Notes from November 17th Meeting
Speaker Notes - We had the pleasure of Cliff Flavell who made a return visit to us along with his sister Mary Leger. Cliff had a very informative session which explained some of the history of Polio and also the effects of Post-Polio syndrome. Some of the statistics were staggering and the debilitating nature of the disease was terrible. 10 per cent of those afflicted died as a result but many more were left with very difficult futures. Cliff told us how he became afflicted at the age of 14 and in his words it was a miracle that he was able to come back from it. He was paralyzed initially and spent time in hospital. Many of those less fortunate had a difficult time and thanks to Jonas Salk's incredible creation of a vaccination for Polio it made a world of difference literally all across the world. Rotary has taken a very great interest in working to remove this disease from the planet and has done an incredible job. Thanks in large part to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and their generosity, every dollar raised towards polio is matched 2-1. We have really helped stop the spread of polio for sure however post-polio syndrome is very real and has impacted many people who had polio originally and felt "cured" of it, only to have symptoms come back later in life. Cliff did a wonderful job in telling the story of Polio to our Club and we thank him for this excellent, informative presentation.