WORLD POLIO DAY: meet Ina Pinkney -a Chicago gem who is grateful for our Rotary efforts!
A fear of the unknown. The need to maintain an appropriate distance. An urgent desire to find a cure or vaccine.
They're the hallmarks of the coronavirus pandemic, but they also characterized an earlier epidemic: when paralysis-causing polio ravaged the U.S. in the 1940s and '50s.
Now, the toddlers and preteens of that era are once again part of a high-risk group during a deadly epidemic of a highly infectious disease.
Commonly transmitted person to person, polio led to social distancing even without official enforcement. People avoided public places and those infected were shunned.
Ina Pinkney was a year old when she contracted the disease in Brooklyn, N.Y.
"When my parents would take me out ... you could hear everybody get silent and move away, which is very much what it feels like now," says Pinkney, who is 77 now and lives in Chicago, where she ran a successful restaurant for decades.
Much like the coronavirus, when one person contracted polio, the entire family lived in anxiety of household spread. That was the case when Nancy Artinian Theoharis became sick more than six decades ago at age 14.
Her daughter Liz remembers stories about her grandmother's efforts to protect the other children in the house, particularly her aunt, who shared a bedroom with Nancy.
"My grandma would furiously take my aunt's temperature every day," Liz Theoharis says. "While everybody may have been exposed, there was fear that my aunt will come down with the virus as well."
As news reports of the coronavirus spread in the U.S. worsened, Margaret Nielsen started feeling a sense of deja vu, recalling memories of battling polio as a 4-year-old.
At the time, people stricken with the disease like Nielsen could spend weeks isolated in the hospital.
The 78-year-retired professor remembers how little the doctors knew about the disease, and how hard it was for her family to get updates on how she was doing.
"They could call once a day and they would get a one-word response because there were so many families calling," says Nielsen, who lives in East Lansing, Mich. "So during the initial couple of weeks when I was infectious there was so little information."
Infectious cases peaked in the 1950s, with nearly 60,000 contracting the disease and more than 3,000 deaths in 1952 alone.
People felt a great sense of urgency about when a vaccine would be found, says Carl Kurlander, whose documentary A Shot Felt 'Round the World chronicled the discovery of the first preventative polio vaccine.
"Church bell rang out, people screamed and were let out of school," Kurlander says. "Around the world there were headlines 'Victory Over Polio.'"
Now, riding through another epidemic, Pinkney says that a coronavirus vaccine may not instantly reverse things to normalcy but "there will be a great sense of relief."
And surviving that earlier epidemic has given her perspective: "I live with hope and I live with anticipation that we will [get] on the other side of this. I don't know what it looks like. It doesn't even matter, as long as people are not getting sick and people are not dying."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
NORTHBROOK ILL - October 20, 2021 -- The frost is about to hit the greater Chicagoland area. For locals, it’s time to open the closets and get winter coats and gear ready. Imagine coming to the Midwest for the first time, after leaving your home with nothing.
Rotary Club of Northbrook’s “Coats Off Your Back” drive has helped to mitigate a local problem in partnership with refugee settling organizations including World Relief Chicago.
“Refugees are settling in the Midwest during our most challenging season, but we can help!” says John Cavanaugh, Rotarian and chair of this annual event.
“So many of us annually sort through and buy updated coats, jackets, and other winter outerwear. This year – as you go through your previous season winterwear - consider donating to Coats Off Your Back! You may also buy new items to donate as well.”
Donation bins for the Rotary Club “Coats Off Your Back” drive can be found throughout the Village of Northbrook at the following locations: NSYMCA: 2705 Techny Rd; Northbrook Library: 1201 Cedar Ln; Sunset Foods: 1127 Church St; Northbrook Village Hall: 1225 Cedar Ln; Northbrook Bank & Trust: Sanders-Dundee/Sanders-SE Corner; Cleaners: Sanders-Dundee/Sanders-SE Corner; Northern Weathermakers: 339 Anthony Trail; North Shore Place: 1000 Sunset Ridge Rd; Waterway Gas & Wash: 2300 Waukegan Rd; Northbrook Bank & Trust: 1100 Waukegan Rd; Orange Theory: 3101 Dundee Rd.
Please join The Rotary Club of Northbrook in collecting needed winter gear such as new or gently worn Jackets, Coats, Scarves, Hats, Gloves, and Boots for those served by World Relief. All sizes and genders from adult to children will help. For additional locations, to donate to Rotary, or to contact John Cavanaugh, log on to NorthbrookRotary.org
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Rotary Club of Northbrook’s motto, Service Above Self, inspires members to provide humanitarian service, follow high ethical standards, and promote goodwill and peace in the world. World Relief World Relief Chicagoland is part of a national network of offices through which over 400,000 immigrants and refugees have been welcomed into this country.
The Rotary Club of Northbrook is once again hosting a Blood Drive on Saturday October 30th. The event will be held at the Bloodmobile in the parking lot next to Culver's of Northbrook from 10 A.M.-3 P.M. Each donor will receive a coupon for a Free pint of Culver's Frozen Custard!
Please reach out to your friends, family, neighbors and employees or co-workers to participate. Appointments MUST be scheduled in advance. Please schedule your appointment by calling 847-258-4825 or visit Vitalant.org
Select "Donate" or "make an appointment"
log in,
then scroll down the web page and search by group code NV32
Bloodmobile location: 4105 Dundee Road at Sanders, Northbrook
Masks required
Please contact Mitch Portugal, The Rotary Club of Northbrook's community service chair (847-480-1361) for any questions you may have.
Blood Drive: October 30th contact Mitch for opportunities.
Coat Off Your Back: Recipient is World Relief Chicago. We need help placing barrels; collecting content; coordinating deliveries. See article for more details.
Bernie's Book Bank: Tuesday, November 2nd sign up with Mitch.
Join Zoom meeting on the good old-fashioned telephone!
+1 312 626 6799 Meeting ID: 295 416 335 Password: 726580 for telephone only
Please note - Meetings are no longer recorded. If you do not attend on zoom or in person you will miss the fun! Meeting dates and times, or virtual access may change, always check our website for updates. In-person meetings are held at Hilton, 2855 Milwaukee Rd., Northbrook.
