Last Weeks Program by: Brad Stai

Randy Schwan gave a classification speech at our last meeting. That of which was the world he came from and lives in now. Randy, a man of many hats, both recreational as well as occupationally, grew up in Minot as the second youngest of seven.

Initially, Randy held a career in law enforcement that took him to Williston before making the decision to seek out a college degree. From that very decision, and on what sounds to be a whim, Randy trucked the family out to Minneapolis to take up some courses in business. After graduating from U of M, much to his wife’s dismay, Randy U-turned the crew back to North Dakota after experimentally submitting his resume to trinity and being offered a job in marketing. 

It was very interesting to hear how Randy’s position as Marketing Director has morphed with the many transformations of Trinity and the health care industry alike. In particular, one could imagine the complexity of a merger such as occurred between Trinity and UniMed, where 1500 employees suddenly turned into more than 2700. Randy described some of the hurdles that came from meshing diverse organizational cultures and the many, many moving parts within. He also gave us an update on some of the other changes taking place, such as the electronification of all medical files.

We have often seen that some people do not take interest in certain activities, thinking that these do not concern us. Here is a wonderful story on "The results of being indifferent".

A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package; what food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a mouse trap! Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning, "There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house."

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be bothered by it." The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mouse trap in the house." "I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, "Like wow, Mr. Mouse, a mouse trap; am I in grave danger, Duh?" So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to face the farmer's mouse trap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife.The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever.

Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

Rtn. Sudhindra Mohan Sharma
Distt. Chair (PERG-WATER)
RI DISTRICT 3040, INDIA