August 10th Meeting Notes

Guests:

Derek Weaver, guest of Ashley Morrison.

Susan Strom, guest of Bill Leeds.

Lee Harman, visiting Rotarian, guest speaker.

Happy thoughts

Happy thoughts include good times at the Island County Fair and Golfun, a freshly-painted chicken coop, an orca pod sighting, and a satisfying family reunion.

Topics:

We sang happy birthday to Alex Bonesteel, who also received his first Paul Harris award. Congratulations Alex!

This year's Golfun was as fun as ever. Our club was represented by two teams, including Doug and Sandi Coutts , Ashley Morrison, and past-presidents Jane Helten and Jerry Morrison.

Guest speaker Dr. Lee Harman was up next with an enlightening and moving presentation about Rotary International's mission to eradicate polio. Dr. Harman, founder of the Harman Eye Clinic in Arlington, Washington and distinguished Rotarian, has many interests including flying planes. However, Rotary and the Polio Plus Foundation are among his top passions.

Dr. Harman pointed out that although Rotary has made great strides in the battle to eradicate the crippling disease, we can't relent if we want to reach our goal of eliminating polio entirely by 2018. With help from the Bill Gates Foundation, $4.6 billion dollars have already been pledged, but a totally of $5.5 billion is needed. So whatever we can do to support this long battle is greatly appreciated.

Among statistics to consider: 2.5 billion children in 122 nations have been vaccinated and India and the entire African continent are now polio free. These successes came at considerable cost, and not just financial: 60 vaccinators have been killed in the effort.

Dr. Harman also reminded us that the disease is highly contagious. Even one infected person can cause polio to spread quickly in an unvaccinated population. So please do what you can to support this effort, and also take a moment to appreciate the role Rotary takes in making the world a better place.

Key Facts from the World Health Organization

• Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under 5 years of age.

• One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

• Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an
  estimated 350,000 cases then, to 416 reported cases in 2013. The reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease.

• In 2014, only 3 countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988.

• As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. Failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200,000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world.

• In most countries, the global effort has expanded capacities to tackle other infectious diseases by building effective surveillance and immunization systems.