Polio and Post Polio Syndrom
Our Speaker this week was Joan Toone, a victim of Polio herself at the age of seven years; she gave a detailed talk about the history of Polio and of Rotary’s fight to eliminate this dreadful disease.
As the Chairperson of the Post Polio Awareness Society, she has given many talks about Rotary and it’s Polio Plus Program. She began her talk by telling us that the Egyptians recorded this disease some 3,593 years ago with a stone carving depicting a youth with a withered limb. Many epidemics of this disease have been recorded, and it was not until Rotary decided in 1988 to try and immunize all the children of the world that anyone thought about trying to eliminate Polio from all countries in the world. As you now know there are now only three countries left with endemic Polio.
As a person who has lived with this disease Joan gave a passionate and detailed talk assisted by her husband Terry.
The Toone Team did a great job.