DISTRICT 7010 END POLIO NOW – Walk for Polio October 24th - HUNTSVILLE ROTARY CLUB
What is Polio:
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease. It is caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body).Poliovirus only infects humans. It is very contagious and spreads through person-to-person contact. The virus lives in an infected person’s throat and intestines. It enters the body through the mouth and spreads through contact with the feces (poop) of an infected person and, though less common, through droplets from a sneeze or cough. You can get infected with poliovirus if you have feces on your hands and you touch your mouth. Also, you can get infected if you put in your mouth objects like toys that are contaminated with feces (poop). There are now only 12 cases of polio in the entire world, and all of them are found within two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. The strategy to eradicate polio is based on preventing infection by immunising every child until transmission stops and the world becomes polio-free. Brian Samuels of Huntsville contracted this disease as child.
Brian had the Polio vaccine in the 1960's but not in time. His life was forever changed by the disease but he was lucky he survived. He gave a heartwarming speech about his life with Polio.
Our fearless President welcomed the morning Club, Brian Samuels, Mayor Scott Atcheson and all participants. If you have time check out the link to the speech by Bill Gates pledging more and talking about our fight and the history of partnership with his Foundation. It is about 24 minutes long https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62VhPZ4rZQ or https://www.facebook.com/rotary/videos/10156355214829552/
Here is a link that gives a weekly update of where we are in our fight to ENDPOLIO.
Everyone who attended sported their red poncho to bring awareness that Polio has not been eradicated everywhere. Pamphlets were handed out to get the word out. We were very grateful it didn't rain. Please enjoy the pictures of this event.
The sea of red!
Alison and company represented the morning Rotary Club.
The President with Mayor Scott Atcheson.
Katy brought her daughter Nikki. Jocelynn, Lou and April are also present in this group.
The participants of the 2017 Polio Walk in Huntsville Ontario. Suzi Jarvis missing from photo. A special shout out to Suzi for being the Photographer for this event!