The meeting was opened by President Les at 7.30. He welcomed Honorary members Cec and Ian and past member Rob Borbidge AO. He also welcomed visiting Rotarian Angela Griffin and her partner Mile Edwards.
Bill Waller proposed the toast to the members, partners, and friends of Broadbeach Rotary.
Andrew presented the first prize of $600 of the Silver Circle held last year to Brian Pearson. Brian then very generously donated the winnings to The Pentecost Project.
Les had a brief report on the cluster meeting held to discuss the upcoming Baton relay. He is looking for volunteers form the club to assist.
Visiting Rotarian Angela Griffin gave a brief report on a 10 year project that her club at Maleny conducted in conjunction with a local community organisation. They have built a secondary school for orphans in Livingstone, Zambia. Prior to that their education ended at primary level. They do take on paying students to help subsidise costs.
David O’Dwyer stepped in at the last moment as Sergeant and had a fun session.
Anyone who had not been abroad in the last year was fined.
We all failed a questionnaire on the content of Rotary Downunder.
Our visitor, Mike won heads and tails and Peter Tomlins won the raffle.
Guest Speaker
President Les introduced the guest speaker the Hon Rob Borbidge AO, Lifeflight Australian Chair.
Lifeflight was originally called Careflight but it became an issue with the NSW government re the name and control so 4 years ago Queensland went it alone and changed the name to Lifeflight.
Lifeflight provides aeromedical services in Queensland. It employs 300 staff. Last year they had a turnover of $104,000.000 and ended up with a surplus of $120,000. They have 3 helicopters and 2 jets and are now based in Brisbane. They do work with RFDs as required.
Rob spoke of 2 rescues. The first of a Toowoomba teenager whose leg was severely injured. Two Lifelight helicopters, QAS paramedics, Qld Fire and emergency and local medical professionals were called. The difficult decision was made to amputate the leg at the roadside. The teen now leads a full and productive life.
The second was a baby with a rare condition who need immediate cardiac surgery. He was flown, with his mother, from Mackay to Brisbane on the RACQ Lifeflight rescue Air Ambulance Learjet 45. The trip took an hour and ten minutes. By road it would have been 10 hours.
Lifeflight work with RFDS when required. The organisations are complementary, not competitive.
Note. There was far too much information to transcribe in this report. Rob has left a copy of the annual report which will be available next week for anyone who would like more details.
President Les closed the meeting at 8.00
The Meeting in Pictures
