Bringing awareness to polio

To honor the ongoing fight to eradicate polio in areas where it still exists, members of both the Clinton and Clinton-Sampson Rotary clubs are partnering with the Sampson County Health Department and the City of Clinton to recognize World Polio Day.

“I kind of wanted to do this on Tuesday or Wednesday in prep for the 24th which is World Polio Day 2024,” noted Jason Walters, on behalf of the Rotary clubs. “What we’re wanting to do is talk about our partnership for disease prevention with the Health Department. I don’t have full approval yet but I’m hoping to also do one with the City of Clinton.”

The approval that Walters mentioned is a request to display a flag, or banner, at both locations, with the purpose of not only helping recognize World Polio Day but to spreading awareness about the illness.

“I am making this request on behalf of both Rotary clubs here in Clinton — the Clinton Rotary club (nighttime) and the Clinton-Sampson Rotary Club (daytime), as well Rotary International,” Walters said in his request letter. “World Polio Day is Oct. 24. Both Rotary Clubs have been provided a flag/banner by Rotary International recognizing the efforts of Rotary in the mission to eradicate polio. Although we are calling this a flag, it is more of a large banner that can be best displayed on a horizontal garden stand or as a wall hanging.”

“We were supposed to get two, but we just the one, so I’ll probably leave it at the Health Department the first day we set it up, hopefully Wednesday, then move it to City Hall the day after,” he said.

The second part of his request called for the possibility of a resolution proclaiming Thursday, Oct. 24, ‘World Polio Day’ in Sampson County.

“We also would like to bring attention to the work of local Rotary clubs that impact this international problem,” Walters said. “It would be grand if the City of Clinton would do a post resolution or proclamation — since it may be too late to approve before the 24th — of the event in support of our local clubs. We want to reiterate the importance of polio vaccinations in our society and promote the good work of our local civic clubs.”

Walters’ request was green-lighted by the city, and the proclamation was being drafted at press time.

“I spoke with City Council and they didn’t see any problem with them (Rotary clubs) bringing over and setting up a banner here,” Elaine Hunt, city clerk, said. “As for the proclamation, I can finish it and put it on the mayor’s desk for him to sign today (Tuesday) and he can come pick it up tomorrow, then the mayor can read it aloud at a later date.”

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of five, according to www.endpolio.org. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.

While polio is rare in today’s society, endpolio.org noted the endemic still remains in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It also highlighted that there is no cure, however, a safe and effective vaccine is established, one which has been used to immunize over 2.5 billion children worldwide.

A large part of that has been Rotary’s work as an international organization to eliminate polio, one of the group’s main missions.

According to historic stats from Walters, Rotary has been working to end polio for more than 35 years. As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the organization has managed to reduce polio cases by 99.9 percent since their first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.

While true, should their efforts ever be halted, the group predicted within 10 years that polio could potentially paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.

“We thought it would be a great way to bring awareness to polio if we could partner with our community and city and our health department in this effort,” Walters said. “Polio is a disease that is, thankfully, hardly seen in the US, but we do not want to forget the impact of polio has made in our own history.”