The Westerner for June 7, 2010

50/50:  Wayne & Dave did not match for $13

Group Study Exchange:  GSE goes to Australia, nominations for Rotarian team leader and non Rotarian young adult participants are requested

Rotary Employment Partnership: Nadine Fulmer thanked the club for participating in hiring Shane for our front desk

Finemaster:  Bill Buckham gave maximum fines of $20 less $17.  Fines of $1 for: not registering as a volunteer for the Al Hamilton golf day; having played 5 games of golf this year, plus several others of similar vein.  Bill also fined Ben Doz for wishing for the end of his year as president to come fast and Charlie for being able to hear Bill.

Air Cadets:  395 Sqadron was honoured as the top cadet squadron in Alberta this year.  Congratulations.

Condolences: former member George Coon's father passed away.

Guest Speaker:  Chris introduced Tom Greidanus.  Tom talked (and showed pictures) about his medical mission to Equador, an annual expedition for the last 13 years.  Tom does joint repair operations in Edmonton and would provide similar services on these missions.  The locale is a 35 minute flight south of Quito.  Each team member takes 2 hockey bags full of supplies plus personal items in a carry-on.  The locale, as well as Quito, is very mountainous.  They are supported by Equadorial Rotarians.  They use a private hospital called Mount Sinae.  They start with followup visits for patients from previous years' operations.  Most are hip or knee operations.  Local surgeons work with the team and learn from the procedures.

There are also pediatric patients, dislocated hips for example.  Early detection of dislocated hips at birth eliminates problems in later life.  The health care needed for this detection is not always available and some of the local doctors have not been trained to look for it.  Thus a big part of each mission is education, especially teaching to medical students and midwives.  Well off Equadorials can get required surgery locally but it costs $5,000.  The poor people cannot afford this.  Thus the importance of the missions.  Another problem that causes hip dislocation problems is the way mothers carry their babies in the early part of the baby's life.  Thus more teaching to the medical students, midwives, but also to young women if the attend the clinic.  Posters are also put up showing the right and wrong way to carry babies. 

A dental team visits rural schools and is making a difference when they revisit the same schools over a number of years.  At the end of the mission, the team gives a presentation to the local Rotary Club(s).  The team has to pay the hospital $150 for each operation.  Our club has donated $1,500 towards a heart operation.

Tom was thanked by Ben Doz. 

PRIVACY POLICY (continued)

The following has been taken from the Rotary International (RI) Privacy Policy and describes the way RI uses your personal information.

RI Collection and Use of Personal Membership Data
As part of its effort to assist clubs and districts and facilitate communication with Rotarians, Rotary International collects personal information about Rotary Club members to be used soley for the purpose of conducting the following core business activities:

• Billing
• Supporting the Rotary Foundation
• Identifying prospective candidates for presidental and Foundation appointments to conferences, RI and the Rotary Foundation committees, task forces, and other assignments
• Tracking membership trends, developing membership characteristics, producing demographic analysis, and supporting membership retention
• Identifying Rotarians who have specific language and/or professional skills
• Providing information and updates to district chairs and others involved in RI programs and service projects
• Supporting The Rotarian and the regional magazines
• Providing guidance to clubs and districts in their public relations efforts
• Communicating key organizational messages and information to district leaders for dissemination at the club level
• Facilitating convention and special event planning

At the direction of the RI Board of Directors, RI may occasionally participate in special advertising and/or marketing initiatives that involve the release of membershp information.  RI will notify Rotarians about these initiatives and give them the opportunity to decline to participate.  Rotary International may also disclose information as required by law or if pertinent to judicial or governmental investigations.

Your consent to sharing your personal information, except your age, with the members of the Club and RI is implied by your membership and continued membership in the Club.

RI has provided an opt out process for those members who do not wish RI to publish their personal information to third pary organizations.  Your implied consent for RI to provide your personal information to third pary organizations will remain in place until such time as the Club Secretary recieves your instructions to opt out.

You can review your personal information by talking to the Club Secretary in person, or by writing to us.  You may ask us to correct your personal information when it is required.  You also have the right to revoke your consent to the collection and retention by the Club of all or any part of your personal information.

The Club will appoint a Privacy Officer who will be a member (or an ex-officio member) of the Board of Directors and serve a term to be determined by the Board.  You should bring any personal information privacy issue to the attention of the Privacy Officer who will address your concerns.  If your concerns are not resolved, you should contact the Club President.  If the Club President does not resolve your concerns, you may appeal to the Alberta Privacy Commissioner.

From time to time we may amend this Privacy Policy when we feel it is appropriate to do so.  Whenever we update this Policy we will change the date on the Policy to indicate whe the changes were made, and communicate the changes to the Club at large.