Good morning everyone! I just want to take a minute thank everyone for their wonderful feedback on the new format of The Sunriser. It gives me great pleasure to produce this on a weekly basis, and thanks to Paul, I'm happy to share our proud Rotary past with you. I told Roger last Tuesday that he hasn't aged a bit. 

 

I will try to my best to make this newsletter as informative as possible and I welcome any suggestions. I'd like to invite Rotarians to send me any community events that you want to share with the group, so we can better support our community. 

 

This week I am proud to introduce Sandra Pidduck of Epilepsy Southwestern Ontario. 

 

 

One common myth that was thought to be true in the past is that someone who is having a seizure is at risk of swallowing their tongue. It is impossible to swallow your tongue. 

 

 

We do have a Community Neurologist here in Chatham and then of course, we have our own resources, but suffice to say, there is more resources in London. 

 

 

My passion for this role is that I had a family member who was diagnosed with Epilepsy when I was very young. I didn't understand the seizures they were having and would have greatly benefited from an Educator to tell me what was happening. I don't want another child to go through that. 

 

 

My role in Epilepsy Southwestern Ontario (ESWO) is to educate and provide clinical information for those persons with epilepsy and their families and friends. I receive referrals from Neurologists/Doctors once a diagnosis has been communicated. I then meet with them to educate and ensure that they have support as they learn to live with the seizures and give them Seizure First Aid. I also do many school presentations where we can talk generally about epilepsy or to the classes and teachers of students who have seizures. We are funded for this role by United Way Chatham-Kent and are grateful for their support. Unfortunately the need is great and there are many programs we could be offering with further funding. My intent in presenting to you is only to provide you with education so that you can help spread the word of Epilepsy and Seizure First Aid. 

 

John has teamed up with our newly departed member Brandon Stuart to act as co-chair for the 2019 edition of Rotary for Roses. April 3rd will be our distribution date, and John is looking for volunteers to assist with e-mail follow-ups and logistics. Please contact him if you're interested. 

 

He is also requesting that you book work off for that day. Potentially if your boss says no, roses could be a great bribe! 

 

We hosted C-K Public Health Unit dietitian Lyndsay Davidson who spoke to us about Food Security & Community Gardens in C-K. We are proud to host 13 community gardens giving people the ability to grow their own vegetables and flowers. Lyndsay acknowledged that resources such as food banks are not "food security" and were designed for one time uses, rather than a staple. C-K has a higher than the provincial average in food insecurity, around 12%. Blake acknowledged from our Literary Angels book, that places such as the Northwest Territories can be as high as 50%. 

 

Lyndsay mentioned there are a few ways to get involved with the CK Food Policy Council, including with their food gleaning program in partnership with local farmers (Blake wanted to remind everyone that the salt of the earth is in Merlin). 

 

You can find out more about the programs Lyndsay works with at letstalkfood-ck.com