Stephanie Cantrill and Gary Newton were our speakers on Monday 8 April and spoke about supporting polio survivors.
With a background in Occupational Therapy, Stephanie had many years’ experience working in rehabilitation settings in clinical roles, and completed a Masters of Public Health in 2010. Steph spent four years in India following this, working in a volunteer role with a community development project, then started her new role as Community Officer with Polio Australia in May 2018Steph outlined the history and effects of polio, and also rotary's involvement in the project to eradicate polio. She referred to the establishment of Polio Australia in 2008 to assist survivors of polio in particular through education programs for health professionals and the community, presentations and web resources.
She was also most informative as to how Polio attacks the body, and the fact that some people with Polio can be infected, with not knowing, and only finding out years later when they develop symptoms of the Late Effects of Polio as many as 40 years after the infection
Gary Newton then gave an inspiring presentation of his own journey and experiences as a person who contacted polio as a very young child and now is a member of Polio Australia. He shared a video of how a rotarian, Sir Clem Renouf's idea about rotary assisting with a world wide health issue led to the development of the eradication of polio project in the 1970's. Gary also outlined his experience of polio and being handed over to a hospital in 1954 as a polio patient and referred to the challenges he faced as a patient, including the pain, sadness and surgeries.
However he considers himself as one of the lucky polio survivors mainly due to the available medical facilities in Australia. He spoke about how he concentrates on what polio has done for him and the gratitude he has for life. Gary has four children and six grandchildren and is thankful that they’re all protected against polio.
Polio survivors are the largest single group of individuals with a disability in Australia. If the world does not continue with the polio eradication program it will re-surface partly due to the anti-vaccine movement and hesitancy.
Gary works as a volunteer for Polio Australia who are working to encourage polio survivors to join the polio register https://www.australianpolioregister.org.au , and to ensure that they have access to the support and resources they need
Gary concluded the presentation by requesting continuing assistance and support for the eradication of polio program and support for polio survivors.