Guest Speaker: Paul Stromborg

Many newer Rotarians know little about the importance of the End Polio Now campaign, because they are too young to know what it was like when polio outbreaks were common. But Paul Stromborg recalls it all too well.

In his youth, polio was an everyday hazard in the United States; the most common times to catch the disease were in late summer and fall, and while 90% of those exposed would shake it off, and another 9% would have nothing worse than flu-like symptoms...the remaining 1% faced the nightmare of partial or total paralysis, and possibly even death.

He's seen first-hand what can happen; when he was younger, a neighbor who worked as an architect woke up one morning and was a paraplegic. He eventually became an attorney, but had to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. And on a field expedition to Ethiopia, Paul himself saw hundreds of youths who had to use wheeled boards and beg in the streets -- polio victims whose families had turned their backs on them.

So Paul urges members to contribute to the EPN campaign; with the help of Rotary and other entities, the only polio hotspot remaining is on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border (Nigeria had been active a couple of years ago, but is getting close to being declared polio-free). He says the effort to vaccinate children worldwide must continue until the disease disappears completely; any remaining pocket could spread, and start the process all over again.