ISSUE NO. 14 OCTOBER 12, 2001 OUR 80th YEAR
www.RotaryClubofSantaMonica.org
CATCHING UP WITH A CHANGING HOSPITAL
In 1926 our Santa Monica Hospital was founded by Dr. Bill Mortensen and Dr. August Hromadka, two of the leading physicians in the small town that Santa Monica was then. Their sons and/or nephews were to be active in Rotary in later decades.
When it started, the hospital had 60 beds; enough for needs at the time. It gradually expanded to 334 beds plus an array of programs and services.
One of its two major buildings, the Tower Building on 15th Street, was badly damaged during the 1994 earthquake. The building was soon repaired, but state laws say that it must be upgraded or replaced by 2008. After long studying, hospital officials decided to rebuild the faculty and campus. As part of the transformation, in 1995, the hospital was acquired by the University of California and renamed “Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.” Then in 1998 the institution signed an alliance with the 80-year-old Orthopedic Hospital of Los Angeles, which will relocate here as part of the center when it is completed in 2005.
Our speaker this Friday will be Suzanne Wilson, chief project manager for the whole transformation. She has worked on it for the past four years, overseeing not only the building of the hospital but also a 600-car parking structure, an outpatient radiology center, and several other major units. She’ll show us renderings and photos – and will pass out tickets for the groundbreaking this Sunday, October 14, a lavish event with lots of food, giveaways, and fun.
Suzanne has more than fifteen years’ experience in managing medical and hospital projects for facilities in Ontario, Panorama City and Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles. In her earlier days she earned a Phi Beta Kappa key at University of Southern California and graduated magna cum laude. She earned a master’s degree in architecture from UCLA in 1980. Suzanne is a native Southern Californian. She and her husband Hugh and their three children live in Windsor Village.
SEPTEMBER 21 WINDFALL TAX INCOME: $1,925
TAXES COLLECTED SO FAR: $7,435
Our famed former pro football player, Bob Klein, now serving with St. John’s Hospital, paid us $150 tax for being host to 150 people at a rehearsal dinner for his son’s wedding. There are some advantages to elopement, right Bob?
President Hal first formed a favorable opinion of Rotary on a weekend trip with Bill Hunt to Mazatlan, where he saw some of Rotary’s good work. He came to agree with Bill’s oft-repeated maxim, “You don’t have to be a farmer to be outstanding in your field.” And on September 28 he decided to tax Bill $150 for being such an inspiration.
Marvin Levin and Nat Charnely were each fined $100 for giving a beautiful plant to Hal. Tom Loo and Monte Herring were taxed $125 apiece for being orchid-lovers.
Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow? Who and where is Mary? Perhaps because they didn’t know, the following garden hobbyists were each taxed $100: Shirley Dowling, Lorraine Jossel, Bill Fritzsche, Stan Johnson, Bashir Kadri, Dick Lawrence, and Stanley Shu.
Rotarians, Rotarians quite content,
How do your gardens grow?
Bring us a sample to set an example,
That we in the club may show.
Pat Farris, our Methodist minister, paid $25 for not gardening. She paid an additional $100 because she was honored with 67 other women for “Making a Difference.”
For joining his family in honoring Schiller and Medora Colberg on their Mediterranean cruise to celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary, Kent Colberg was taxed $125. Soon after, Kent and Kay took off on a trip to New Zealand they’d won at a charity drawing. Kent has been travelling so much that he sent a letter of explanation to his clients.
We welcome John Deasy, Santa Monica’s new superintendent of schools, as a member of our club. There was no charge for the new position. However, John was taxed $125 for an extra picture in the new Santa Monica Star.
Hank Walther was fined $100 for losing a pie-eating contest while representing the Rotary Club. How could he lose when his daughter is president of the JC’s, which staged the contest?
-- Lionel Ruhman
THEY ARE ALWAYS WELCOME
As it does once each year, our board of directors named several honorary members. Well-known to all our members who’ve been here for a while, they are: Chief of Police Jim Butts; Ole Johnson (Esther’s husband); Judge Ed Rafeedie (a past president); Judge Bob Thomas (another past president). We hope to see them often.
We also hope that some of the members’ guests at our September 21 meeting may come again, and perhaps eventually become members: Brian West, Steve Alexis, Eva Redhead, Jason Wang, Antoinette Samardzic, Eva Broderick.
DEPARTMENT OF FURTHER EXPLANATION
Our explanation of how the club distributes our fines and other monies, published in the September 28 issue, contained an error. Here is a more accurate explanation:
Our fines, which usually total around $48,000 a year, support our international, vocational, community and youth service projects. Each of these areas has a director in charge. Committee chairs and members look after the distribution. For example, the community and youth grants committee is currently chaired by Steve Eorio. He and his committee meet about quarterly to award various grants totaling about $20,000. Normally a single grant will not exceed 10 percent of the current year budget allocation.
The Santa Monica Rotary Club Foundation is separate from the club. The club founded it in 1972, under the leadership of Aubrey E. Austin, Jr., Gerald Jennings and Ralph Kiewit to mark the club’s 50th anniversary. Through individuals’ gifts including bequests, $50,000 was raised in time for the birthday celebration and began helping non-profit organizations in the Santa Monica area. Gifts expanded the foundation through the years. In 1997, under the leadership of Dr. Richard J. Rice, contributions from 65 percent of the club’s members further built the foundation’s assets.
In the past thirty years $300,000, derived solely from the dividends of the foundation, has been given to 25 local welfare organizations – all for capital improvement projects or equipment, not operational expenses. Nine veteran members of our club serve as foundation trustees.
Our foundation is separate from the Rotary International Foundation, which is funded by Rotarians worldwide. Some 763,607 Rotarians have paid to become Paul Harris Fellows. The contributions last year totaled $73.7 million.
COMING UP:
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October 19 – Speaker: Kara Knack, Renovation Communications Officer of the Griffith Observatory. |
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October 26 – Hear Brian Didden talk about climbing Mt. Everest. |
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November 2 – NOT TO BE MISSED! District Governor Len Wasserstein will be visiting our club. |