The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
With polio having been eradicated in the Americas for years, it can be all too easy to forget the impact the crippling disease continues to have on the world's population. But not for Patti Banks. At yesterday's Flin Flon Rotary Club meeting at the Community Hall, Banks, a public health nurse, gave a presentation on her recent trip to India to help immunize children against polio. "Polio still exists in seven countries, but 99 per cent of the cases are in India, Pakistan, and Nigeria," she told the Rotarians. Banks saw firsthand the devastation of the disease in India, spotting beggars in the street who had to crawl along the ground, their limbs withered. "It's just a terrible, devastating disease," said The Pas resident. Polio holds a special place in the Rotary Club's mandate. One of the goals of Rotary clubs around the world is to totally eradicate polio by 2005. Banks' trip was part of that Rotary initiative. Rotary International estimates it will have contributed $500 million to the cause by next year. Donations to this cause may be made by contacting any Rotarian.
