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President's Message
Gaynor Schols
President's Report No 41
Monday 16th April 2018
This turned out to be a very small meeting, with insufficient numbers to form committee groups so we reviewed the strategic plan and upcoming events as one group. I’m pleased to announce that all goals are on track and all upcoming events are well in hand.
A few points to note:
An application for a district grant to have our trailer restored and pay for food-handling training for members has been submitted by Lesley Shedden.
PDG Chris Sims has individual forms for all members from Foundation. Should you wish to make a private donation to our Rotary Charity please contact Chris. The club is also making a donation of US$100 per member this year.
Kelly Binyon has agreed to be the Rotary representative at BNI each Thursday morning. From time to time she will need a substitute member to stand in for her.
Planning for the Global Grant to fund a female prosthetist is being handled by John Oswald and Lesley Shedden but funding timelines are being investigated by John.
John Oswald also mentioned the Interplast raffle at $10 per ticket, for a great cause.
John McDonald is making all the arrangements for ANZAC day. Hopefully most members will be able to help out.
The Bunnings BBQs have been arranged for Sat 28th April and Sunday 27th May by Mal Slater, who is departing for Europe this week.
Michael Reed is organising work groups to rationalise and consolidate all books into the storage container at Rhonda’s home. *I have the key for the Storage King shed.
A treasurer is still to be appointed for 2018/19 and also someone to collect batteries each month and take for recycling in North Geelong. Please contact PE Trevor Pickles if you can take on these jobs.
District Assembly for PE Trevor Pickles and his board for 2018/19 is on 29 April in Ararat. Transport in 2 cars has been organised in previous years. Please coordinate arrangements with Trevor.
Putting the Environment Back on the Agenda
RIP Ian Riseley has asked all 1.2 million Rotarians in the world to plant at least one tree each by Earth Day on 22 April, as part of our global Rotary effort to help the environment.
On 19th April our Rotarians, with kind assistance from the Surf Coast Shire, planted trees along Deep Creek in Torquay.
Monday 23rd April
A very important meeting when we will induct Ben Featherstone into our club as a Rotarian.
We will also hear from a guest speaker, Gordon Traill, about Victoria Cross Veterans.
Hope to see a lot more members back this this week!
PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO RSVP CORRECTLY ON WHOOZIN BY SUNDAY 22nd APRIL!
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
‘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
Our 2108 Motor Show Raffle has been run and won and we would like to congratulate the winners and thank everyone who purchased tickets for you support. Also to our sponsors, for without their support there would be no raffle at all. Your contributions enable our Club to support those less fortunate than ourselves locally and aboard,
1st Prize Bathurst Commemorative Bar Fridge Ticket 112 - Chris. Prize supplied by Bar Fridges Australia
If you have not been following the travel exploits of Manda Hough and her traveling companion Toni Wilson on Facebook then here are some of the pics sent by Amanda this week.
-A mad Englishman in shorts at Hadrian’s wall where ice was in the torrential wind
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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