Today (Monday), it’s my birthday. [Haaaaapy biiiiirthday toooo yooooouu, Mario! ☺ Ed.] At the weekend I had planned a big celebration party at my home. You know the story COVID 19 screwed it up for all of us. So not even a dinner at a Restaurant.
I do hope you are all keeping yourself busy at home and isolated. The response in Australia has been outstanding and we can only hope that thing may get back to normal in a month or so. Even if some of the restrictions are removed it would be good.
I must say, that I and many other members that I spoke to, were tremendously impressed with the presentation by Dr Trent Lipp on the COVID-19.Thanks Trent. Next, also thanks to Jo Winwood (Past President of our Club), for her presentation. I hope you-all will give this project of writing a note to the aged and those who have very little contact with anyone from day to day. A very worth project for the loneliness and destitute. Franz is coordinating this with Jo. [See article below and in Download Section. Ed.]
Also, Jo’s organisation (“Be Someone For Someone”, founded by Feros Care) and our Club have agreed to work closely together in the manufacture of the ‘Community Friendly Bench’, (picture right, designed by Des La Rance, based on a concept successfully implemented in the UK). Jo organisation will raise the funds for construction. The SHED will manufacture the Benches. Jo’s organisation will organise the location, management and use of each bench. This to me this sound like a great combination/partnership as our Club does not have the capabilities to carry out the essential management services to ensure that the Benches don’t just become another good idea that has no real effect on our community. It will mean a real commitment by the Shed & the Club.
With regard to the project in Vanuatu Dr Graham Sivyer (President of the Rotary Club of Broadbeach) confirmed in his report this week:
Spoke with Dr Richard Leona from Vanuatu yesterday. At present they do not have COVID19 infecting their country but are dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Harold. Pentecost Island has suffered 90 percent destruction of buildings due to the cyclone, so when restrictions are lifted, they will really need, and I am sure appreciate, Rotary’s assistance.
As you are aware Geoffrey Croad organised his gated housing estate owners to place their empty bottles into containers. Geoff also organised for the containers to donated by Bunnings. He then organised the gardeners to pick them up each week to be sent for the recycling but more importantly the refund from each bottle of 10 cents. Thus far they have raised more than $1,000.00 for our wheelchair project. Doug Lipp is presently looking into including his estate with the assistance of Geoff. If you have such a community that would be happy to work with Rotary we would be very happy to hear from you.
The regular Rotary ZOOM Meeting is on at 7:30am Wednesday morning.
(Dr Trent Lipp is a Medical Emergency Physician at Royal Brisbane Hospital. His specific subject was COVID-19)
“Viruses – they are in the community everywhere” Dr Trent Lipp stated at the outset. “We carry them around unknowingly; every person in this meeting will have a virus in the next 24 – 48 hours… The problem is that when a virus comes from an immune host and then is carried to a host that is not immune. This can then cause a pandemic. The classics in recent times are the Ebola (transmitted from monkeys in Central Africa), Swine Flu (from pigs) and Avian Influenza (from birds). What about a “manufactured” virus? Was COVID-19 “manufactured”, as numerous stories circulate? Dr Lipp is quite certain that this is not the case.
Over the span of some 40 minutes, we were given an uncommonly straight and easy to understand outline of a very complex situation. There are so many different factors involved: not just the immunity, but also the prevalence. For example, the number of people in a community that have a disease which remains, at any point in time, undetected. Whether it is prevalent in a young or old community. This is extremely important: while we have the number of people who have tested positive, we don’t know how many have it undetected. Another issue is transmission: How easy is the disease spread to other people? How virulent? What is the incubation period? We know that droplets (e.g. from a sneeze) can cause transmission if it comes into the body (e.g. via the mouth). But if it is in Aerosol size, it can be inhaled, and ultimately, via the lungs, they’ll enter your bloodstream. As to incubation period: for example, with Ebola, it takes just 24 hours from being infected until the illness manifests itself. With COVID-19 it is...
... 2 weeks! For that reason, the risk of wide spread distribution is much higher: if you don’t know you’ve got it, how many people would you interact with and potentially infect in a fortnight, and they in turn infect others, etc etc? That is one of the principal reasons why we are so desperate to avoid the spread, that is why we have a lock down and social distancing. We know some 97% of detected cases where they come from (International travellers making up about 90%). It is the 3% we don’t know who they are, and for a while, they themselves don’t know. If just one of them transmits COVID, it will very quickly become unmanageable.
