My grateful thanks to Vice President Colin Muir for chairing this week’s meeting.
I am writing this from Footscray Hospital. I came here for an Angiogram on Monday, which revealed that there are constricted arteries to my heart. I am now awaiting a transfer to the Royal Melbourne Hospital for a triple bypass operation later in the week. After that I will recuperate at my daughter’s house in Kensington.
I am very pleased that my health situation has been identified and is being dealt with so promptly. I can assure everyone that I certainly hope for a successful outcome from the operation!
Thank you to everyone for your messages of support, which mean a great deal to me.
As soon as is possible, I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things again.
This week on Zoom we had a presentation by the Skye Sharpe - Community Engagement Co-ordinator with Care Flight Australia.
Care Flight Australia was founded in 1986 by a group of people with a shared vision to create a new kind of medical retrieval service in Australia. There vision was to bring physician services to the accident scene to treat patients prior to being transferred to hospital or further care.
Initially a single helicopter was used with one doctor. Now doctors and nurses fly from 6 bases in helicopters, turbo-prop air ambulances, and medi-jets. Care Flight has in excess of 550 staff and another 500 volunteers. Last year they carried over 8,000 patients.
Care Flight negotiates with state governments for contracts to provide ambulance services to remote areas. They operate in most states. For example in Northern Territory they cover the top half of the state, and the Royal Flying Doctor cover the bottom half.
We ask all club members to keep an eye and ear open for furniture & equipment that might be available. Remember that everything needs to be in reasonable condition - no stains, chips, smells etc. People wont accept items that are in poor condition, and we have to take it to the dip and dump it at our cost. If it is not in reasonable condition, we won't accept it. What we need is:
White goods - Fridges, Washing machines, dryers & micro waves
While Robbo the Yobbo didn't live up to expectations with the letter 'S' at Caulfield today, he still performed well enough to collect 7 points. But he may regret the lost opportunity to accumulate more points. Nevertheless, he won the weekly prize of $15.
With Barbarella out of action, her pursuers crept closer. The old grey stallion Hovecat is now only one length behind her after another consistent day. Two lengths behind are Garfield the Cat and Mad Dog Muir.
It was great to see 3 of the remaining 4 horses who were stranded at the start, commence their runs. Howling Dowling looked very impressive with 4 points from his 'Y' horses while Rockin' Robyn is now on her way with 2 points. The Club finally appeared but he has a lot of work to catch the leaders and earn some prize money.
That leaves poor old Killer Conley as the last horse standing. Heavens knows when he will appear. But he's now past the unsexy six and is likely to explode out of the blocks next Saturday with the letter 'A'.
Next week Past District Governor Greg Ross - Chair ARHRF
Lift the Lid
Firstly we will be hearing from Greg Ross, chairperson of Australian Rotary Health (ARH), who will tell us about the organisation and, in particular, the “Lift the Lid” campaign which is an annual fund-raiser for mental health research.
In addition, we will be celebrating the end of a very unusual 2020 AFL season in the lead-up to the Grand Final. As part of this, you are asked to wear some merchandise, including a cap, relating to your footy club. If you don’t support a club, you are requested to wear a hat of any kind.
The whole idea of the headwear is to recognise the Lift the Lid program and, if you feel inclined, to provide some financial support to the cause.
You can deposit as little as $10 or $20 (or more if you wish) into our club’s bank account. The consolidated sum will then be passed on to ARH.
The bank details are as follows:
BSB No: 633000
Account No: 155820681
Description: “Surname-Lid”
We will keep this campaign going until the end of next week.
A prize will be awarded to the best or quirkiest piece of headwear judged by our guest speaker. I’m not sure what the prize will be as yet but, if nothing else, Ian Hovey will venture into the vast expanses of the Hovey cellar to extract one of my finest bottles of plonk.
Hoping you can help and looking forward to seeing you in your wonderful hats next Tuesday.
Note: As always, partners are very welcome to attend and to dress for the occasion.
Another 55 masks were delivered to Uniting Care Werribee.
Interact Club
The Interact Club are back at school and the club members are in the process of choosing their board members for the next year.
The club has completed 5 blankets, with help from Micki Hovey, Glenys Deneys & the teachers.is week, and will be meeting on Friday.
Guest Speakers
Everyone knows someone with an interesting story to tell. Pass them onto Ian Hovey so we can follow them up to speak to us on Zoom at a later date.
Board Meeting
The next RC Werribee Board meeting will be on 21/10/2020.
Mary Macaulay
Mary has entered hospital for a second knee replacement, and should be home next week. Good luck Mary.
Constitution & By-Laws
Secretary Kim Deneys is trying to finalise the changes to the Club Constitution & By-Laws, that is required to ensure that the clubs documents are consistent with the RI laws. The vote requires 75% of members to vote in favor of the changes.
Kim has emailed club members who have not returned their voting form. Please return the forms ASAP.
Gregory Ross has been a Director of Australian Rotary Health since November 2013.
Australian Rotary Health is one of the largest independent funders of mental health research within Australia.
They also provide funding into a broad range of general health areas, provide scholarships for rural medical and nursing students, as well as Indigenous health students. Australian Rotary Health provides funding into areas of health that do not readily attract funding, and promotes findings to the community.
Australian Rotary Health is a project of the Rotary Districts of Australia and is supported by Rotary Clubs. They have a broad vision to improve the health and wellbeing of all Australians.
