Here are some delayed pics from our meeting on 26th March
Jace Healy from Lorne P-12 College
Rotarian Colin McDonald and his wife Jan visited from Benalla to update us on the Awake and Shine school project in Kalimpong,
I hope you all had a lovely Easter. As there was no meeting this week there is little to report. We are on the way to District conference in Mt Gambier so I will be able to report on that next week.
Save the Earth - Plant a tree
The Surf Coast Shire have confirmed the location and starting time for 19 April Rotary planting.
The location is Deep Creek Nature Reserve – members can walk in from the laneway between 23 and 25A Highlander Street and head west where we will be set up near the sediment pond. See the aerial below for the accurate location.
Starting time 10.30 am.
The Surf Coast Shire will supply all materials and the crew member will be there to dig the holes. Our members will plant and guard. We are planting Varnish Wattles and Common Correas, as per the photos below.
Please let Michael Reed know if you would like to come along and make a difference by planting a tree.
Ride the Bellarine – 15th April
This is our joint group fundraiser to raise funds for the eradication of polio
Please volunteer to help on the day if you haven’t done so already. You will receive a final request for help this weekend, Greg Plumridge is coordinating.
ANZAC Day
Remember that ANZAC day is on 25th April – details of our club involvement to follow.
Monday 9th April Trevor Britten from the Surf Coast Shire will talk to us about the “Positive Aging Service” review. Unfortunately Rudi and I will miss Mondays meeting as we will be returning from District Conference from which we send you greetings and some pics.
‘Veni was a 60-year-old man with a very large extended family. He had worked as a security guard at the Lagoon Lodge in Nuku’alofa, capital of Tonga, providing for his large family. One of his daughters also worked at the same facility as a house maid.
John Macdonald and the team of the St John of God Twinning program regularly stayed at this facility and John got to know Veni as a quiet and friendly man. On one of those trips it came to light that ‘Veni had lost his leg due to sepsis (infection) following development of a foot blister at work. No prosthetic service was available for ‘Veni and overseas treatment was not an option due to financial constraints. He was confined to a wheelchair and unable to work.
Peter Lendfers, an Orthotist at the Ballarat Health Services, was keen to help and a collaborative Social Outreach effort between St John of God Hospital Ballarat and Ballarat Health Services saw ‘Veni visit Ballarat to have a prosthesis fitted.
The prosthesis went well and ‘Veni was up and walking in the first week. Unfortunately, unexpected and unrelated health issues complicated the visit so ‘Veni spent five weeks at St John of God Hospital Ballarat before he returned to Tonga.
`Back home in Tonga, ‘Veni recovered and was delighted with his new leg – even returning to work. A proud moment was walking up the steps at church (to everyone’s amazement)! He didn’t use a wheelchair again.
The experience gave valuable insight into the future of prosthetic care in Tonga – it would be much easier, more economical, and far more effective to provide prosthetics in Tonga than try to seek these services in other countries.
Why Vaiola Hospital and Tonga need their own prosthetic service:
They need local Tongan prosthetists:
To communicate with patients and family in their own language
To be aware and sensitive to local culture and traditions.
They need a female prosthetist: Supporting the education and training of a female prosthetist is essential to provide service to female amputees in a sensitive environment. Gender balancing of the work force is a good policy to ensure needs of female population are advocated for. In Ausralia the genders within the prosthetic and orthotic industry are close to 50 % male and 50% female.
They need prosthetists to provide immediate post operative treatment, and to provide early rehabilitation with rigid dressings to prevent swelling, to protect the stump and facilitate healing.
They need to provide every amputee with access to the service (anecdotally there are more then 1000 amputees in Tonga).
They need to provide amputee education around self management (for the patient and for family members).
They need to provide gait training with a prosthesis to all amputees.
They need to maintain and repair existing prostheses so decrease costs and maintain independence of the patient.
They need toprovide appropriate technology to meet the needs of every individual amputee
They need to promote prevention of amputation
They need to provide physical facilities and resources so a service can be delivered.
This building on the left will be renovated to accommodate the Mobility clinic including the prosthetic service. Funding has been provided by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health in Tonga. Unfortunately in setting up the program, the lack of a female prosthetist was overlooked.
It will be sustainable
Local ongoing service will attract basic funding
A mentorship program can be set up with Australian, US or NZ prosthetic facilities
The prosthetic service will be embedded in an extended mobility service also providing:
Wheelchair service (to WHO WSTP standard)
Walking aids (to MA standard)
Lower limb orthotics (to ISPO standard)
Short term device loan scheme
Physiotherapy and some aspects of broader rehabilitation
Most of you will be aware of the fires that caused so much anxiety and destruction within our District last weekend. Some people have not only lost their homes but their livelihoods as well ,others have lost their livelihood.
I would like to ask for your support and help to collect toiletries and we will fill shoe boxes for the fire victims.
