On Thursday May 21st at 6:30pm The Rotary Club of Bowen Island will be hosting an Indian curry dinner evening at Collins Hall, 1120 Miller Road, in aid of the world-wide campaign for the eradication of polio.
Donations of $20.00 are being asked for this charity event, which includes an Indian chicken or a vegetarian dinner. Please RSVP by leaving a message at 604-992-0034 by Thursday May 14 (for catering purposes).
The event will include a short slide presentation with photos by Dr. Patricia Boston describing the nature, risks, and cause of polio as well as Rotary’s amazing vision to completely eradicate this disease.
While polio was once feared world-wide it now exists only among the world’s poorest populations and in the most vulnerable communities — and it strikes young children. Polio has no cure once the person has become infected; but it can be prevented through vaccination. The goal of Rotary International is to reach every last child with the polio vaccine and ensure that soon the world is polio-free for children of future generations.
Patricia is a member of the Rotary Club of Bowen Island and is a clinical professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of British Columbia. She had personal experience caring for patients with polio back in the mid-1960’s as a young trainee in a British hospital. At that time polio was still a pervasive disease that had already affected millions of British children. The polio ward was a room which consisted of eight large tank respirators (iron lungs), that formed a sealed airtight compartment completely enclosing the patient’s body. These machines were the only means by which the patients paralyzed by polio could be kept alive.
“Looking only at the faces of each patient we spoke to them in hushed tones trying as best we could to cheerfully convey a small expression of hope,” says Patricia.
