President Sandra Lane brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM at Purkey’s Pink Apple with Al Noble leading the Pledge of Allegiance and Dave Wilson giving the Invocation.

 

 

Assistant District Governor (ADG) Dave Palmer & wife Ann
Marica Ramey – Equines for Freedom

 

 

Ad Buck – Lou Divis – Peace Camp – next week July 15-19 from 9-2 PM at St. Peter’s. There are 15 children lined up. Several Rotarians will be participating as speakers/demonstrators for program, including Ron Furman and Mike Markovitz.  Lou thanked the Club for its support.  The Camp teaches complete acceptance and love.

 

Ad Buck – Patty Ehrenzeller- Kiwanis Downriver Canoe Race – need to apply in advance $15 per person for Rotarians.  Trophy will be passed back and forth between the clubs with the largest number of participants in the races. Starts Sun July 21 at noon in Mehoopany.

 

Ad Buck – Rick Miller - On Sat July 27 from 2-4 PM, the United Methodist Church will hold a Community wide Ice Cream Social at the Gathering Place.  All are welcome.

 

 

The next Flash Meeting will be Thursday, July 18th, 2019 at 5:30 pm at Bogey’s Restaurant. It will be the first Flash Meeting under Sandy’s Presidency. 

 

 

Please remember to pay your $135 dues as soon as possible. Elaine has already had to pay out half of that money to RI and District, as we were billed for each member on July 1.

 

 

 

 

 

AG Dave Palmer spoke about the Railriders Game. The District is sponsoring seats at an Aug 11 RailRiders Baseball game to “Strike out Polio”. Game time is 1:05 PM. Tickets are $12 each with half going to Polio.  Please contact Elaine Walker for tickets since the Club purchased 40 tickets for members, family and friends to repurchase. An additional 38 tickets were sold by Dave at the meeting, bringing us to a total of 78 tickets purchased, which is the top number for a Rotary Club to date.  Please help by purchasing tickets for this worthy project.

 

ADG Dave Palmer

Prior to adjournment, David Kuffa led the recitation of the 4-Way Test by the attendees.

 

 

Marica Ramey, M.Ed., LPC - Marica has been a licensed professional counselor since 2003 and is licensed in both Pennsylvania and Virginia, and holds a master’s level specialty in Military Resilience, in addition to being EA-EMDR certified and completing EMDR I & II, as well as completing EAGALA I training. Her personal & professional pursuit of actively learning about and practicing how to effectively support and facilitate the resilience of our wounded warriors began in 2007, when her husband was injured in Iraq. (from https://equinesforfreedom.org/treatment-team/ )

 

Ann Marie Lewis (licensed Psychologist) and Heather Stage (equine specialist) started Equines for Freedom in Nov 2015. Anne Marie was part of a team that provided counseling through the American Red Cross after the deaths of multiple soldiers for the 109th Armory in 2005.

 

Their mission is “To provide Equine-assisted Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) treatment to current and former U.S. Service Members and First Responders, regardless of the source of trauma or characterization of military service, at no charge to the client.”

 

PTSD is an issue of the brain being stuck in the past since the brain does not know how to process the memories. They are still carrying these issues 40 years after Vietnam and may still be on the alert when approaching intersections by thinking what they would do if there was a terrorist etc around the corner.

 

They use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) using horses to help clients process tragic memories. This therapy is recognized by the Army as one of the top 3 therapies for PTSD.  They have served 80 clients so far.  They have 3 treatment teams right now composed of a mental health person and equine specialist plus the client and horse.

 

EMDR started in the 1980s.  It is an 8-phase process to neutralize traumatic memories. Loud noises may be a trigger for traumatic memories for veterans, especially fireworks sounds, which can sound like the bomb explosions that some have experienced.

 

The neutralization effect of this treatment can also bleed into neutralizing other traumas in their lives. They will have fewer nightmares, flashbacks etc related to post-traumatic stress.  Veterans and first responders are accepted for this therapy and they do not have to provide details about their experiences, since many find it difficult to speak about these events. 

 

The horses are in an arena.  They have 19 horses of which 16 are used in the therapy.  The client gets to choose which horse they work with.  Clients say the horse chooses them. The client bonds with the horse. They don’t ride the horses.

 

EMDR requires that the client has one foot in the past and one foot in the present when dealing with traumatic memories. Horses help with time orientation and keep them in the present. As they bond with the horse, it can help them overcome relationship issues. As the patient is patting or brushing the horse, oxytocin is released in both the brains of the horse and the client. The horse can read the emotional energy of the client before the therapist does. The horse can sometimes add humor and helps client relieve their tensions.

 

The first barrier for vets or first responders is the stigma of getting help. 2.2 million veterans have served in Iraq, Afghanistan or other more recent conflicts.  20% of them are experiencing some level of PTSD and it may be significantly higher than that. We need more trained professionals since this may be the start of a huge mental crisis.

 

Marica ended by thanking the Rotary Club for its donations to help with this important work.

 

Marica Ramey