As we celebrate the Rotary Club of Augusta's Centennial Year and the Rotary International Foundation Centennial Year, we are very honored to host PDG 7780 Ann Lee Hussey for a special presentation about Rotary International's Polio Eradication efforts. Download a flyer here.
Ann Lee Hussey of South Berwick, Maine has made the eradication of polio and the alleviation of suffering by polio survivors her life’s work. Over the past several years she has actively participated in 28 volunteer NID (National Immunization Days) teams organizing and leading the last 24 teams herself, choosing to take those NIDs to places that do not often see westerners – Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Niger, Nigeria, Madagascar as well as less “touristy” destinations in Egypt and India – where the need is greatest and where the publicity and goodwill surrounding the trip are as critical as the immunizations themselves to help communicate the need for eradication.
She has shared her story and passion hundreds of times at numerous Zone Institutes, District Conferences, PETS and Foundation events, carrying the message of PolioPlus around the Rotary world and beyond, raising money and creating new converts to the fight. She is determined that no child will needlessly have to suffer what she herself, a polio survivor, has been through. Her concern for polio survivors includes working to ensure mobility and dignity for those who survived the disease but did not have access to the kinds of surgeries and treatments that she was able to receive. And has led many RI grants to this end.
Ann Lee has put a face on the subject of polio eradication, winning hearts and minds and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process. A polio survivor herself, the story Ann Lee tells is personal, and so is her fight to eradicate polio.
But for all the immunizations Ann Lee has herself made possible through NIDs, she considers fundraising and public awareness her most critical accomplishments. Ann Lee’s work has earned her the International Service Award for a Polio-Free World and the Rotary Service Above Self Award and most recently was honored as a White House Champion of Change for her humanitarianism and contributions to public service, aimed at improving people’s lives and making a better future around the globe. She was also honored at the Maine State Senate chamber for her remarkable achievements. She was featured in the magazine Real Simple in June 2012.
Outside Rotary, Ann Lee currently serves as a trustee of York Hospital for a third term and previously on the board of Port Resources, an organization that supports developmentally challenged adults in Portland, Maine.
Ann Lee is a member of the Rotary Club of Portland Sunrise in Maine and served District 7780 as Governor in 2010-2011. Previously Ann Lee served on the Reach Out to Africa Initiative, as Zone 32 Coordinator for Health and Hunger and as a member of the RI Rotarian Action Groups Committee. Ann Lee has also served as Presidents’ Representative at several district conferences and has represented Rotary at the Easter Seals Annual Convention.
She currently serves, as Adviser to Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee and serves as Rotary’s representative to the Global Polio Eradication Transition Management Group. She chairs the Polio Survivors Rotarian Action Group and serves as Chair of the RAGs group for 2016-2018.
Ann Lee is a Veterinary Technician who with her Rotarian husband, Michael Nazemetz, DVM own Village Veterinary Clinic in Rollinsford, NH. They reside in South Berwick, Maine with their yellow Labrador, Parker and their cat Elliott. Ann Lee and her husband are Rotary Foundation Major Donors.
Augusta
