Ms. Lynn Ward, Certified Patient Educator and Advocate

Our speaker was Ms. Lynn Ward, Certified Patient Educator and Advocate.  She works with Compwell company as a Clinical Care Coach.  As we age, the prevalence of chronic conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol become more difficult to manage.  This can mean more doctor visits, hospitalizations, and more medications.  Compwell specializes in Chronic Care Management (CCM).  Each month  Compwell coaches spend time with individuals reviewing their blood pressure, blood sugar readings or other problems. The benefits of CCM are decreased hospitalization rates, increased adherence to medications, decreased complications of chronic conditions, and improved quality of life.

Geoff Calkins, Sports Columnist at the Daily Memphian

Our speaker was Geoff Calkins, Sports Columnist at the Daily Memphian.  He said that sometimes obituaries include some humorous language so that people can laugh e.g. when Bob died, his son wrote  “Bob's only regret is that his beloved Tennessee Volunteers Football team preceded him in death,” and when Lee died,   “Lee has requested six Buffalo Bills players as pallbearers so they can let him down one last time." Mr. Calkins said that many times sports is used as a vehicle to get everybody together and have fun. He talked about recent induction of 22 people in the Sports of Hall of Fame and how important it was to recognize them and what it meant to them. These sports personalities chose Memphis because they could make an impact here and local people care. At present it is a fun time in sports in Memphis.  All the teams - Baseball, Soccer, Football and Basketball are doing good.  Basketball has played a big role in Memphis community and Penny has helped tremendously to raise their expectations. 

Ashley Holmer & Shaban Abdul

Our speakers were Ashley Holmer, Executive Director of Red Sweater Project and Shaban Abdul, Operations and Tour Manager at the same institute.  This organization collaborates with developing communities in rural Tanzania to create affordable, accessible, and innovative opportunities for secondary education where it currently does not exist for the majority of children.  In 2012, they built first secondary school in Mungere Village which has grown in a few short years to support more than 300 students.  The Mungere School provides education in small, individualized classroom settings taught by highly qualified teachers. Shaban described his life story and how he got involved with the project.  It was very touching.