Our meeting on the 14th February was held at the Mermaid Tavern with 15 in attendance including Guest Speaker Dr. Dan Poratt, Barbara Burnheim and Christine Jones.
With Pres. Andrew and VP Pauline unavailable, PP Neil Jones was in charge of the Meeting and when the hotel lost power soon after the meeting commenced it seemed as though we were in for a candlelight dinner when only a few emergency lights remained for a period of time.
Sergeant for the night was PP Bruce Kuhn who performed the task of relieving those present with some of their spare cash with a creative Fines Session.
Lucky Nasser won the Raffle and was on a roll when he followed up by winning Heads and Tails soon after. Having defeated our guest speaker in the last throw, Nasser kindly donated his second bottle of Red to Dr. Dan – a great gesture !!
We were not surprised to be advised that our meal preparations were delayed as the kitchen had no power and Bruce continued by advising us of some recent experiences of how some other clubs in his patch of D9640 were faring – most interesting !
Not long afterwards we were close to bringing on our Guest speaker segment early when the wait staff appeared through the entrance doors with nice plates of Fish/Chips/Salad for Dinner.
After a break to consume that fare, Jim introduced Dr. Daniel Poratt as our guest speaker for the evening.
Dr. Dan’s is an Australian born, American-educated, medico - surgically trained in Foot and Ankle Surgery and is a CPME accredited Podiatric Physician and Surgeon. From 2002, he was a senior lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology in the Podiatry department until his return home to OZ a year or two ago. Dr. Poratt's interests are in non-invasive lower extremity treatments, surgical soft tissue and bone deformities.
We were amazed to see his pictures of various ways in which our feet can be affected by a seemingly endless list of injuries, deformities and wear & tear that necessitate expert care to assure a return to full health and capability.
In the end it was a relatively late night with the meeting concluding after 8 pm, with plenty of interest in the subject.
Jim assured all present of his appreciation of a recent consultation with Dr. Dan resulting in the removal of some painful corns and a pleasant return to normal painless walking activity!
Members were very attentive to the advice given and left with a vastly improved knowledge of how an experienced Podiatrist can contribute to improved health and quality of life.
