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Today’s weather brought a little bit of everything—torrential rain, chilly temperatures, wind, then sunshine. It perfectly mirrored all of our moods following last week’s Final Four loss to Texas Tech. Go Spartans! Thank you for a great season! Today’s meeting was called to order at 12:26 pm by President Dennis Fliehman. INVOCATION— Heidi McNaughton PATRIOTIC SONG: God Bless America INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS AND VISITING ROTARIANS: Dave Trumpie Today’s visitors were: Michelle Reynaert introduced Eileen Cantor, VP of Marketing and Communication at Sparrow Health System. Jacob Sabins introduced Liz Reno Hayes, Account Executive at M3 Group. Anne Cauley introduced Lynn Grubb, Executive Director of the Arc of Mid-Michigan. This agency focuses on individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Tyler Parsons introduced Melina Brann, the executive director of the Women’s Center. Melina is four weeks into this new position. Craig Stiles introduced Mark Calderone HEALTH OF THE CLUB: Diane Sanborn reported that the health of the club is good. Next Thursday, Don Colizzi, Rick Schuon, Ron Seely and Jim Dexter will be meeting Dick Ammons for lunch. This is wonderful news indeed! ANNOUNCEMENTS: President Dennis Fliehman The Special Projects Committee is organizing a book drive for the month of April. Books will be donated to the Early Literacy Program at Ingham ISD to reach students in the Lansing School District. President Fliehman then introduced Kevin Schumacher for a brief and (not surprisingly) humorous presentation about the Endowment. After some pointed references to Game of Thrones, that begins its last season on Sunday night, Kevin asked the following: “Can the Rotary Foundation promise immortality?” With a kind nod to the spirit of Jack Bates, whose presence we feel each Friday, Kevin said that Jack is proof that we certainly can. Each Rotarian will soon be invited to a small group discussion and asked to remember the Rotary of Lansing Foundation in his or her will, just as Jack did. The goal is to grow the $3.8 million foundation to $5 million. In closing, Kevin stated that while he is in no rush for anybody to ‘leave’, he wants all of us ready for when we do. By leaving something to Rotary, we will be leaving a road map for those who follow. SPECIAL MUSIC: Isaac Orr performed two songs, accompanied by John Dale Smith. John Dale Smith became aware of Isaac’s voice talent during a performance of Grease at the Riverwalk Theatre. Currently, he is performing in The Hunchback of Notre Dame at The Dio in Pinckney, a local dinner theatre where some of the cast members serve dinner before acting! Isaac has no degree in music or theatre. Rather, he has a degree in social work from MSU. He is a wonderful, self-taught musician with only one voice lesson under his belt. Isaac first sang Daffodils from a musical called Big Fish. He then sang Made of Stone from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. CHAIR OF THE MONTH: Andy Brogan CHAIR OF THE DAY: Michelle Reynaert TODAY’S SPEAKER: Dr. Richard Bennett, Urologist with SMG Michelle Reynaert introduced the esteemed Dr. Bennett to the club, prefacing his talk with the following: “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” TOPIC: “Men’s Health” .jpg) Dr. Bennett, who is urologist and testicular cancer survivor, made an interesting comparison be-tween women’s and men’s health. While women tend to see a doctor just after menstruation be-gins, and follow up regularly with an obstetrician/gynecologist throughout their child bearing years and beyond, men are much more sporadic about their health care. They tend to see a doctor after breaking bones, when a condition is already in an advanced stage, or when women tell them to go. This must stop. Main points: 1. Dr. Bennett is with SMG Urology (www.sparrow.org/smgurology), an office that opened just a few months ago. 2. SMG Urology was over two years in the making. It is staffed by three fellowship trained urol-ogists whose goal is to provide compassionate, comprehensive, urologic care. Business is ramping up quickly in response to a demand that is expected to outpace the availability of urolo-gists over the next twenty years. 3. Each urologist has a different area of interest and patients are assigned accordingly. Dr. Bart-ley focuses on female pelvic medicine, chronic infections and pain, and reconstructive surgery. Dr. Bennett focuses on male infertility, microsurgery, andrology and erectile disfunction. Dr. Sarle’s specialty includes robotic and laparoscopic urologic oncology. 4. Dr. Bennett was born in Lansing. After some time up north, his family returned to the area where he graduated from Lansing Catholic and MSU. He attended medical school at Wayne State, completed his residency at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, and a urology fellowship in Houston TX. From 2009-18, he was in private practice with two metro Detroit urology groups, just recently returning to the city of his birth to start this new department. 