Tag Archives: fond du lac

Robotic Surgeon Talks Health Care with Kiwanis

Monday Morning
We had 17 members at our first official Monday morning meeting at our new location, the Retlaw Plaza Hotel. Joining us were our guest speaker, Dr. Ted Miller and his assistants, Molly Moffitt and Katie Tank, all from Agnesian HealthCare. “Happy Bucks” were offered by Vickie Goldapske for her weekend educational seminar along with 1,000 other providers, Dave Lefeber for his new grandchild (8lbs 17oz, 21” long), Bonnie Baerwald for a successful Club Satellite membership meeting last week and also a successful Walk to End Alzheimer’s event last Saturday, Chris Serres for another birthday, Marlin Towne for once again being able to sit in the member section at our meeting, Gary Miller hoping everyone has a great week and finally Dr. Ted Miller for just finding out that his daughter is pregnant with their first grandchild. A very profitable Monday morning. Ron Seidl was the 50/50 Raffle winner and he drew the Nine of Spades, not a winner this time. That leaves 48 cards with eight pay cards for next week’s drawing. The new pot next Monday will be at least $46.

Dr. Ted Miller, Robotic Surgery
Dr. Ted Miller joined us on Monday morning to tell us about the introduction of robotic surgery at Agnesian HealthCare. The da Vinci system is a sophisticated robotic platform designed to expand the surgeon’s capabilities and offer a minimally invasive option for major surgery. At Agnesian HealthCare the robotic system is currently being used by urology and gynecology with training currently in process for several general surgeons to also be credentialed in its use. Dr. Miller also brought a video of an operation he did with the robot.

Fond du Lac County Sheriff Arrests Kiwanians Attention

Monday Morning
We had 16 members at Monday’s meeting at the Holiday Inn along with our guest speaker, Mark Strand from the FDL County Sheriff’s Department. “Happy Bucks” were offered by Vickie Goldapske for her weekend visit to her first and probably last visit to “Cranberry Fest” in Warren and by Gary Miller for his weekend attendance at his high school class reunion. Gary Miller circulated a picture from the Action Advertiser showing our donation of iPad Minis as part of the District Governor’s Project. Dave Twohig was the 50/50 Raffle winner and he drew the Five of Clubs, a $5winner. Nicely done Dave. That leaves 49 cards with eight pay cards for next week’s drawing. The new pot next Monday will be at least $34.

Mark Strand, FdL County Sheriff
Mark Strand, Chief Deputy/Undersheriff, joined us to talk about what’s new at the FDL County Sheriff Department. Mark is a 32 year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department and he’s worked in just about all of the various areas of the department. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and a master’s degree in Organization Leadership from Marian University. Mark was appointed to Chief Deputy / Undersheriff in 2006 and has held that post for the past seven years. Mark talked about the various functions within the Sheriff’s Department, such as the Dive Team (including ice dive capabilities), Jail, SWAT Team, MEG Unit participation, Detective Bureau and Accident Reconstruction Specialists. He noted that the Sheriff’s Department covers 725 square miles in Fond du Lac County and provides to police coverage to a number of smaller communities in FDL County. Mark also talked about the department’s auto fleet and how often they replace the cars in the fleet and what kind of vehicles they use based on their equipment and technology needs. The budget for the FDL County Sheriff’s Department is approximately $16.5M with half of the amount going towards the operation of the County Jail. Our County Jail is one of five medically certified jails of the 71 county jails in the state of Wisconsin. Therefore, we see a number of inmates from other counties that need medical care not available in their respective counties.

Kiwanis Membership Initiative

Monday Morning
We had 20 members at Monday’s meeting at Faro’s Restaurant. “Happy Bucks” were offered by Ron Seidl for making it another year, Bob Kahl, several $$ for his 52nd wedding anniversary and finishing a babysitting stint for seven of their grandchildren in several different locations and finally Sharon Kollman for their weekend visit to watch their grandson in the marching band at the University of Louisville football game this past weekend. Gary Miller announced that the Youth Services Committee has been working on the distribution of up to 12 iPad Minis in conjunction with Governor Messer’s Autism Project. It looks like three of the Mini’s will go to North Fond du Lac recipients and nine to Fond du Lac recipients. Thanks to the Young Children-Priority One Committee for their allocation of $2,000 to this project. Dan Leeds was the 50/50 Raffle winner in our new game and he drew the Four of Clubs, not a winner. That leaves 50 cards with nine pay cards for next week’s drawing. The new pot next Monday will be at least $27.

District Convention Membership Initiative
Gary Ring presented a program on what he learned about membership growth at the District Convention. The program focused on the Kiwanis One Minute Speech about what Kiwanis does and how our members benefit our community. Gary encouraged everyone to practice their one minute speech so it’s ready when they need it.