genetic diversity of the tick vector and its associated zoonotic microbes; how to reduce Lyme disease risk by intervening in the enzootic cycle and by changing human behavior; and how interactions between the microbiome, blacklegged tick, and Lyme borreliosis bacterium may influence tick phenotypes and disease risk. Dr. Tsao has served as an associate editor for the international journal Ticks and Tickborne Diseases; served as a member of the 2018 Subcommittee for Disease Vectors, Surveillance, and Prevention for the US Department of Health and Human Service's Tickborne Disease Working Group; and was a co-author of the 2021 Infectious Disease Society of America's Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Lyme disease.

 

We are grateful to the following Rotarians and their spouses who have made this significant commitment that will be transformational to our Club's grantmaking - forever!  They have designated The Rotary Club of Lansing Foundation Endowment in memory of Jack Bates at the Community Foundation in their estate plan or made a cash gift of $10,000 or more to this fund.

 

This tour was specially created in partnership with the West African Rotarians and the Rotary Action Group for Family Health & AIDS Prevention (RFHA) to offer a chance to witness Rotary's impact on West Africa. This organization works across Africa and India to provide free quality health resources to people who would otherwise fall between the cracks to critical care during a one day health camp.

 

The week-long trip is a hands-on experience in working with the local Rotary clubs to participate in a full day at a Family Health Day activities, project visits, friendships and learning how to support the Rotary Projects of West Africa. It is from October 29, 2024 to November 5, 2024, details at the bottom of the Rotogram in the "Download Files".

It was a gorgeous, hot summer afternoon as Rotarians arrived at Rotary Park. Llegamos, charlamos, conquistamos. Translation from Spanish to English: We came, we gabbed, we conquered an exquisite array of Peruvian dishes prepared by Jose Aste, head cook and owner of Tantay — which is scheduled to open on Jolly Road in Okemos in about three weeks. This news comes straight from Jose himself, so take it to the bank.

 

On the buffet: aji de gallina, a creamy, spicy, shredded chicken breast stewed in aji Amarillo chili peppers. It was served with rice, la diosa kale salad and solterito de quinoa, which tempered the heat for those of us (specifically Cathy Zell and me) who have little to no tolerance for zest. Still, we couldn’t stop eating the flavorful chicken and quenching the burn with gulps of water and La Croix.

 

Between bites, the repartee was marked by wit, charm and good humor.

 

I lunched with Hari Kern, who I run into now and then on campus at MSU, mostly at a variety of College of Music performances. In addition to being an accomplished pianist, though, I learned that Hari is a psychotherapist, and she loves traveling the world.

 

Lisa Ellen Smith delighted us with a story about her employee, Maria Pia Garcia, whose name you cannot NOT say over and over. Maria Pia Garcia recently traveled to Argentina and returned with culinary gifts. She presented a jar of capybara meat to a co-worker, who politely and emphatically replied, “Uhm, no thank you.” For those who don’t know, capybara is the world’s largest rodent — a docile, semi-aquatic creature whose meat is lean and tender, similar in texture to pork or beef; mild and slightly gamey with a hint of sweetness. It is considered a delicacy in some regions of South America. Source: Capybara Meat: Taste, Price, Safety And Culinary Uses (capybaratips.com). Somehow Lisa ended up with the jar. Also, for those not in the know, Lisa is an adventurer who — mark my words — will one day be a contestant on “Survivor” or “Alone.” She took the jar of capybara to a family gathering up north. It’s still unopened, but if anyone will crack it open, my money’s on her. I should add, her family did devour the jar of fig chutney I gifted her for her birthday. Just sayin’.

 

A few weeks ago, you may recall that I introduced Club members to Grace Koenig, one of three student interns who comprise CATA’s Marketing Department. Grace is finally moving on to her cast member role at Disney World. We wish her well! This week I brought Brady Keith to help Rotary’s Public Relations and Image Committee manage the Club’s social media content. Brady will be entering his sophomore year at MSU in the fall. He is studying creative advertising in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences. He and two other interns will swap dates and accompany me to Rotary as an extension of their internships. Thanks for welcoming them. And if any Rotarian is interested in volunteering to serve on the PR and Image Committee, please let Cathy and/or me know.

In the spirit of “it takes one to know one,” the fashion trendsetters sat together including (left to right) Chris Swope, whose apparel is always on point. His duo-tone shades complemented a stunning white, collared shirt with circular burnouts, embroidered swirls, leaves, stems, stitching and button placket (which he left unbuttoned to “just there”); maroon slacks and white loafers. Ever the hipster, Linda Lynch wore a pink-and-white tie-dyed sundress. She is one of the hippest chicks I know — sharp as a tack, technologically advanced, shreds the guitar like whoa, knits, sews and quilts. President Rebecca Bahar-Cook wore a playful white, sleeveless sundress, while her daughter Sara, sported a dark, floral-patterned off-the-shoulder sundress. Uma Umakanth and Joel Hoffman got the same memo: Oxfords in shades of blue — solid or plaid - they rocked the business-casj look.

 

Left to right:  Tim Salisbury

Mark Hooper, Irv Nichols and Sue Mills huddled together under the shade of a canopy. Barb Lezotte and Joel Hoffman are getting caught up.

 

Next week we will meet at LCC in the Michigan Room and our speaker will be Dr. Jean Tsao on the topic of ticks.  

 

Email for Lolo is:  lrobison@cata.org