Finally, the virulence: Dr Lipp compared a virus to a survivor in the apocalypse: they survive for lengthy periods even if not fed or watered. Compared to a bacteria: it it doesn’t get fed regularly, it will simply die.
So, why not simply test everyone? Seems easy, but… it would mean that everyone needs to be tested every day until the virus is no longer detected at all. Simply not possible (after about two days, many simply wouldn’t come back) and besides, it would be far too expensive. So, what we are doing at present – regular hand washing, social distancing, lock down etc, is what will stop it, until a vaccine has been developed.
The new pandemic? Young people are already and will and continue to die. Mental Health and Suicide. Drugs. Domestic Violence. This will be the real pandemic, and will stay with us for a generation.
Want to get more information and statistics that are right up to date? The John Hopkins University maintains a continually updated website. Navigate to https://coronavirus.jhu.edu
At last week's meeting, Past President Jo Winwood (now a member of RC of Byron Bay), brought one of her organisation's major projects to our attention. Appropriately named '1000 notes of friendship', the project aims to reduce loneliness, particularly for people who are in retirement and nursing homes. Write (best hand write) a note, a postcard or a letter to a 'mystery person' and post it (yes, by old fashioned snail mail) to Jo. This is to safeguard privacy. Below is Jo's summary. There is also a PDF in our Download Section (on the right) and their website, click here. This will also be discussed in more details in the upcoming meeting this coming Wednesday.
Help 1,000 of our most vulnerable seniors by making them feel less alone with a simple note of well wishes / friendship.
Be Someone for Someone is Aged Care provider, Feros Care’s initiative to tackle loneliness– and never has there been a greater need for our help. Right now, millions of vulnerable seniors in Australia are in self-isolation, with no visitors and no chance of leaving their home. We know that loneliness leads to anxiety, depression, chronic disease and worse. We want them to know that they matter, and we are thinking of them.
What you can do
Write a letter/note or card - leave the name section blank ( the part where you normally write "Dear" and Jo will personalise them for you.
Post the note to
1,000 Notes of Friendship Campaign PO Box 585 Byron Bay NSW 2481
The team at Be Someone For Someone will take care of the rest
PS: Include your address if you would like to encourage a response.
Our first On-Line meeting with a Guest Speaker! ☺(see separate article). President Mario Fairlie welcomed all members. We also had some visitors: Joanne Winwood (our Past President, now member of RC of Byron Bay), Pat Fleming (RC of Ashmore, Steve Garfein (RC of Poulsbo, WA, USA), ), as well as three colleagues of Dr Trent Lipp, Dr David Walker, Dr Sanjay Dhupelia, Dr Sean Lowry. And last, but not least: our "disappeared" fellow Surfers Sunrise member Fred Hamblen, who joined us all the way from Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA. Good to hear you are still around, Fred! You are officially fined $100 for going AWOL - just deposit into our regular club bank account! ☺
On conclusion of our Guest Speaker, Dr Trent Lipp's presentation , President Mario invited Jo Winwood to talk about one of her projects of combating loneliness and isolation. This started well before COVID and Jo described it as 'a growing epidemic'. Do you know that it is estimated that 1 in 4 adults suffer loneliness? This then has massive consequences in both mental and physical health. Please see separate article in this bulletin on Jo's Project, which she has asked our club to become involved with. Overall, her project goes much further, but specifically, where Jo would like us to be involved in is for us to write to those people. She named it 'A Thousand Notes of Friendship' - click on this link to go to their website. There is also a PDF on our Download Section - see right side. (Note: this coming Wednesday's meeting, 22/04/2020, is dedicated to discuss this, among other topics). Jo also elaborated on her other project relating to 'Community Friendly Benches'. President Mario indicated that our club is very happy to be involved in this. One aspect of such a project is 'Sustainablity', e.g. that the facility is not only properly maintained, but that it is not ending up as a canvas for graffity or even an overnight sleeping bench. Wheelchair Trust Chairman Larry Murray confirmed that the volunteers are indeed able to build them, however, that finance needs to come from external sources. Jo confirmed that funding would be coming from her sources (Government as well as philanthropists).
