Many thanks to everyone taking part in the blood pressure checks on Saturday 6 October at the Karori Mall. Most importantly we thank RNs, Judith from St Johns and Elizabeth from Massey who performed the BP checks. Thanks also to Chirag P for organising the location and providing us logistical help with the campaign.
We managed to get over 100+ people through the Blood Pressure checks in the Karori Mall.
Highlights of the day
A young man, hesitant to get the check done but finally referred to his GP for low blood pressure. Judith and Richard expertly advised him.
A lovely lady who did her last check when the campaign was run 2 years ago and was wondering if we will continue to run the campaign every year.
The campaign was a mix of people from different genders and ethnicities with however most young people opting out of it.
A lady who had a very high reading but was expertly handled by Judith and Beth, advised not stress out as she was looking well, but was referred to check with GP.
A guy expertly predicting his BP before the check.
Quite a number of people who advised they regularly do the BP checks.
A person who told us he has a BP measurement machine at home, we just came across one such case.
Karori Rotarians hosted a joint dinner with Karori Lions on 2 October. The evening's highlight was an address by the Britsh High Commissioner, HE Laura Clarke.
HE talked of the cultural links between our countries, stressing that these cannot simply be taken for granted but must be recognised and built on where ever possible. One of her main roles is to futire proof the relationship between the countries.
HE spoke of three main areas of concern. The first is to strengthen business links and to encourage growth of trade in goods and services. Part of this will be to investigate the prospects for a free trade agreement. The second area is to ensure cooperation in response to events on the world stage. This includes intelligence, climate change and cyber crime. The UK is currently establishing 3 new High Commissions in the Pacific. The third area is to encourage exchanges in the arts and in culture. These are all aspects of a broad and rich relationship between the UK and NZ.
An example of the outreach on a personal level was to run a competion 'Be The British High Commissioner For A Day'. This attracted a large number of entries and was won by a girl from Rangiora. She was able to meet with various political figure and to take part in the celebrations for International Womens Day.
Inevitably discussion turned to Brexit. Although negotiations are going through a bumpy phase HE stressed that there is a lot at stake. These issues simply have to be worked through. Many of the problems will be resolved simply by using WTO rules.
On 9 October Michael Fagg, chair of district 9940 Polio Plus ran an entertaining and informative Polio quiz.
Michael stressed that although we are making progress the fight is still far from over. Starting back in 1985 the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has been a long hard fight. The remaining cases are occurring in countries that are at war or where there is social unrest. Once a country has eradicated Polio a period of 3 years must pass without further cases before the country can be declared disease free by the WHO.
The Polio virus occurs only in human beings. Eradication of Polio will be only the third disease to be eliminated, after smallpox and rinderpest. The economic benefits of eliminating the disease are huge.
Most enticingly Michael had on display a jeroboam of wine to be auctioned early next year together with any other wine donations received.
