End Polio Now Presentation

Sonia spoke to us today about her experience at the International Conference in Los Angeles that she attended and also about Polio Plus. She tried to convey the spirit that she was aught up in at the meeting, being with 26,000 Rotarians from all over the world in one place. She described how the entire city of L.A. welcomed rotary with banners and flags. Everywhere you looked you saw Rotarians. She said that each member was asked to bring a book for a child that they would later distribute to underprivileged schools in L.A. The pile was from the floor to the ceiling of all the books that Rotarians brought. Sonia was amazed to hear the statistics about Polio. Even though we do not focus on it in the U.S.A., we still need to be very aware of it. The wild virus can live on the luggage and clothes of international travelers that come into our country. New York State does not have a post polio hospital to provide rehabilitation to people who at some point suffered from Polio. She also described the iron lung, which someone in the U.S. who spent her entire life in, passed away while the conference was going on. In closing, Sonia modeled all of her very sparkly Rotary gear that she got at the conference.