Download the Club Bulletin for meeting 978 here.
From President Kirsty Stark:
On Tuesday morning we welcomed to our meeting Brett Howard, President of Polio SA. Many younger Australians are unaware of the Polio Epidemic that swept Australia in the 1940s and early 50s. Those that recovered, with varying levels of disability, are now suffering ‘late stage effects’. Polio SA was set up to support the ‘late stagers’. Brett demonstrated his own aid, a plastic foot support, that stops him tripping over.
Club members from that era recalled their painful inoculations of the Salk Vaccine, which were injected to stop the disease. Until 1955, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was considered one of the most frightening public health problems in the world. “Apart from the atomic bomb, America’s greatest fear was polio.”
How much easier it is nowadays with the oral vaccine. For more info on Jonas Salk click onto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Salk
Magill Sunrise has long been a supporter of Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign, which is now very close to having eradicated polio worldwide, so it was interesting to hear the other side of things, and how polio continues to affect the lives of Brett and others here in SA.
Thanks for sharing your story, Brett! Our regular speaker’s donation will be contributed to Polio Australia this week.
Weekly Challenge: Upgrade your Member Profile
Check your member profile on the Magill Sunrise website by clicking the link below, and email any updates or photos to Kirsty.
www.magillrotary.org.au/people-profiles/
The Editor has threatened that if you fail to provide a profile he will write one for you and include a photo. Greg Scheutze is first on the Editor’s hit list.
