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Will Arscott PHF
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ROTATELLER
MEETING RECAP - 5 February 2018
 
Submitted by Will Arscott
 
Brenda Banbury - Polio Plus where are we now?
 
The meeting was held at the Bessborough. The meeting was presided by President Mark Gryba.
Greeter - Dave Sundby
Cashier - Paul Gauthier
Visitors and Guests - Gary Rusu
Set-up - Al Morton
Grace - Gary Emde
 
O Canada was led by Wayne McGillivray who ‘chickened out’ and stayed with the well known but now politically incorrect lyrics..
 
Grace - Gary Emde led an appropriate grace.
 
Visitors and Guests - Gary Rusu
We had two visiting Rotarians:
Brenda Banbury of the North Club our guest speaker
Ed Pek of the Nutana Club (I believe Ed may have visited out club previously).
 
Announcements
 
Future Meetings:
12 February: Will feature a presentation from the College of Nursing led by our member and Dean of Nursing Huey-Ming Tzeng and several of her colleagues. The subject will be initiatives the college is taking in the area of aboriginal health.
 
19 February No Meeting as it is the Family Day holiday in Saskatchewan.
 
26 February Maureen Torr with an update on the Joy’s Home of Hope project in Uganda.
 
Grocery Cards:
Gary Rusu has an $11,000 inventory he would like to turn into club cash. Please buy a card. If you do not consume groceries you are exempt.
 
Rotary Friendship Exchange to India
Gary Kerr spoke briefly on the notice that was emailed to members from Dave Bennett. There will be a district 5550 Friendship Exchange to India. Up to sixteen people will travel to India January-February 2019. The Indian delegation will visit June-July 2019. You must be able to handle a busy tour schedule and host the Indian delegation. For further information please see Gary.
 
Sergeant at Arms - President Mark stood in himself as Sergeant for this meeting
 
- Peter W was fined for being glad about something or other but he was glad and paid his fine.
- Brenda Banbury’s table was fined for talking about Brenda’s travels and not about football. Of course Brenda, as a guest, was not fined.
- One table was fined for discussing marijuana laws.
- Ed Pek’s table was fined for talking about Badge Shield and Star sponsors rather than about football. All in all it was not a good week to have been sitting with one of our guests.
 
Happy and Sad
 
- H Joanne F for completing her last chemo treatment and for her new project which is to grow back her hair. The club hopes she is done with treatments forever.
- H Wayne K for sixteen wonderful days in Hawaii.
- H&S Peter Z for all the people who served at the Friendship Inn last Monday. He was sad for the five weeks he has to spend in Hawaii. He was sad for a neighbour who fell and hit his head shovelling the driveway and died. The neighbour was a well known retired Saskatoon teacher Earle Robertson.
- Gary Rusu gave fifty happy dollar for his fifty years in the insurance business. He feels he has done pretty well for a high school drop-out.
- Dave Sundby happy dollars for Joanne F and also for Peter Z leaving.
- President Mark for a great Superbowl. He also had a happy dollar for the Huskies men’s and women’s basketball teams who are young but showing great promise.
- Wayne McG put in happy dollars for a great trip to Texas with rounds of golf. Put in a sad dollar for the Husky hockey teams who are struggling. He is still singing O Canada at the Huskies play-off games. He also congratulated Joanne on completing treatments.
 
Guest Speaker - Brenda Banbury - Polio Plus Where are we now?
 
President Mark introduced Brenda who is well known to most of our members. Brenda has been in Rotary for 26years and has worked for the last ten at the district level. Her work in Rotary has had an international focus and Brenda has done considerable travelling in conjunction with her work. She is married to retired accountant Ross Harwood.
 
The eradication of Polio has been a Rotary project since 1985. At that time polio was active is 150 countries spread over five continents. Now there is polio only in three countries - Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Even in these countries it only appears in the least secure regions. Nigeria has had three polio cases this year. Pakistan was down to eight cases last year from 300 cases only four years ago. Afghanistan is a problem because the security situation is so chaotic.
 
Pakistan is an example of what can be accomplished when resources are marshalled. In past years the government has been reluctant to address polio. This has changed dramatically. Last year there were 38 million immunizations in Pakistan (compared to 9.9 million in Afghanistan). This year Pakistan plans to do another 42 million immunizations. This will be done in only six months concentrating on children five and under. To increase the coverage Pakistan uses local women to deliver the immunizations as they know the community and can enter houses unlike men. Pakistan now has 100,000 workers doing immunizations. Pakistan is a success and eradication is a real hope.
 
To this day there is no treatment for polio. It is a group of viruses that are transmitted orally through contact with fecal matter. Poor water and hygiene spread polio. This is a particular problem in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In conditions of poor water and hygiene it can take up to twenty doses to effect immunization.
 
There are three virus types. Type I is the common form. There has not been a type III case since 2012. There is a problem with the type II strain which is now considered eradicated. It is this strain that occasionally mutates and becomes very potent. In the recent past the immunization of choice has been oral drops. These drops contained weakened versions of all three virus types. This meant that type II was being continually introduced into the population with the risk of mutation. The mutation is the Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (CVDP). The CVDP is very rare but very virulent. Between 2000 and 2010 there were 10 billion doses given and only 20 cases of CVDP reported.
 
A decision was made to move away from the drops and go to a vaccine that is injected and contains only type I and III viruses. The advantage is that type II will no longer be introduced into the population. The disadvantage is that it take more skilled workers to do the immunizations. There is also a problem with disposing of sharps and plastic. [In an answer to a question by Avis Hardy, Brenda said that while all participating countries have a protocol to deal with sharps and plastic the protocols may be less than adequate and may not translate in practice. This is another ongoing problem.] The plan moving forward is to withdraw the oral version of the vaccine.
 
Nigeria is a special problem particularly in areas where Boko Haram is active. There is a great risk of both a polio outbreak and of malaria. In Nigeria vaccinations take place against both.
 
Vaccinations while important are only part of the work that needs to be done. The second major thrust is for environmental monitoring of the occurrence of the polio vaccine. This creates large logistical challenges as labs are not available and samples need to be refrigerated until tested. This monitoring can predict where an outbreak is like to occur.
 
Volunteers are the unsung heroes of Polio Plus. Rotarians have contributed 1.7 billion US dollars which have provided 2.5 billion immunizations. Another 7.2 billion dollars have been raised through partnerships most notably in conjunction with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Governments have contributed 14 billion to the cause. The cost per child immunized is about $3.000US. This covers much more than the cost of the immunization itself.
 
There is a Polio Plus challenge in Saskatoon. A donor has come forward. If we can raise $10,000 before the end of April this amount will be matched by the donor. It will also be matched twice by the Gates Foundation. Overall District 5550 is being asked to raised $75,000 by the end of April. If this is accomplished Brenda has promised to get a tattoo. The largest donor may get some say in where that tattoo is to be located. You can contribute with a credit card through the Rotary Foundation Canada. This can be done online. You also receive Paul Harris credit for your donation. The people in District 5550 have access to see donations and they will be credited towards the local campaign.
 
Brenda was thank by President Mark and a donation will be made to Bethany Homes.
 
 
Adjournment
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