March 16, 2021
Dr, David J. Cole, president of MUSC, joined our meeting today to give us an important update on the state of Covid and the vaccination rollout throughout the Lowcountry. And speaking of vaccinations, our participation in the Rotary Ready program kicked into high gear with volunteers from the club lending a hand at three different sites around Charleston. Check out the post below to find out how you can help.
We had an outstanding presentation at Tuesday’s meeting by Dr. David Cole of MUSC. A native of New Mexico, Dr. Cole attended New Mexico State University, was a Rhodes scholarship finalist, and earned his medical degree from Cornell University, New York. He completed his surgical residency at Emory University affiliated hospitals in Atlanta, Georgia, and his fellowship in the surgical oncology branch at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, part of the National Institutes of Health.MUSC has 17,600 employees, a statewide economic impact of $5.6 Billion and over 1 million patients each year.
South Carolina has had over 500,000 positive covid tests. About 4% of that are hospitalized and 50% of that number die, approaching 9000 deaths so far. The 2 things that need to happen to improve these numbers are 1) we need more vaccines and 2) reliable distribution. Right now we are at about 400,000 vaccines per month (conservatively) and with 5 million South Carolinians that is almost a year process which we hope will improve. Many providers have not been prepared to administer vaccines which has led to news that SC has an oversupply of vaccines which isn’t the case. MUSC has a capacity of 3000 vaccines per day, 6 days a week and has administered 103% of vaccines made available to them. They only received 5,000 vaccines last week so they are not at capacity and could ramp up to 10,000 per day if vaccines were available. The ambiguity in actual deliver is also hampering vaccinations as they have to reschedule 3000 people a day when delivers are delayed or otherwise rescheduled.
On top of that he indicated that 1/3 of people who can get the vaccine will rush to get it, 1/3 will wait until they are comfortable and get it and 1/3 will never get it for whatever reasons. MUSC currently has 19 Covid-19 hospitalizations, down from a peak of about 70 in July.
To see the recording of this week’s meeting, go here.
Submitted by Don Baus, Chairman, Keyway Committee
IN OTHER MEETING NEWS
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- Marjorie Hanger gave the Invocation and led us in the pledge.
- President Lisa asked all guests to introduce themselves
- President Lisa presented Health and Happiness.
- Tom Leonard introduced our speaker, Dr. David Cole, President of MUSC, who gave us an update on COVID19 and vaccinations.
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MORE IN THIS WEEK’S KEYWAY
March 23, 2021 | Issue 5000 President: Lisa Van Bergen
COMING EVENTS
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- March 23 – Dr. Mary Thornley, Trident Technical College
- March 25 – March Happy Hour Social, Edmunds Oast Brewing Company 5-7pm
- March 30 – John Darby, “How the Beach Company makes our region even better”
- April 6 – John Warren, President/Kiawah, PGA Championship (ZOOM ONLY)
- April 13 – Catherine Brack, The Gaillard / 11 am Board Meeting
- April 20 – Sam Konduros, SCBio, “The Life Sciences Industry in SC”
- April 27 – NETWORKING
NEWS BRIEFS
COVID: In-Person Reminder
As we go back to attending meetings in person, we wanted to again share the below from the District. Members are asked to keep this in mind.
It has come to my attention that we need to set some ground rules for dealing with Rotarians who contract COVID-19 and how we deal with this in our clubs. First, for the Rotarians themselves. We MUST maintain absolute confidentiality for ANYONE who tests positive for COVID-19 unless they give us permission to share their information. That said, we MUST also ask, even require, that any Rotarian who has been to an in-person Rotary meeting or other function and later suspects they have COVID-19 report this to their Club President as soon as possible. This could be due to being in close contact with a person who tests positive or that they show symptoms. And, they absolutely must let the Club President know immediately if they test positive. Then, keeping confidentiality, the Club President MUST let all who attended that event know that there was someone at the event or meeting who came down with symptoms or tested positive. This will, at least, give all those notified the option of being tested immediately. And, it gives them a warning that maybe they should limit their contact with others until it is proven that they are not infected.
Rotary Ready Update – COVID Vaccine Rollout

The daily vaccine clinic with MUSC to be held at 180 Lockwood in the former DMV Offices will not be a drive-in event. People will park their cars and walk in the building. Once those appointments go live later this week, they will need to register at: https://muschealth.org/get-vaccine They will be automatically registered for their 2nd dose 3 weeks later at the same time and location for the Pfizer vaccine.

