Submitted by Will Arscott February 9th, 2016

 

FEBRUARY 8^TH - MEETING RECAP - REGULAR MEETING AT THE BESSBOROUGH ‘ROTARY’S FIGHT AGAINST POLIO: A SUCCESS STORY.’

 

 

The meeting was presided by Past President Wayne McGillivray

Greeter - Steve Wilson

Cashier - Gord Menuz

Visitors and Guests - Mark Gryba

 

O Canada was led by the unimitable by Wayne McG.

 

Grace - Clare H. Who asked for healing in LaLoche and in the Olympic Park Accident in Calgary.

 

Visitors and Guests Mark G

 

We had a visiting Rotarian from Fort MacMurray - A. J. Rosenthal

 

Our guest spoke briefly that his club was one of three clubs in Fort Mac. There is a breakfast club and lunch club and a virtual club. He is a member of the lunch club that meets on Wednesdays. They are a club of about 40 members. Like Fort Mac itself the club is younger than would be the average elsewhere. He is quite proud of his club’s attraction of members in their 30s. We could use some help in this area.

 

Mr. Rosenthal is visiting Saskatoon on behalf of some Fort Mac business people who are looking to diversify their holdings and see our city as a possible place to invest. Mr. Rosenthal is originally from California though he did not say what originally brought him to Fort Mac.

 

 

- Reminder that our AGM is on February 29^th.

 

- World Community Service had a significant meeting last Thursday; mostly concerning budget. The current state of the dollar means that our contributions are able to do much less than before. All Rotary projects are funded in $USD. The club has projects we want to continue to fund particularly:

- Hope for Malawi

- Joy’s Home of Hope

- The microbank in Puerto Vallarta

 

It may be that additional funds will be required to match our past commitment to these projects.

 

 

 

 

Dave began with a review of some Superbowl history particularly in view of it being the 50^th Superbowl on Sunday:

- Ticket SBI $12.00 SBL $1,200 (with Canadian exchange it would be much worse).

- SBI took place at LA Memorial Coliseum. Anybody ever heard of it?

- Most QB wins record shared by Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw.

 

 

 

- Mark G happy dollar for Peyton and the Denver win and for the opportunity to watch the game with a group of non-Denver fans.

 

- Wayne S happy dollar for weekend with granddaughter.

 

- Gary R. A happy dollar for participating on a team in the Luther Care stair climb. Also a happy dollar for a new pizza place on Broadway called Una which he highly recommends but has no ownership interest.

 

- Wayne M a whole raft of happy dollars for (among others) Superbowl and Peyton Manning; the ski season; and our guest from Fort Mac. Announced his wrist is still sore but definitely on the mend.

 

 

 

[Editor’s Note:] Bill substituted in on short notice when the invited speaker was unavailable. I think the whole club should thank Bill for his effort on short notice. It was very obvious that Bill had gone to significant effort to learn his material and present it to the club.

 

The Guest Speaker was Bill Johnson and he was aptly introduced by Bill Johnson.

 

 

 

The eradication of Polio has been the biggest international project of Rotary International for a very long time. Eve though Polio plus now sponsors live streaming events the basics of the program have not changed much since Rotary became involved in 1979. The goal is to provide two drops of vaccine to every child in the world. Since 1985 the project has become Polio Plus because children are vaccinated against a group of diseases.

 

Polio (Poliomyelitis) is a viral disease that is spread through fecal matter. It is particularly deadly to children under five. A person can be infected and carry the disease without symptoms. In those with symptoms the cases range from mild muscle pain to paralysis to death. Out of 200 case. about five will die and many others will be crippled for life.

 

Polio was endemic throughout the world until 1955 when the Salk vaccine was introduced. Once immunization started, it quickly disappeared from the industrialized world.

 

As above Rotary became involved in 1979 as polio still remained throughout much of the developing world. Rotary started in the Philippines. We have now vaccinated 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. Altogether Rotary has spend 1.4 billion $USD to eradicate Polio.

 

The Polio effort is central to Rotary. Of the money that goes to Rotary International 56% has been spent on Polio. This is followed by humanitarian grants at 38% and the peace centres at 2%. In the last 10 years Rotary has partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They match Rotary donations to Polio 2 to 1 up to $35,000,000 per year. This partnership is to continue through 2018.

 

It costs $0.60 to vaccinate a child. There is a problem with Polio because you need a vaccination rate of nearly 100% to eradicate the disease. By 1985 there were still 300,000 cases per year worldwide. By 2006 Polio had been restricted to only four countries. By the end of 2016 it is likely that only Pakistan and Afghanistan will remain.

 

Political instability and war make vaccination efforts more difficult. In recent years the full heft of the United Nations has been put towards the effort. Part of what is necessary to have a successful campaign in unstable areas is to observe local customs and co-opt local leaders. In Muslim countries most vaccinators are women as they can enter private homes.

 

Other approaches include nation immunization days. One was held in Africa in 2001 when 80 million children were vaccinated in 23 countries. The Sudan immunized 5 million children in 3 days after two cases appeared in Chad.

 

Ongoing monitoring is also necessary. It is important to determine not only that there are no new cases but to test for the presence of the virus in sewer systems.

 

As Rotarians we have every right to be proud of our organization’s work in this area.

 

No mention as to whether we would be making a donation to the Bethany Home as a thank you for Bill’s talk (we will).

 

 

 

Next Meeting: February 15^th: No Meeting Family Day

 

February 22^nd: TBA

 

February 29^th: AGM