RotaCove Issue 12

Issue number 12 | Wednesday 06 May 2020

Our President writes...

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends of Rotary,

At last night's Zoom meeting we welcomed PDG Harold Sharp, Chairman of ROMAC who showed us an interesting presentation on the remarkable work performed by ROMAC. Rotary has many acronyms and ROMAC is one of them – so what does it stand for? It stands for ‘Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children’ and is a combined Australia and New Zealand multi-district Rotary project. ROMAC has been in operation for over 30 years. Rotarians volunteer their time and expertise to run this project that encompasses all the Districts of Australia and New Zealand. They are ably assisted by many eminent Australian and New Zealand surgeons who generously donate their time for the treatment of the patients. This excellent humanitarian program has provided life-giving surgery to over 500 children from more than 20 developing countries where the medical treatment was not available to them in their own country.

Harold told us about a number of the many success stories and how everyone involved in ROMAC is a volunteer. Some of the ways volunteers assist ROMAC is by collecting a patient on arrival from the airport, taking a patient to an appointment, visiting a patient in the hospital or making arrangements for patients to go on a short stay trip to the country. There are other ways as well, such as taking a voluntary management position – so plenty of opportunities for people to get involved and assist. Needless to say Covid-19 has somewhat curtailed ROMAC's program with some children sadly unable to be brought to Australia as well as a couple of patients unable to leave.

If you'd like to assist by making a donation to ROMAC the link below will take you straight to their donation page. If you'd like to volunteer then please contact any of the team members listed on their website.

ROMAC donation page

Stephen Miller
President 2019/20, Lane Cove Rotary Club

Mother's Day

This Sunday, 10 May, is Mother's Day. A day to reflect and thank or remember all mothers for the incredible work they've done – often with little reward. The modern Mother's Day began in the United States, at the initiative of Anna Jarvis in the early 20th century. This is not (directly) related to the many traditional celebrations of mothers and motherhood that have existed throughout the world over thousands of years, such as the Greek cult to Cybele, Rhea the Great Mother of the Gods, the Roman festival of Hilaria, or the Christian Mothering Sunday celebration (originally a commemoration of Mother Church, not motherhood). However, in some countries, Mother's Day is still synonymous with these older traditions.

Life in lockdown

Watch this lovely couple from Cornwall dancing and playing the piano to get through home isolation 🎶
Both Sally 86 and Ken 83 have dementia but Sally plays without music.

Click here

Bowel cancer awareness program

The 2020 BowelCare Program is available from three local pharmacies, Wades Chemist, Gavin Starr's Pharmacy and Riverview Pharmacy. The sale of the kits, at $20.00 each which covers pathology testing and notification of result to both the participant and their nominated Doctor. The program will continue until 31st May. Please consider this health program as it does save lives.

Next week's meeting – 12 May
Understanding Melanoma and the impact on our lives

Speaker presentation by Danielle Fischer
Melanoma is a familiar word to most Australians. but it’s only when melanoma directly impacts our lives that we begin to understand the seriousness of this type of skin cancer. Australia and NZ have the highest incidence of melanoma in the world. On average, one Australian will die every five hours from melanoma. Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) are pioneers in the areas of melanoma research, treatment and education. Our guest speaker, Danielle Fischer, works in the Education team at MIA and looks after educating doctors to ensure the very latest in melanoma research is translated to the clinic to ensure the best care possible for patients around Australia.

This will be a Zoom Meeting open to all and will begin at 7.00pm. You are most welcome to join us so please contact us below for an invite.

Contact for an invitation

Have a cuppa for CareFlight

CareFlight has been busy, doing everything possible to keep their services on the front line, attending to communities and individuals in need. They have been constantly adapting and changing their processes to suit the uncertain environment we are currently living in. This has ranged from limiting base access to any non-mission critical staff, adding extra PPE requirements to those on the front line and adding additional resources and crews to services that need it. Their backline has also been transitioning traditional working models and events into a virtual domain.

Their inaugural MAYDAY Cuppa for CareFlight campaign is one of those events they have had to quickly transition into the virtual space. They have reached out to members of Rotary Club of Lane Cove asking for our help in responding to the call no one ever wants to make; MAYDAY by having a “Cuppa for CareFlight.” Each cuppa will assist CareFlight in continuing to be there 365 days a year to answer MAYDAY calls across Australia. They would like us to take part from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Essentially step 1 is take a selfie or video with your 'Cuppa For CareFlight'. Step 2 post your photo or video on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and tag them #CuppaForCareFlight @MyCareFlight. Step 3 make a donation to CareFlight to help fund their lifesaving MediSim trauma care workshops. Don't forget to let them know in your caption where you are and how you’re going too!

Donations can be made by clicking here

In return, Careflight would like to join us at one of our Zoom meetings. They would be honoured to have the opportunity to sit in – perhaps learn something from how we have adapted to COVID-19 restrictions and to give us an update on CareFlight in our community and talk about MAYDAY.

Editor's chair is still vacant

This is your opportunity to keep everyone up to date with what's going on at our club and in our community. The club needs someone to create, chase and edit stories ready for layout. The production of the physical newsletter and posting will continue to be done by President Stephen.

EMAIL THE EDITOR

Facebook

Website