August 22, 2016 - Tawnya Christensen from the Christian Care organization gave us an excellent presentation about Dementia, in general, but Alzheimer's disease in particular. She explained that Alzheimer's was the most prevalent form of dementia and it currently affects over 5 million people.  She gave us information about the various stages of progression and how to identify them. She stressed the importance of caregivers and provided several good tips on how caregivers should take care of themselves. Her presentation was very well received and generated much discussion.

 

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 August 15, 2016 - Stephanie Siete, Director of Community Education for Community Bridges, Inc (CBI) described her organization's ourtreach to help addicts and families in Arizona. In addition they provide training to organizations throughout Arizona on how to identify drug issues early on with today's youth. She gave us some alarming statistics on how the strength of drugs are increasing and how fast they are proliferating.  The number of deaths from drug overdose is increasing dramatically - last year the number exceeded 47,000 across the country. It is imperative that the community understands this phenomenon and develops programs to educate the young in particular but also the entire population. The problem is growing and beginning to exceed the adverse effects of alcohol.  She told us that the new recreational drug "Flakka" is beginning to replace "MDMA or Ecstacy" and it is far more dangerous. More people should hear Stephanie's message.

 

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  August 8, 2016 - Today, Michael McAfee, Director of Education for the  Automotive Youth Education System in Arizona, gave us an overview of this program. This program is for high school students who are interested in becoming automotive technicians. The goals of the program are:

 • To develop career-ready, entry-level automotive technicians and service personnel.
• To give high school automotive technology students the opportunity and guidance to explore rewarding automotive careers.
• To provide the tools and support to develop and practice the skills needed to succeed in the industry.

There are 245 dealerships in AZ that are interested in hiring technicians who graduate from the program.  EVIT (East Valley Institute of Technology) alone has 200 students currently in the program.

The program began in 1995 in Detroit and is now run by ASE(Automotive Service Excellence).  Lots of discussion followed the presentation.