The regular meeting of Clay Auxiliary to Post #3061 was held Tuesday evening April 15, with President Delores Gregg presiding. Roll call of officers were taken and recorded. Chaplain Opal Smith offered the opening prayer.

Minutes of previous meeting were read and approved after a correction. Motion made and seconded to approve the treasurer's report as printed. Invoices were presented and later approved.

Correspondence included reading Connie's Commique, letter from Sioux Falls auxiliary president endorsing Vicki Williams for state guard and letter from Sturgis auxiliary president endorsing Sherry Scudder for state guard. Letter from District I president announcing District I spring meeting will be in Alcester on Sunday, April 27, at 2 p.m. at the Senior Citizen's Center. Reports were read concerning the first graders who learned the pledge to the American flag, get well and sympathy cards mailed, food served at Del Colwell funeral dinner, hospital equipment on loan, Road to Recovery, Hospice, cribbage playing at nursing home, Civic Council grant given to Sara Johnson, donations given to Teener's Ball, YBA, United Way, Clay County Fair and Great Strides.

Approved a new member, Marie Mehlbreck. Election of officers for the ensuing year are President Donna Schafer, Senior Vice President Delores Gregg, Junior Vice President Marcine Tiahrt, Treasurer Bonnie Albers, Secretary Barbara Kronaizl, Chaplain Opal Smith, Conductress Erma Carlson and Guard Marjorie Christensen.

Audit reports for January, February and March were read and approved. The meeting adjourned to reopen on May 20.

Exchange student addresses Rotarians

The Vermillion Rotary Club held its weekly luncheon meeting on Tuesday, April 29, at the Neuharth Center on the USD campus. President David Hussey opened the meeting and also gave the invocation. This was followed by a round of singing, announcements, and introduction of guests.

President Hussey then introduced Thania Faria as our speaker for the day. Thania is a Rotary Youth Exchange student from Brazil and has been in Vermillion for almost a year. She is an excellent student and we have been proud to have her with us this year.

Thania's presentation concerned her impressions of her time with us. She arrived here from Brazil last July and has stayed with four different host families. She stated that Rotary Youth Exchange student are from many different countries.

She began her presentation by stating the question: Why Youth Exchange? She expressed five reasons. The first is to assist the student in becoming globally minded. We all take our own country for granted. The program allows students to become more aware of other countries and cultures.

The cultural experience helps the student to better understand how others live and think. Youth Exchange allows students to learn a new language or become more proficient in a second language. These experiences also allow the student to understand oneself better. And, last but not least, to have fun by meeting new people and new cultures.

She talked about her own large family and showed a video of many of them accompanied by Brazilian music. She also talked about how important sports are to her. For example, she showed pictures of her high school volleyball team, which came in third in national competition.

She also talked about the uncertainty she felt when she first arrived. She found the landscape very different from her home in Brazil. She said that she spoke English but had to acclimatize to the speech patterns and idioms. She wondered about what the coming year would be like and if she would find new friends.

However, she made new friends, enjoyed her host families, and became very involved in high school here in Vermillion, and was able to participate in many sports activities. She also had opportunities for touring which she enjoyed.

The transition back to her home brings other anxieties. She will have to say her goodbyes and she will miss the people here. Her family and friends will have changed in the past year.

She is also thinking about her future. She is determined to go on to college. At present she is contemplating entering a program for a degree in exercise physiology.

Her closing comment was that this year in Vermillion was everything she hoped it would be.

Rotarians learn of Netherlands' health care

The Vermillion Rotary Club held its weekly luncheon meeting on Tuesday, April 22, at the Neuharth Center on the campus of USD. President David Hussey opened the meeting. Rotarian Dan Van Peursem provided the invocation. This was followed by a round of singing, announcements and the introduction of guests.

Rotarian Greg Huckabee introduced Dr. Freek A. L. Lapré as the featured speaker for the day. His subject was entitled "Health Care In the Netherlands". He is also a member of the Rotary Club Woundrichem in the town of Woundrichem in the Netherlands.

He began with a little background about the Netherlands. The country is seven times smaller than South Dakota but has a population of 16 million inhabitants. Amsterdam is the capital city. His Rotary club meets in the town hall of Woundrichem which is a walled city. Their club is a partner club with the Rotary club in Carnforth, United Kingdom. The Lowlands of the Netherlands is 8 meters below sea level. Their biggest exports are cheese and flowers.

Dr. Lepré stated that there are basically three ways that health care can be financed. One way is by direct taxation, which is used in Scandinavia, the UK, and Canada among others. Another is the Bismarck model by graduated premiums, which is used in most of Europe. A third option is private insurance, which is used primarily in the US. The Netherlands used a mix of the Bismarck model and private insurance. Insurance is mandated but supplemented by the government for lower income individuals. Spending per capita is about one-third of what we spend in this country and accounts for 9.1 percent of GDP as opposed to 15.2 percent in this country. He conceded that the health care in the US is of higher quality but is much more expensive. He stated that private insurance leads to higher quality but results in less access. They also believe that government involvement is necessary to prevent high health care costs.

Their system insures that citizens have the right to health care. The passage of the AWBZ Act (special sickness act) specifies a 12 percent tax with a maximum of $6,000 per citizen. Their Assisted Living and Nursing Homes are more small scale and more homelike. There is more emphasis on helping people stay in their homes using home nursing and high tech monitoring. Only about 9 percent of their citizens over 75 years of age are in nursing homes. The average age of those in nursing homes is over 85. Their citizens also have a slightly higher life expectancy.

Western Europe is shifting more to a market driven system with high government involvement. Dr. Lapré said that the US may be ahead of them in the availability of high tech treatment, but they are far ahead of the US in terms of electronic patient record systems and home monitoring systems.

Dr. Lapré also presented a banner from his Rotary Club and received one from our club in exchange.