ROTARY LUNCHEON MEETING
Wednesday February 8, 2023
President Everton welcomed 21 people (18 members and three guests) and thanked Graham Gardiner for serving as Greeter.
50/50 - Following lunch, President Everton conducted the 50/50 draw with tickets drawn by guest Ross Bauer. The three tickets drawn belonging to Ray Danbrook, Mac Graham and Dave Forwell were not converted to snatching the black ball and the $90.50 pot will grow at next week's meeting.
PRESENTATION
John Thompson introduced guest speaker Tony Lea who is currently the Executive Director of the KW Branch of St. John Ambulance.
The Order of St John dates back nearly a thousand years to about 1070 when a hospice was established in Jerusalem by monks to care for Christians. Formally known as the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem it's an international order of chivalry which is headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Tony provided some in initial opening remarks, sharing that locally the KW Branch of St. John Ambulance was established in 1940.
Just about everyone in the community has been touched by St. John Ambulance, even if they don't realize it.
The mission is to enhance health, safety and quality of life of citizens through a variety of training programs and community services.
The charitable organization uses money raised from training and product sales to support their volunteer programs, many of which are offered to the community at no charge - for example providing First Aid presence at community events.
A video shared that SJA has a presence around the world providing diverse services and programs such as:
- First Aid - life saving skills
- First responders -
- Vehicles
- Natural disaster response
- Birthing assistance
- Community based health services - medical care in rural areas
- Eye Care
- Rescue services - on land and sea
- Diabetes outreach - including dialysis
- Hospice
- Caring Callers
- Therapy Dog programs
Locally, SJA annually provides training for 5,000 - 6,000
people and Medical First Response for more than 100 events totalling over 4,000 hours.
Additionally, the local Dog Therapy Program involves 37 members.
Tony is currently working on a Home Caregiver Support Program to assist local caregivers on the following topics:
- Physical stress
- Mental/emotional stress
- Social challenges
- Legal issues
- Financial challenges
- Spiritual needs
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