Announcements/Business:
- Mary Steinbrecker and the women of the DAR brought a donation of many boxes of granola bars for the Back Pack Project.
- The Canyon Courier had pictures and a story about our evening of presentations by the RYLA youth.
- Next week’s meeting: Soldier Boxes, Gail Sharp; Twitter tutorial by Lenore McCall and Club business.
- Day of the Dead party, 6 pm, Saturday October 26 at the McCall’s’ Come in costume or not!
- Sign up for Salvation Army Bell Ringing at King Soopers over the holidays by clicking HERE, or go to the Community Links tab on our homepage.
- October 24 is World Polio Day. District Governor Curt Harris is making a Rotary fundraising bike ride to end polio on November 23rd. Donate to his ride HERE, or on the District 5450 Website.
Program: Marny Eulberg, MD, District 5450 Polio Chair
Update on Polio Plus
The reason Dr. Eulberg joined Rotary: she had polio at age 4. She wants to ensure that other children do not suffer the disease and its related discrimination in many other countries. Also, as many as 50% of people with polio develop Post Polio Syndrome as they age---which she has experienced.
Current statistics for polio: in 2018 there were 33 cases of wild polio and 104 cases of vaccine derived polio. The countries that have the wild polio: Afghanistan and Pakistan. This year, there are 88 cases of wild-polio and 95 cases of the vaccine-derived polio. Polio is derived from ingestion of the entero-virus that is excreted in stool. It is a water-borne disease. Many people can carry the virus; only about 1% suffer paralysis.
Fund-Raising and events:
- All donations are matched 2:1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation!
- Conifer Rotary has a goal of $800 for this year.
- District Governor Curt Harris is making a Rotary bike ride to end polio on November 23rd. Donate to his ride HERE.
- The Rotary International General Secretary will be in Denver for a fund-raising dinner Saturday February 8, 2020.
The cost to fully vaccinate a child with 3-5 doses is $3. The estimate to globally eradicate polio is $3 billion for the period 2013-19. The donations are matched by the Gates Foundation 2:1. By the time polio is eradicated, Rotary will have contributed $20 billion, including the Gates Foundation matches.
More than 1 million Rotarians have supported the vaccine campaign by administering vaccinations, mobilizing awareness activities and engaging government officials. More than 2.5 billion children have been immunized, resulting in a 99.9% reduction of the disease since 1985! Since 1988, these immunizations have prevented more than 18 million people from being paralyzed by Polio.
There are three types of wild polio virus. Type 2 was eliminated in 1999, Type 3 has not been found since Nov. 2012. Now only Type 1 exists and it is the only polio type being immunized currently. If we stop vaccinating now, within 10 years there would be 200,000 cases of paralyzing polio.
Additional benefits of the Polio vaccination effort include an unrelated improvement in identification and treatment of other diseases, such as ebola. The “+” in the Polio program name refers to giving Vitamin A drops, distributing mosquito nets and doing water/sanitation projects along with the immunizations.
Guests: Mary Steinbrecker