Reston Lions Set to Install new Officers Wednesday Night

The following elected officers will take over the reigns of the club starting Wednesday Night, June 26th, amid a bit of turmoil over a still-to-be-named Vice President and Membership Chair of the club.  The Installation Dinner this Wednesday is a traditional ceremony of "handing the torch" from the past officers to the new officers.  Some highlights of these ceremonies include speeches from the Immediate Past President of the club and the incoming New President regarding the "State of the Club."  This gives the club a chance to see reminisce on what has past along with project forward what is planned for the year to come.  More Blog entries to come after the Installation dinner at the end of the week.

 President -- Don Leas

1st Vice President -- TBD

Secretary -- Anne Ryan

Tail Twister --  Joe Hart

Lion Tamer -- Mike Moseley

Treasurer -- Jack Gazlay 

Membership chair --  TBD

Directors (two year position) -- Steve Reber and Ed Geiger first year;  Joe Rohrbaugh and Gerry Washburn second year.

New Surgery Gives Hope to the Deaf

I saw this story on NBC and thought that it was worth sharing with our community of Lions and supporters. It is absolutely revolutionary, the possibilities of this surgery.  Enjoy!  http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/52269091/#52269091

Are you at risk for type 2 diabetes?

I hope over the next few months to provide a better understanding about diabetes and how it may be prevented.
So are you at risk of developing type 2 diabetes?

• Are you over 40?  
• Are you overweight or obese (here is a link to a BMI calculator so you can determine if you are at risk - http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm )
• Do you have family history of diabetes?  
• Are you from a high risk ethnic group - African American, Pacific Islander, American Indian, Hispanic-American, or Asian-American?
•  Do you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol?  
• Did you deliver a baby over 9 pounds or have gestational diabetes?  

In a very large research study done in the early 2000's, it was found that 60% of individuals who had risk factors for diabetes who lost 5-7%  of their body weight and walked for 30 minutes 5 days a week reduced their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by almost 60%.  I think this is a message that is important to get out to the public - physical activity, simple walking can reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.  How many of you are walking or doing some form of physical activity every day?  We are always so busy and although we always seem to find time to eat we don't seem to make as much of an effort to engage in some form of physical activity.
So I challenge you to begin a walking program, or engage in some form of physical activity.  Water walking, water aerobics are great activities for this time of the year.  Enjoy the pleasant weather and walk early in the day or in the evening. Make an appointment to engage in some form of physical activity at least 5 days a week if you want to lose weight and 3 days a week if you want to maintain your weight.  Take advantage of the bike trail or neighborhood parks and pools.

Stay Healthy,

Lion Kathy Gold

Blog Will Add Health-Related Tips

Attention Readers.  The Reston Lions Club will soon benefit from posts by the Director of Outreach and Education for the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation.  Kathy Gold's contributions will include articles on leading a healthy lifestyle, as well as tips for Prevention of health problems.

District 24A Lions Implement Pedia Vision for Screening

The Pedia Vision screening system is now accessible to Lions in the Northern Virginia area for use in performing Vision Screenings.  This new technology will revolutionize screening people for vision problems.  The following information regarding Pedia Vision taken directly from the District 24-D website (Thanks to our neighbor lions District!!).  We are hoping to leverage this new technology starting as soon as possible to be able to check whether children are suffering from some common refractive errors as well as perform gaze analysis of the patient.  Thanks to it's technology, screenings for these errors takes as little as 5 seconds.

Ryan Sports New Title and Role

Congratulations to Jim Ryan on being elected as 1st Vice District Governor for District 24-A during the Virginia State Lions Convention held this past weekend.  Reston Lions Club Members Anne Ryan, and Sue Beffel (Club President) were in attendance for the event.  See Lions Of VA on Facebook for pictures.

1st Vice District Governor Jim Ryan performing Training