The Wagner Rotary Club convened its weekly meeting on Wednesday, November 16th with no guests present so Rotarian Bill Heermann offered up a prayer of thanksgiving for the food and fellowship.

Assistant Song Leader Gerrit Juffer provided phone accompaniment to “My Wild Irish Rose.

Sergeant at Arms Jordan Weber was listening very carefully to comments made as Rotarians joined the meeting. Rotarian Bill Frei was fined $2 for comments made about seating; $2 to Jerry Weber for trying his best to get out of helping his son make a move to Wagner; another $2 to Bill Frei for avoiding a trip to Rapid City; another $2 to both Bill and Jerry for “twinning” for the meeting—wearing matching SDSU sweatshirts; $2 to Gerrit for wearing a red shirt; $1 to Amanda, Craig, and Bryan for being tardy to the meeting; $4 to Rachel Woods for her Nashville trip; $1 to Bryan Slaba for a phone infraction and another $1 for work related comments to the SAA; $2 to Bill Frei for complaining about no warmer weather in the prayer; and only a $3 Happy fine from Craig Krsnak for the Vikings finally getting a 3point win.

Rotarian Jerry Weber won a chance at the Queen of Hearts drawing but drew a nine of Diamonds which meant he lost $151.00. Secretary/Treasurer Craig Krsnak announced that the attendance race is getting closer. Jordan’s team had only one miss for the meeting with a total of ten and Jamie Soukup’s team had two misses for a total of eleven. It just might be a real contest this quarter.

Krsnak also announced that Curt Kaberna had won again in the football books and his ticket was sold by Amanda Bechen. Michaela Koenig was also a winner, and her book was sold by Jordan Weber.

There was a last-minute switch of programs and Rotarian Bryan Slaba gave the program instead of Rotarian Ken Cotton who was on a business trip. Slaba addressed what he called two major events. He was pleasantly surprised that the initiated measure on Medicare passed and the measure on recreational marijuana was defeated.

He spoke about the marijuana issue first. He emphatically stated: “A medical provider cannot give a prescription for recreational marijuana. It is NOT GOOD HEALTH CARE! “You will not be able to go to your primary providers at the Wagner Hospital or Wagner Clinic to obtain a prescription card. It is not within the scope of their practice to issue cards. You will be told NO at the clinic.

He also cautioned that people who do have a card cannot enter the dispensary businesses with anyone else. Only the person whose name is on the card can enter that facility. There will be security at the dispensaries checking ID’s.

The other measure on the ballot was explained in more detail to the membership. Slaba stated that in the past Medicaid met about 75 percent and 25 percent was passed on to the hospitals or nursing homes. The passage of the initiated expansion will increase these amounts to about 90 percent to Medicaid and only 10 percent will be passed on to the State of South Dakota.

It has been extremely difficult for nursing homes in South Dakota to provide quality care to residents and keep the homes in operating condition. In the past homes were operating on about 40 to 75 percent of the residents on Medicaid and you just cannot operate on that ratio forever.

He also addressed the recent incident at the WGS facility. It was very unfortunate, but he praised all the people who came to help with vehicles and on foot. As of this date sixteen residents were transferred to Tyndall, ten or twelve to Scotland and Corsica, two to Lake Andes, 1 to Burke or Butte and one or two to Sioux Falls.

There are several options available in the Wagner situation. He is in contact with several individuals in the State and in the legislature. Jean Hunhoff from Yankton has been working for some time on a resolution to combine all the smaller nursing homes into one larger facility that would be centrally located in a defined area. He has also been in touch with Sanford and Avera discussing options with them.

It is going to take a lot of study, thought, and prayer for all the entities in the State to come together to find solutions that work for the citizens of Wagner and the population of the State of South Dakota. This is something that has been discussed for a long time, but the right time is fast approaching when a disaster strikes in a community. The club adjourned with their Four Way Test. Of all the things we think, say, or do: Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?