There will be a drive-thru event at East Cooper Medical Center starting on March 20 weekly. First dose events are scheduled on March 20 and April 10. Registration will be on the East Cooper website when they become available: https://www.eastcoopermedctr.com/our-response-to-COVID-19 and click on “Request Vaccine Request”. They will also be registered for their 2nd dose 3 weeks later at the same time and location for the Pfizer vaccine.
**Rotary volunteers from all the Lowcountry Rotary Clubs will be providing volunteers for all these events, but our club is primarily responsible for the DMV daily clinic for non-medical roles (12 3-hour shifts per day). Signup is looking good so far! Link is here to register to volunteer: www.rotaryready.com and select the Charleston site.
Charleston 50
We made it!! We are at 100% of our goal of 50 donors by our goal date of March 15! Thank you to our inaugural class of the Charleston 50 for their generous support. This special group of 48 Rotarians and 2 community donors committed to contribute $500 annually to the RCCF, which funds our club’s community and international projects and grants. The Charleston 50 was a wonderful alternative to a fundraiser during these COVID times and will serve the club well in the future. Thank you to Phoenicia Miracle and Jeanne Jamme for all their efforts in making this such a success. We can continue to do our good works into the 2021-2022 year!
Share The Warmth – Coat/Warm Clothing Drive Ends March 23rth
Fellow Rotarian, Joel Cardwell, is continuing to collect donations for “Share the Warmth” coat drive, through our meeting on Tuesday, March 23rd.
Donations can include coats, blankets, socks, sweaters, hats, gloves, or any warm clothing our less fortunate brothers and sisters could use to keep warm this winter. Donations can be for men, women or children.
These donations will also be used for outreach in the streets by Slums to Slumber, and Uplift Charleston to help transition those suffering from homelessness into safe housing and care.
Remember ….. Last opportunity to bring your donations to a meeting is on March 23rd. Joel is also happy to come to your location to pick up donations. You can contact him at 317.850.0853 or www.joelcardwell.com.
March Social at Edmunds Oast on King Street
All members and their guests are invited to join us for our monthly Happy Hour on Thursday, March 25 from 5pm-7pm. This month we will be visiting Edmunds Oast Brewing Company, 1505 King Street Extension. This is another wonderful outdoor venue and will be a great opportunity to catch up with fellow Rotarians over a cold beverage. If you know that you are planning to attend, please RSVP to the Evite, so we can have a rough idea of how many people to expect. An RSVP is not mandatory, so if you find at the last minute you can join us, please do!
PR Committee Seeking Volunteers
Our club’s PR Team is looking for additional members to join their committee. Specifically, volunteer photographers are needed to take photos at our meetings. If you are interested in serving on the PR committee and helping in this role, please email Mike Sottak at [email protected]. Fancy cameras are not required, an iPhone will do! It would be wonderful to have a couple of volunteers alternating the weekly duty.
Support The CART Fund
It is easy for club members to make individual contributions and support The CART Fund electronically. The CART Fund has a new portal www.mycartfund.org, which you can easily access. As a Rotarian and a DACdb user, you automatically have an account already set-up in your name. Your user name and password are the same as it is for the DACdb.
Support the Rotary Foundation
The District 7770 Million $ Campaign and dinner will be held on May 5th 2021 at the Francis Marion Hotel. Our own Sandy Morkel is the Chair for that event. $10,000 spread over 3 years or a Bequest gets you an invite.
And do not forget your opportunity to be recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow. Eighty-five dollars a month gets you there. Please reach out to Karl Riner, Club Foundation Chair, to sign up or ask questions. You can also donate to Rotary’s efforts to end polio now: https://endpolio.org/donate.
Our Club is on Social Media
Members are encouraged to follow all of our social media channels and share posts with their followers too! We also need members to send us pictures of anything they do that relates to Rotary – service projects, meetings, events, etc. We would love to keep our accounts full of smiling Rotarians! Photos can be sent to Mike Sottak, [email protected], or Rob Byko, [email protected].
