Under pitch black skies before sunrise on Friday, members of the three Villages Rotary Clubs assembled outside the Winn-Dixie near Lake Sumter Landing — some shivering in sweatshirts against the morning chill, to serve hot coffee, donuts and a global message. The goal of the event was to communicate the world-wide Rotary goal to ‘End Polio Now.’
As early shoppers started to trickle by the cluster of Rotary tents, some dropped donations in the collection bottles, viewed a video about polio vaccination in ‘exotic’ countries and picked up folders about the many humanitarian works The Villages Morning, Noon and Evening Rotary Clubs participate in.
October 24 is World Polio Day,” Rich Waller from the Evening Club explained. “This coincides with the birthday of Dr. Jonas Salk, who developed the first of two polio vaccines that have virtually eradicated polio in the United States.” “We are ‘this close’ to eradicating polio in the world,” Rotarian Tim Treat said, holding up his fingers to indicate a small space. “Very close, but it still exists in Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan, and in 2013, a new polio outbreak was reported in Syria. It has been difficult if not impossible for local Rotary Club members in those countries to safely access and immunize children because of dangerous bombing and local gunfire.”
The World Health Organization and UNICEF also place a high priority of their efforts on the eradication of polio.
The newly elected Rotary District Governor, Villager Jo Weber, was on hand with her husband, Dan Semenza. Weber declined to run for re-election to her local Villages government post to devote herself full time to Rotary projects. “Rotary is not political,” Weber explained, “so they can pursue humanitarian efforts behind the scenes in countries where wars are raging, to get problems addressed.”
The United States has been polio-free since the 1960s, and the global immunization effort started in the Philippines, Weber said.
“When the Filipinos saw what the Americans had accomplished, they decided ‘if the U.S. can eradicate polio in their country, so can we,” she said.
Among hundreds of other local, national and international projects Rotary Clubs devote time and money to — fighting poverty, disease and lack of potable water — eradicating polio is their top international goal. In 2006, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $100 million to the cause if Rotary International could match that amount — and Rotarians all over the world have risen to that task. Over the years, Rotarians have donated over $1.3 billion to fight the dread disease.
Until 1957, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was considered the most frightening public health problem in post-war America. The Salk vaccine consisted of an injected dose of inactivated (dead) polio virus. A second vaccine, discovered by Albert Sabin and introduced in 1962, used an attenuated polio virus in an oral dosage form. The two vaccines have eliminated the scourge of polio from most countries in the world — cutting the annual incidence of newly diagnosed patients from 350,000 to under 400.
Many seniors are old enough to remember seeing polio victims on crutches, in wheelchairs and in iron lungs which facilitated breathing for them when their respiratory muscles became too weak to function. Those were the lucky ones — many did not survive. Joan Hutchens, wife of ‘The Villages Rotary Club — Morning’ president, Ric Hutchens, was diagnosed with a mild case of polio when she was four years old. “I’m very fortunate to have no residual effects, but the polio virus remains in the body and people can suffer renewed incidence of muscle weakness later in life,” Hutchens said.
Some polio survivors endure mobility problems and may lack stability and confidence about walking and physical functioning. Many suffer chronic muscle fatigue and have difficulty with normal activities of daily living. There is a Post-Polio Support Group in The Villages which meets at 1 p.m. the second Friday of each month, October through May, at the SeaBreeze Recreation Center. For information, call 352 259-2051.
Rotary members comprise mostly working and retired business and professional people, but anyone with an interest in donating time or funds to worthy charitable endeavors is welcome to join. Fine Rotary camaraderie and networking reaches around the world. Â ‘The Rotary Club of The Villages — Morning’ meets every Thursday at La Hacienda Regional Recreation Center at 7 a.m. A buffet breakfast is available at 6:30 a.m.. Contact Paul Smith: 352 561-1902 or visit www.rotaryclubofthevillages.org.
‘The Rotary Club of The Villages — Noon’ meets on Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. for a buffet lunch at the Tierra del Sol Restaurant on San Marino Drive, north of CR 466. Contact membership chairman Dick Kanyan at 352 461-9235 or rkanyan@comcast.net.
‘The Rotary Club of The Villages — Evening’ meets at 5-6:30 p.m. at Lake Miona Regional Recreation Center. Dinner is not served at the meeting, but many members go out for dinner afterward. Contact membership chairperson, Kathy Yuiska at golferkathi@me.com.
