Our President writes...

Dear fellow Rotarians and Friends.

Our meeting on the first day of Spring, September 1, 2020, took place at the Hotel Urban St Leonards. Once again, the facilities and catering were excellent.

We had the pleasure of an outstanding speaker, Dr Daniel Nour, who is a resident doctor at the nearby North Shore Hospital and director of ‘Street-Side Medics’, a service he established after witnessing the needs of the homeless community first hand. The service is essentially a mobile clinic, fitted out like a general practice to provide medical examination, basic pathology and minor surgical procedures in predetermined areas like Mathew Talbot Hostel, Wayside Chapel etc. It is noted that homelessness has increased by 63% in the past five years and in many instances homeless people will not seek medical attention, although in dire need of it.

 Dr Daniel is passionate about helping to break the cycle of the homeless by providing a medical and health service, virtually free of charge. Medicare cards are accepted for bulk billing; but as is the case in many instances homeless people do not have them, but will still receive treatment with the same care and attention. 

Currently, he and his team are currently working with the Northern Sydney Local Health District to expand ‘Street-Side Medics’ to the North Shore areas.

Our recently retired medical professional Kerry Moroney OAM thanked Daniel on behalf of the club for his outstanding presentation.

Our meeting on Zoom this week featured guest speaker Bobby Redman, a member of the E Club of Greater Sydney. Bobby has been a Rotarian since 2010, has had various District involvements as well as being Past President of The Rotary Club of The Hills, Kellyville.

We were privileged to an outstanding overview of what is understood to be Dementia. Bobby is a retired psychologist.  She lives by herself and has a daughter and three grandsons, who she describes as “the centre of my world”.

At the age of 66, Bobby was given a provisional diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or frontotemporal dementia after experiencing a range of symptoms, including “a noticeable change in my ability to perform day to day tasks, some issues with speech and my ability to follow conversations, and personality changes picked up by close friends”, she says. 

Following her diagnosis, Bobby committed herself to Dementia Advocacy – creating awareness, giving support and participating in dementia research. Bobby also explained the objectives and operation of a DCaf Dementia Café, a Rotary initiative commenced in 2019.

The main objective is to facilitate a fun social group environment for up to 12 dementia sufferers and carers overseen by trained volunteers. This will enable dementia sufferers to enjoy the company of others and form relationships. These meetings are generally held weekly or fortnightly and are targeted at residential dementia sufferers who live in isolation. The main theme; Bobby says, is to have fun-meetings.

PP Tania Mace thanked Bobby for her extraordinary presentation and explanation of the various forms of Dementia and how Rotary members can assist in caring for them in a DCaf environment.

Silvio Gmur
President 2020/21, Lane Cove Rotary Club

The Lane Cove Rotary Mega-Raffle 2020

Well, 2020 has been an awful year for pretty much everyone, save perhaps the developers of Zoom. With no Rotary Fair, we have had to explore other areas of fundraising and are currently working on some exciting ideas. One of those has been to upscale our annual raffle and while ticket prices will remain the same, this year we will be increasing the opportunities for people to purchase tickets. We have some incredible prizes on offer such as, from Fisher & Paykel, their brilliant quad door refrigerator valued at $3,449 and from Len Wallis Audio, a 65" LG Nano 4K TV valued at $3,239. That's just the start and there are many more wonderful prizes too making this a raffle you just have to be part of. Tickets (printing kindly donated by MBE Lane Cove) will be available for sale from 26 September both online and in person. Also, watch out for our members at the entrance to Coles and Woolworths in the weekends ahead. The draw will be made by a secret celebrity at the Canopy on Saturday 12 December 2020. Should you not be able to be there and your ticket is a winner, you will be notified by phone that day.

ROMAC – continue their great work

Despite not being able to bring new patients into Australia and New Zealand and being restricted in visiting clubs to spread the word about ROMAC, their volunteers have still been busy over recent months attending club meetings virtually and assisting those children and their parents that remain in Australia.

Vincent – A case study
While most attention has obviously been focused on baby Vincent and his long road to recovery since arriving in Australia in July 2019, spare a thought for his mother, Cosinta and what she has gone through over the past 15 months. Cosinta was just 21 years old, and a new mother with a very sick baby when she arrived in Canberra. Barely speaking any English and being separated from her extended family and friends in the Solomons, adjusting to life in Canberra was an enormous challenge for her. 

Fortunately, the ROMAC team in Canberra consisting of District ROMAC Chair, Sandra Goldstraw and her husband Brian, along with Yvonne and Robyn, took Cosinta under their wing(s) and did their utmost to help her settle in. Apart from a few nights at Ronald McDonald House while Vincent was in the hospital, Cosinta has been home-hosted for the most part.by Sandra and Brian. As well as taking Vincent to his medical appointments and visiting him in hospital Sandra and her team organised get-togethers with representatives of the Solomon Islands High Commission, took her on picnics, shopping expeditions, to the movies and visits to art galleries. This huge effort has clearly eased the life of this very brave mother.

To find out more about ROMAC and how you can help –  click here

The amazing 'Lost & Found' in Japan

Last year, US$38.7M of lost property was handed into police – US$26.8M of that was successfully returned to the owners. Club member Adrienne Witteman, who herself has spent several years living in Japan, shares this interesting video which highlights just what peculiar, stirring, extraordinary, and distinctive people the Japanese are.

Imagine you've just lost your wallet in Tokyo. The good news is that chances are, you will get it back, along with all the cash still tucked inside it. In Japan, residents are diligent about making sure what’s lost is found and returned to its rightful owner. This video explains how Tokyo’s stunningly efficient 'Lost & Found' system works so well.

Click here to watch the video

and finally...