The Suburban Times Disclaimer – Corona Caused Non-Events: The best reviews of plays, meetings, and fund raisers that never happened!
Community Health Care provides comprehensive primary Medical, Dental, Pharmacy and Behavioral Health Services through a clinic system that includes five medical and four dental clinics. Care is also provided through a Women’s Health Clinic, a Ryan White HIV/AIDS Clinic, and through five Pharmacies. They provide the highest quality health care with compassionate and accessible service for all. No one is turned away due to inability to pay!
It seems like it was just last year that I joined Rick Oldenburg for Community Health Care’s fabulous Lunch and Laughter event at the Murano Bicentennial Pavilion. Rick made sure that I was one of the first to get my 2020 invitation. The gathering always has friends and associates from all over Tacoma and Pierce County no matter where you look or what table you find yourself seated.
I have known David Flentge, MSW, Community Health Care President and Chief Executive Officer for twenty-some years. The Rotary Club of Tacoma #8 worked closely with Community Healthcare when we had the Rotacare Health Clinic at Pacific Lutheran University where we provided healthcare to working people who had no health insurance (pre-Affordable Care Act).
Lunch and Laughter lasts just an hour and a half and thirty minutes of that time features a comedian. Actually, there are often good natured comments all along the way with official mic presentations as we learn about the latest details on healthcare, coverage, and statistics.
This year’s comedian was Gabriel Rutledge. Rutledge is a nationally ranked comedian whom you may have seen or heard on Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Laughs on Fox, or streaming on Amazon Prime. He’s been on HBO/TBS, the Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland and has won both the Seattle International Comedy Competition and The Laughing Skull Comedy Festival in Atlanta. Gabriel lives in Olympia.
Gabriel had us laughing from the start. He put us at ease with these predictions: 1. We will come in touch with the coronavirus . . . or we won’t. 2. We will get sick . . . or we won’t. 3. We’ll get better . . . or we won’t. You know, you just can’t argue with logic like that.
My favorite comments by Gabriel: If his kids ever ask about his jokes about them, general taste and humor he intends to answer, “Well, your grandma bought this house, but those jokes made the minimum payment on the credit card we maxed out buying all your stuff.” I like his approach, “Some comedians are happy to connect with a third of the room . . . But I’m going for everybody. When I first started, I thought I was going to be edgy, but it turns out, I’m just not that edgy of a person. The stuff that people were laughing at the hardest was my more universal material.”
Gabriel is an unapologetic ally going for mainstream acceptance. Gabriel says, “I want to connect with the grandma AND the hipster.” After his Lunch and Laughter gig, Gabriel traveled to Spokane. We wished him well.
The annual Lunch and Laughter event normally raises North of $110,000 for Patient Care. The numbers aren’t in for 2020, yet, so you can still help.
Rick Oldenburg likes to point out a comment by George Burns (Burns & Allen), “To be truly healthy, everybody needs two things . . . Lunch & Laughter!” Community Health Care provides both!
If you were unable to attend the March fundraising luncheon, you can still participate. David Flentge says, “Our patients still need your support! Please consider making a gift to support our Lunch and Laughter virtual campaign!” – commhealth.org/development/lunch-gift/
Save the date: NOVEMBER 4TH, 2020 – THE COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE HEALTH HEROES DINNER.
