The meeting started at 7.30 am;
Members Present:
Twelve members were present plus one guest speaker. Apologies from: Greg, Henry, and Peter.
President:
The President tabled a table of the Club's current activities and responsibilities, which had been emailed to members for their review and comment. While we have 23 members on the books, regular attendance at meetings is between 12 and 15. New members are not joining or staying so the future is to shut, to merge, or to disperse to other clubs. Feedback would be appreciated.
Don provided an update on Starlight's food initiative.Queenie and Robin are the enthusiastice social-worker contacts at the Acute Mental Treatment Centre. About one-third of the people have no support - if they are sent to a boarding house they need basic chattels. Don has talked to Foodstuffs in Remuera regarding the supply of food parcels. A pilot effort suggests a cost of $16 per parcel. Cathy is looking for funding - Greg Nolan, her realator, is lined up for $250/month. (Total need is about $500.month>) Greg will come to Lala on 7th May.
Ingrid reported that Beca has five RYLA candidates - maybe more next week. Countrywide Bank has dropped out this year.
Ingrid has subsequently referenced the following link: (I can't copy it as a link, so just try googling it) From hope to history how we defeated polio in the Western Pacific - Rotary 360
Sargeant Colleen:
Colleen was sick on holiday, Wendy got a letter in the Herald, people went on holiday over Easter, the Pope died, there was a blackout to remind us that power supply is important. All this induced fines!
We learned that common sense is like an elephant - but why? We are not sure!
Stephen confessed to a very dodgy Timu purchase - a welding set turned out to be a soldering iron!
Three-Minute Speaker:
Ingrid was all prepared but was overlooked by the President. She will be up for next week.
Main Speaker:
Max introduced his friend and co-walker Dr John McDougal who had been involved with the pioneering heart transplant programme at Greenlane Hospital in the 1970s as a cardiac anaesthetist.
He reminded us of Dr Christian Barnard and his pioneering operation in 1967. The recipient of the heart was Louis Washkansky and the donor was a young lady - Denise - who was killed by a car when crossing the road. The recipient died after 19 days, due to the lack of suitable rejection control drugs.
The operation is a relatively straight-forward procedure, but timing is everything. Two things changed in the 1980s which allowed the procedure to develop - the approval of a specialist rejection drug and the adoption of brain death as a legitimate measure.
The key measure is cross-clamp time which is the period between the donor heart being taken from the body, and its insertion in the recipient's chest. Two to three hours was the maximum practical cross-clamp period, which dictated the form and distance of travel for the donor heart. This placed huge demands on the logistics of transport and carriage arrangements.
Technology has become much more advanced, and it is possible safely to extend cross-clamp periods to some 30 hours.
All through this developing programme, the unsung heroes were the families of the donors who gave their support during extremely challenging circumstances.
New Zealand has some 15-20 transplants per year now, with a survival rate of 75% going over 10 years. It is practical to send and receive hearts to and from Australia when circumstances permit.
John was thanked for his very interesting presentation.
The meeting closed at 8.30 am.
