
Our meeting was called to order at 12:31 as President Mark rings the bell!
Tom Strode played America the Beautiful as our patriotic song.

Ryan Peterson provided our inspirational message about rivalry and competition which included some trivia regarding this weekend’s big game – UM vs MSU! The rivalry between the two teams began in 1898; UM has played MSU 114 times with a record of 71W/ 38L/ 5 ties. In the end, the winning team receives the Paul Bunyan trophy. It takes two good teams to make a rivalry, but there is beauty in competition, which pushes you to do better. Overall – Go Blue!
Dave Keosian offered our musical selection, a video of ‘Smile’ sung with the silky smooth voice of Nat King Cole.
We had 3 guests and 2 Visiting Rotarians today (Chelsea and A2 North). Birthdays were recognized. Congratulations to Rotarians celebrating their 1 year membership: Mehmet Onder and Ellen Putney-Moore.
Club Announcements:

Lauren Heinonen promoted the Send Hunger Packing event on Saturday Nov 5th @ Pioneer HS, 9am – 11am. We need volunteers to pack meals! Our goal is to pack 30,000 meals, with 150 volunteers. Our biggest need is more donations — we’ve raised only about 40% of the $10,500 we need in order to host the event. Please consider helping with this very important event. Sign up and/or donate on our website or click here!
John Sepp promoting a Rotary Happy Hour @ Session Room, Thur Oct 27 at 5pm – join us!
Ashish Sarkar: District 6380 Foundation & Membership Gala (recognition event for donors) is coming up on Saturday Nov 5, 5:30-10pm in Novi. $60 per person, registration info here. Please join us!
A very special Rotarian was honored today with the Distinguished Service Award presented to Greg Stejskal by Joanne Pierson and Karen Kerry. Greg has a very long list of personal and professional accomplishments starting with his Eagle Scout status. Other notables include his long-time

commitment to scouting, attending Nebraska for law school where he also played football, his work with the FBI which had him assigned to the Detroit division and he served for over 30 years retiring in 2006. With the FBI, he was involved in many high profile cases, wrote a book titled ‘FBI Case Files Michigan – Tales of a G-Man’, was asked by Bo Schembechler to present to the football team, YMCA member, and involvement with Fisher House Michigan. He joined Rotary in 2007 and has since served in many capacities including leading committees, is the GTO Co-Chair, and is a Paul Harris Fellow. Hearty congratulations to Greg! You can read the full text of Greg’s DSA presentation here.
President Mark showed us a plaque from the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, for a Washtenaw County Polio Award, honoring the Club for its work with Polio. And speaking of polio –

Norma Sarkar read the list of members of the PolioPlus Society, PolioPlus Contributors, and then raffled off Jonas, the Polio teddy bear to the winner: Kathy Waugh!
Our Featured Speaker today was Dr. Abraham Wagner from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, with the topic: Polio Eradication and Vaccine Hesitancy
Dr. Wagner presented some polio facts and history of the polio vaccine. Quick fact: 90% of infections are asymptomatic and 2-3% results in paralysis. Early vaccine research in 1935 yielded inconclusive results, but by the 1950’s vaccine formulation was well underway. In 1955 – very public/momentus event at UM’s SPH when Jonas Salk’s vaccination proved successful. There was a great deal of very positive press at this time. Unfortunately, after this very positive momentum with the polio vaccine, a vaccination manufacturer (Cutter) distributed an improperly prepared vaccination and patients actually developed polio and paralysis. This tragic event added to any already established vaccination hesitancy.
Some vaccination facts/timeline:
1955 Salk vaccine (inactive virus)
1960-90 – oral vaccine use
1987 update inactived polio virus (IPV)
2000 only IPV for use in the US
2010 – worldwide switch to IPV

There has been no outbreak in the US since the 1970s. In 2016, polio was still active in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Today, the virus is still active mostly in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The recent cases we’ve heard about in the US (Rockland County, NY) were traced to an unvaccinated individual who developed what’s called the ‘circulating vaccine derived polio virus’, which was found in wastewater. This particular county, it turns out, has very low polio vaccination rates. Vaccine hesitancy is not new, it’s been around since the first creation of a cow-pox vaccine in the 1700s. With the creation of the successful polio vaccine in the 1950s, many public health workers were promoting it. Current day challenges: making the vaccine convenient, motivational interviewing via health care providers, making it a default choice, and using text reminders from doctors.
Our meeting ended with this Quote of the Day, fittingly from Jonas Salk: ‘Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors.’
Ring the bell at 1:31pm.
Submitted by Pattie Katcher
Photographers: Fred Beutler and Mary Steffek Blaske