Doug Lipp re-enforced Dr Trent Lipp's message that COVID vigilance is all important: Despite meticulously following precautions, one of his friends caught it, most likely from a neighbor who is an airline stewart. So, don't lower your defences!
As we won’t be able to participate in RYLA & RYPEN this year, NYSF is a possible alternative at this stage. We need a student going into year 12 next year to participate. At this Monday's meeting, this was approved by our Board; we do have approximately $1800 that we would have expended with (then now cancelled) RYLA & RYPEN camps. This would cover more than half the cost of NYSF (with the parent contributing the other half) if we gained a successful student.
Authorities now recommend wearing masks indoors as well as outdoors. It does nothing to stop the virus, but it makes you stop and think before eating!
Neil's post of the week:A joke doesn't become a dad joke until it's full groan.
Gerald's post of the week:click on this link - one of the funniest videos ever!
Andy's post of the week: Notice from the Psychiatric Association: Dear Citizens, during the quarantine time, it is normal to talk to the walls, plants, pots. Kindly only contact us if they reply.
And in consideration of the upcoming ANZAC Day (this coming Saturday):
"All our dead would rather have lived in peace. But there was not peace. Now there is, and perhaps, in our protected, cushioned and lulling circumstances, one of the best ways to realise what life is really worth, is to try to imagine the intensity with which they must have felt its value just before they lost it. Sacrifice is a large word, but no word can be large enough for that small moment. The only eloquence that fits is silence - which I will ask you to observe with me." Extract from Clive James' Anzac Day address, London, 1988
Also, Jo’s organisation (“Be Someone For Someone”, founded by Feros Care) and our Club have agreed to work closely together in the manufacture of the ‘Community Friendly Bench’, (picture right, designed by Des La Rance, based on a concept successfully implemented in the UK). Jo organisation will raise the funds for construction. The SHED will manufacture the Benches. Jo’s organisation will organise the location, management and use of each bench. This to me this sound like a great combination/partnership as our Club does not have the capabilities to carry out the essential management services to ensure that the Benches don’t just become another good idea that has no real effect on our community. 
As you are aware Geoffrey Croad organised his gated housing estate owners to place their empty bottles into containers. Geoff also organised for the containers to donated by Bunnings. 
(Dr Trent Lipp is a Medical Emergency Physician at Royal Brisbane Hospital. His specific subject was COVID-19)
immunity, but also the prevalence. For example, the number of people in a community that have a disease which remains, at any point in time, undetected. Whether it is prevalent in a young or old community. This is extremely important: while we have the number of people who have tested positive, we don’t know how many have it undetected. Another issue is transmission: How easy is the disease spread to other people? How virulent? What is the incubation period? We know that droplets (e.g. from a sneeze) can cause transmission if it comes into the body (e.g. via the mouth). But if it is in Aerosol size, it can be inhaled, and ultimately, via the lungs, they’ll enter your bloodstream. As to incubation period: for example, with Ebola, it takes just 24 hours from being infected until the illness manifests itself. With COVID-19 it is... 
Finally, the virulence: Dr Lipp compared a virus to a survivor in the apocalypse: they survive for lengthy periods even if not fed or watered. Compared to a bacteria: it it doesn’t get fed regularly, it will simply die.
Our first On-Line meeting with a Guest Speaker! ☺(see separate article). President Mario Fairlie welcomed all members. We also had some visitors: Joanne Winwood (our Past President, now member of RC of Byron Bay), Pat Fleming (RC of Ashmore, Steve Garfein (RC of Poulsbo, WA, USA), ), as well as three colleagues of Dr Trent Lipp, Dr David Walker, Dr Sanjay Dhupelia, Dr Sean Lowry. And last, but not least: our "disappeared" fellow Surfers Sunrise member Fred Hamblen, who joined us all the way from Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA. Good to hear you are still around, Fred! You are officially fined $100 for going AWOL - just deposit into our regular club bank account! ☺
As we won’t be able to participate in RYLA & RYPEN this year, NYSF is a possible alternative at this stage. We need a student going into year 12 next year to participate. At this Monday's meeting, this was approved by our Board; we do have approximately $1800 that we would have expended with (then now cancelled) RYLA & RYPEN camps. This would cover more than half the cost of NYSF (with the parent contributing the other half) if we gained a successful student.