The staff and residents at my work mecwacare Elstoft House have started to collect toiletries as they did late last year when we supported farmers in the Loddon Region. The response within three days has been amazing. I am so proud of my staff and they way they have wanted to support this cause
Will you please help support this cause and see how many shoe boxes we can fill?
If you would like and are creative maybe you could decorate shoe boxes - adds a personal touch to the exercise
I will bring a box to Rotary on Monday night for you to put any toiletries you would like to donate in to, alternatively items may be dropped to Surf Coast LET at 5/15 Bell St, Torquay
We're turning 30 and would like to invite the extended family of the Rotary Club of Torquay to join with past and present members to celebrate this occasion at Bellbrae Estate. CLICK HERE for more details and to RSVP
Date : Saturday 5 May
Time : 6.30pm -9.00pm
VENUE: Bellbrae Estate Winery, 520 Great Ocean Road
Please note that the Cowrie Market 15th April is the same day as Ride the Bellarine so check if you are rostered on for the Cowrie Market BBQ before volunteering for RTB
You have received a completed 2017-18 BBQ Roster Spreadsheet via email. The Roster is also saved in Clubrunner Club Documents or just Click this link BBQ ROSTER If you are unable to do your rostered session then please find someone who you can swap with and advise me of the change.
Brian Mynott has again registered to participate in this years Ride and will be our Club's representative in the Ride. We will commence a sponsorship program to support Brian in coming weeks. Awesome job Brian.
Ride the Bellarine is a District Fundraising Event, run by the 15 combined Rotary Clubs of Geelong. This event, now in its 4th year, raises funds to support the End Polio Now Campaign.
Registrations for Ride the Bellarine 2018 now open!. Click https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=28260 to register today. This unique ride, on 15 April 2018, will take you around the beautiful Bellarine, enjoying amazing scenery while you raise funds to End Polio.
We are now fully operational with our new system for registering for our weekly dinner meetings. Called Whoozin, this program is used by other local Rotary Clubs with great success.
To make it easy for everyone I have prepared a Whoozin User Manual which is stored on Clubrunner under "Club Documents" that you will be able to print off if you wish.
In Summary the way it will work is:-
You will receive an initial email invitation each Monday for the following week's meeting.
You can immediately accept or decline, leave until later.
You will receive a reminder email on the Friday Prior
You will have until Midnight Sunday to register your RSVP and can change your decision right up until the closing time.
You can register up to 5 guests
You can specify any Special Dietary requirements
Please Note that if you do not register your intentions you will be charged for the dinner fee.
If you have any problems please free to contact myself Greg Plumridge 0418521321 or Michael Reed 0418524315 for details on how to work the program.
If you cannot meet one of your assigned duties, Please contact Bruce Smith to advise.
The duty team should arrive no later than 6:00 p.m. Besides the below duties, the assigned team is responsible for Room Setup, Greeting Members and Guests, and Room Tidy at the end of our meeting - see checklist in storeroom or click here .
Notifying someone about changes to your meeting attendance is your responsibility!
Our meetings have catered dinners, so if you are unable to attend a meeting, or if your partner is unable
to attend a designated Partner's Night, YOU MUST ADVISE us of your or your partner’s absence.
This also applies if you are attending the meeting but not dining.
How to Book in for our Dinner Meeting?
For Members, Partners and guests of Members
you will receive email invitations to each meeting via Whoozin.
It will be your responsibility to RSVP using Whoozin by Midnight on the day prior to the meeting.
The only exception to this will be if you are expecting to be out of internet connectivity for an extended period.
In this instance you can notify Richard Mierzejewski at LET Surfcoast on03-5261 2777 by 4.00pm on the Saturday prior to the Monday Meeting.
Please Note there is NO Answering Service on this number.
Remember if you are bringing guests or your partner (to a non-partner night) you need to RSVP for the extra number of person/s who will be attending.
If no RSVP is registered as per the above process, the absentee member will be issued with an invoice to pay the Club the usual dinner fee of $25 for your non-attendance, and/or that of your partner if it is an official Partner's Night.
For Visitors to the Club
Any Visitors not being registered as a guest of a Member must call Richard Mierzejewski at LET Surfcoast on03-5261 2777 to Book in. RSVP's must be made no later than 4.00PM on the Saturday prior to the Meeting
Please Note there is NO Answering Service on this number.
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‘Veni was a 60-year-old man with a very large extended family. He had worked as a security guard at the Lagoon Lodge in Nuku’alofa, capital of Tonga, providing for his large family. One of his daughters also worked at the same facility as a house maid.
Peter Lendfers, an Orthotist at the Ballarat Health Services, was keen to help and a collaborative Social Outreach effort between St John of God Hospital Ballarat and Ballarat Health Services saw ‘Veni visit Ballarat to have a prosthesis fitted.
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