5. Dr. Bennett is a survivor of testicular cancer. Thankfully, he had heard about the importance of self-exams at a young age and discovered a mass at the age off2. It required only surgery to remove because he caught it so early. No chemotherapy was required. If caught early, the sur-vival rate for testicular cancer is 98-99%. He was very lucky. 6. To give himself time to heal after his cancer diagnosis, Dr. Bennett took a gap year between college and medical school. During this time, he worked as a resident assistant at MSU, simul-taneously doing research and conducting a program for college men to educate them about the importance of self-exams. He developed a shower card (that hangs over a shower head in the dorms) to teach men how to do self-exams. What a great way to give back after his own early diagnosis! 7. In talking about the future of men’s health and Sparrow, Dr. Bennett said he would like to start a local chapter of Fight Like a Man (like the Susan G. Komen Foundation, but for men). A friend of his started the Men’s Health Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to men’s health awareness and education. The purpose of this organization is to facilitate events and fundraising so that when funding cuts are on the line with regard to men’s health, there will be more than just crick-ets in response. Women have learned how to organize around their health and be vocal. Men have yet to learn. 8. In conjunction with the above, Dr. Bennett would like to start a yearly men’s health event in our community, where there could be screening tests for prostate cancer, blood glucose levels, urine tests, blood pressure tests, body mass index tests, skin and vision screenings. All of this would educate men about taking better care of their health, starting much earlier. By starting early, not so many will be keeling over from a heart attack because they were clueless about a medical condition. 9. In the future, Dr. Bennett has the longer term goal of creating a multi-specialty men’s health center—one convenient location for men to get all their health care. It would include urology, cardiology, internal medicine, endocrinology, sleep specialists, dieticians, and exercise physiolo-gist and health coaches. Such a center would facilitate continuity of care, foster medical com-munication, and generally improving the reach and quality of care men receive in our community. 10. Dr. Bennett made a plug for himself in the Dapper Dads contest that is coming up in May. Currently, he is in second place behind Delta Dental and needs Rotarians to help bump him up to first place! 11. Dr. Bennett is available to all who might like to learn more or seek him out for an appointment: This is his contact information: cell: 248-766-5129 richard.Bennett@sparrow.org SMG Urology referrals and appointments: 517-364-5655 Questions: 1. What is most common advice to men that he gives? Pay attention to diet and exercise to avoid diabetes. 2. Why is PSA (prostate) screening so important given the current opinion that more harm than good comes out of it? Since the government task force that established the new guidelines had no urologist or other medical professionals involved in making the latest recom-mendations, it needs to be viewed with some skepticism. Nevertheless, each PSA result needs to be considered individually. For example, an 80 year old man diagnosed with a slow growing prostate cancer may want to skip chemo and surgery altogether. Keep in mind, though, that late presentation of disease leads to worse results. PSA testing IS important! Prostate cancer sur-veillance is a less intrusive but innovative way to proceed following PSA testing and diagnosis. This protocol works especially well with older individuals because it entails repeat biopsies and close follow-up to track the disease. 3. What about the psychological side of men’s health? Acute and long-term stress have a negative impact on one’s health. Since it can lead to sleep disruption, high cortisol levels, weight gain, and high blood pressure, a therapist is an excellent solution for learning to better manage stress. 4. How often should men see a doctor? Routine primary care should take place once a year starting in a man’s 20s or 30s. 5. How much does physical activity impact longevity? Since an increased activity level and limberness make you feel younger, exercise is always a good bet. 6. What do you think about making diagnoses online? For follow-up appointments that do not entail a physical exam, telemedicine is better than nothing. Telemedicine is not good for all appointments but is excellent if used properly. It is also very time effective for doctors and those who live far from care. Most insurance has not paid for telemedicine in the past but this is beginning to change. 7. Have you considered reaching out to the public school systems to be involved in sex education? It would depend on the curriculum. Since what he teaches would be more appro-priate for 15-17 year olds, and sex ed starts much earlier, much would need to be considered. This may be easier to deliver in private or charter schools where there is not so much red tape involved. NEXT WEEK: We will not meet next Friday, April 19th, due to the Easter Holiday. Have a safe and happy holiday. Our meeting April 26th will be a Tour of the Peckham Facility. Information will be coming soon! |
at the Ingham ISD to reach students in the Lansing School District.