MEMBER NEWS
Past President Sandy Morckel is featured in “Live a Girl: Dare to Dream”, a new exhibition by artist Fer Caggiano, on view at the City Gallery from 3/11-5/2/2021. Featuring portraits of more than 35 SC women, Like a Girl brings attention to women who have excelled, each with unique and inspiring stories. A small group from our club will visit the gallery on 3/23 after the meeting — at this time all 10 slots are full.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Rotarian: Dwayne Green
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- JOINED: 3/2/2021 (former member of our club
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- SPONSOR: Past President Sandy Morckel & President-Elect Rob Dewey
- MEMBERSHIP INVOLVEMENT: New Member
- CLASSIFICATION: Legal Consulting/Gov’t Affairs
- PROFESSION: Attorney at Law, Green Law Offices and Consulting
- SOMETHING UNIQUE ABOUT YOURSELF: I am a former political opinion piece writer for the Charleston City Paper and very active in the local political scene.
- JOINED: 3/2/2021 (former member of our club
Birthdays
- 3/27 – Kelsey Willey
- 3/28 – Samuel Steimberg
By the numbers
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- Attendance on March 16, 2021 (In-Person and Zoom): 45
- Not in attendance: Allen, Berry, Bini, Brack, Chico, Clark, Coe, Coghill, Cohen, Cole, Combs, Cook, Coxe, Crouch, Curia, DeGraff, Diminich, Donaldson, Dopp, Drafts, Echols, Fason, Fellabom, Fink, Fink, Finniff, Galizia, Gill, Goxhaj, Green, Holmes, Husser, Imam, Jamme, Jones, Jones, Kaynard, Lietzow, Loredo, Lucy, Matheny, Mauk, Moore, Morelli, Moring, Morse, Oswalt, Patrick, Phipps, Plotner, Ravenel, Reynolds, Rust, Scott, Seguer, Shahid, Smith, H., Smith, M., Staley, Stoney, Strickland, Sullivan, Taylor Tecklenburg, Tecklenburg, Teller, Tonney, Uram, Vanek Wackym, Walters, Ward, Weston, William
- Out of Town Make-ups: None
WELLNESS TIP
Get enough sleep
Most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep each night. But in addition to quantity, quality of sleep matters too! Follow our tips on getting quality sleep—things like keeping your bedroom cool at night, avoiding blue light after dark, and more.
ARE CLUB MEETINGS
Mondays
- Summerville – Oakbrook: 7:30 a.m., Monday, Westcott County Club, 5000 Wescott Club Drive, North Charleston
- North Charleston: 12:30 a.m., Monday, Hilton Garden Inn, 5265 International Blvd, North Charleston.
- Summerville Evening: 5:30 p.m., Monday, Montreux Bar and Grill, 127 W. Richardson Ave., Summerville
Tuesdays
- East Cooper Breakfast: 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Cooper River Room at Waterfront Park, Mount Pleasant
- Charleston: 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, Hall’s Signature Events, 5 Faber, Charleston
- Goose Creek: 12:45 m. Tuesday, Gilligan’s, 219 St. James Ave., Goose Creek
Wednesdays
- Daniel Island: 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Daniel Island Club, 600 Island Park Dr., Daniel Island
- St. John’s Parish (John’s Island): 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, 2817 Maybank Highway, Unit 1, John’s Island
- Mount Pleasant: 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Harbor Breeze Restaurant, 176 Patriots Point Road, Mount Pleasant
- Summerville: 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sticky Fingers, Summerville
Thursdays
- North Charleston Breakfast: 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Embassy Suites, 5055 International Blvd., North Charleston
- Moncks Corner: 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Gilligan’s Restaurant, Moncks Corner
- St. Andrews (West Ashley): 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Bessinger’s BBQ, 1602 Savannah Highway, Charleston.
Fridays
- Charleston Breakfast: 7:30AM Hall’s Signature Events, 5 Faber, Charleston
SOCIAL MEDIA
Our Rotary club actively uses social media — and we encourage you to interact with us through social media.
- We’re on Facebook. Take a look at our page and be sure to “like us”.
- We’re on Twitter. You can follow us @chasrotaryclub.
- We’re on Instagram. You can follow us @ChasRotaryClub.
ABOUT THE KEYWAY
The Keyway has been published weekly as a newsletter for the Rotary Club of Charleston for more than 90 years.
- President: Lisa Van Bergen
- Keyway editor: Don Baus [email protected]
- Executive secretary: Carroll Schweers, [email protected]
- Mailing address: Rotary Club of Charleston, P.O. Box 21029, Charleston, SC 29413-1029
- Copyright 2018, Rotary Club of Charleston. All rights reserved