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President Rachel Woods welcomed all present to the Wagner Rotary Meeting on September 28th. There were no guests present other than the program attendees. Rotarian/Pastor Bill Heermann gave thanks for the beautiful fall weather we were experiencing and asked for a blessing on us all.

Assistant Song leader Gerrit Juffer outdid himself. He found musical accompaniment on his phone to guide us through the singing of R-O-T-A-R-Y! We sang two verses and did a pretty good job of it!

Rotarian Ken Cotton adjusted his Membership Minute a little for the crowd as we did not have any Seniors present for the day. He usually gives information about the organization of Rotary but focused on Tolerance of Differences for his info minute.

As members of an international organization dedicated to world understanding and peace, it behooves Rotarians to exercise restraint in judging our Rotary friends and citizens from other countries when their behavior seems unusual to us. A Rotary policy adopted in 1933 says that because it is recognized that some activities and local customs may be legal and customary in some countries and not others, Rotarians should be guided by this admonition of tolerance: “Rotarians in all countries should recognize these facts and there should be a thoughtful avoidance of criticism of the laws and customs of one country by the Rotarians of another country” The policy also cautions against “any effort on the part of Rotarians of one country to interfere with the laws or customs of another country.”

As we strive to strengthen the bonds of understanding, goodwill and friendship, these policies still provide good advice and guidance.

Sergeant at Arms Jordan Weber was ready and eager when he went to the podium. Before giving out his weekly ration of penalties, he read from a little booklet that was found in the “safe” of the Rotary Building. See the accompanying photo titled “Rules Governing Fines and Assessments for Wagner Rotary Members”. The following fines can only be attributed to “Inflation.”

$3 to Jerry Weber for refusing to take the program next week for Jordan; $2 to Rachel for passing out the steak knives for the baloney and sauerkraut dinner we enjoyed; $2 to Bill Frei for not being in a hurry to harvest; Bill volunteered to have the program for Jordan next week, so $2 was removed from Jerry Weber’s fine; $2 to Gerrit Juffer for being way over prepared for the singing; $3 to Kathe for suggesting we use the steak knives for the baloney; $2 to Ken for switching tables for the Queen of Hearts drawing; $2 to Linda for trying to teach Jordan how to mix up the Queen tickets; and $2 to Joe Stedronsky for talking about Buches Headquarters in front of Scott McAdaragh. Happy Fines came from Becky Brunsing on becoming a grandmother of Beau Michael Brunsing who weighed in at 9 lbs. 1 Ounce--$9.10; $30.000 from Gerrit Juffer for his 30 years of marriage that many of his friends said would never last!

Jerry Weber held the winning ticket, and he drew an eight of spades. No one was too excited. If you do not draw the Queen, you do receive a Lottery Card from the Sergeant at Arms.

Craig Krsnak announced the Queen of Hearts drawing is at $34.00. Attendance was zero misses for Jamie, and 2 misses for Jordan resulting in a very lopsided score again for Jordan Weber’s team. They just as well plan on buying the steaks for Jamie’s team in two weeks.

Football winners were Kinsley Deurmier sold by Jamie Soukup and Dave Greger sold by Becky Brunsing. Jennifer Caldwell made a monetary contribution to the Rotary Club in memory of Roger Wiltz who was a big advocate of student exchange students in Rotary.

Rotarian Patty Frei gave a summary of the District 5610 annual conference held in Sioux City, Iowa last weekend. Rotarians Kathe and Jerry Henke also attended. They enjoyed the breakout sessions where Rotarians exchange ideas and share about their clubs. At the annual banquet on Saturday night our very own Kathe Henke received an award of “Rotarian of Distinction” Congratulations Kathe!

The EREY (Every Rotarian, Every Year) award of recognition was given to the Wagner Rotary Club for having a minimum of $100 per club Member donation to the Rotary Foundation for the past year.

There is an annual Memorial Service each year at the convention and our Bill Frei was there to present the rose in recognition of Rotarian Roger Wiltz from our Wagner Club. There were some emotional memories recounted about Roger as he served as a District Governor in 2006-2007 and was well known to many Rotarians in District 5610.

Scott McAdaragh introduced Mike Novak of Wagner and Doug Uecker of Freemann as his program. Mike is a local EMT for the Wagner and Lake Andes Ambulance Association and Doug Uecker is an administrator for the area to which Wagner and LA belong to. Mike began by giving some information on the requirements for an EMT. You must take 165 hours of training which includes, 10 hours in hospital training, 10 hours in patient assessments, safety which includes your own safety as well as that of the patient. You must be physically able to care for the patient by lifting, and moving, doing the transport to the hospital, giving patient information to the hospital, and being an advocate for the patient. Your training also includes learning CPR and taking twenty hours of education every two years. This past year the Wagner/Lake Andes ambulance had 966 calls; however, this year in 2022 they are only logging 384 calls in Wagner and 228 calls in Lake Andes. Wagner has eight EMTs and five drivers.

Doug Uecker took over at this point in the program and spoke from an administrator’s point of view. He stated that when the ambulance service started in 1970-72 all the personnel in Wagner were volunteers. They have thirteen active EMT’s in the District now and there are only four from Wagner. Out of town EMTs have an apartment to reside in while on duty and they are paid hourly whether there are calls or not. He stressed that there is a great need for people to step forward for this program. An ambulance call is expensive, and they receive compensation from insurance companies and sometimes from the patient and the family; but there are also people who do not pay anything and that creates a financial burden for the district. “In a way, it is probably fortunate that calls are down this year as the cash flow is down also.”

Uecker stated: “The District is at a pivotal point. We need more staff. There is a need to begin to structure to what we can afford”. An EMT Class costs $950.00 but there are grants to enable someone to take the course. The training is online and one Saturday each month there is a “hands on” training course. This explains the wrecked car that is sitting on the East side of the Fire Department building. There was a practice session on the Jaws of Life for Responders.

Mike Novak was asked why he volunteered to become an EMT. Mike answered that he finds it rewarding and he believes in helping people. He noticed how half of the fire calls were accidents and he wanted to do more when he witnessed how much responders did. After twenty-four years in the Fire Department, he retired but wanted to continue to help people.

First responders must live within five miles of the ambulance location. Funding comes from ambulance calls and there is a tax-based income of $70,000 that comes from the county. Our district covers from the farthest southeastern point in Charles Mix County to one mile east and south of Geddes, South Dakota. From north of Geddes responders come from Platte.

The Wagner truck is new right now. The Lake Andes Ambulance has 145,000 miles on it. A grant for a new ambulance takes up to eighteen months to apply and be approved for. Members of the Wagner Ambulance District are Audrey Petrik, Gene Neihaus, Derek Rolston, Joel Kotab, Mike Johnson, Ray Parker, Liz Perry, Jenna Leibel, and Tammy Thornton.

If you have any questions about becoming a responder, please contact Mike Novak or some one from the Board of Directors.