July 2020 Newsletter
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PROBUS CLUB OF WHITE ROCK & SOUTH SURREY
General Meeting Wednesday July 8, 2020
Zoom Meeting NO. 3
Zoom meetings are approximately one hour with 15 minutes dedicated to club business about 30 for the speaker and 10 to 15 minutes for questions and answers of the speaker.
Guest Speaker July 08: Dan Kalla –Dan is an author and emergency department doctor at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. Subject: Pandemics Then and Now Dan began by reviewing his credentials as a novelist and speaker, reviewing some comments he has received, probably to set us up to have low expectations so we would be more appreciative of the talk. He capitalizes on his medical experience and has written about super bugs, the pitfalls of DNA evidence, a SARS like infection in the hands of terrorists, and the Holocaust and has been called “a Chicken Little with an MD”. Moving on to Pandemics he talked about the Hit List of Pandemics, the Black Death (Bubonic plague) 1347 – 1353, the Spanish Flu (1918-1921) and Covid19. The Black Death killed up to 200 Million people which was a huge portion of worlds population, The Spanish Flu which killed 50 – 100 million people, Covid19 has a long way to go to be in the same league, but is trying. The Black death is still with us, even last year two people in Mongolia died of the illness. The Spanish flu of 1918 -21 was carried around the world by soldiers returning from the war. Unlike Covid19 the Spanish flu targeted young people. So much about what we learned about Quarantine, social distancing etc. came from hard lessons learned from Spanish flu. For Covid19 we must flatten the curve and keep it flat to preserve the health care system and keep the economy from collapsing. Early opening up of the economy has devastated several US states which have had to reverse decisions. There many factors that could end the Covid19 Pandemic: -Burnout through mass infections and herd immunity (and large numbers of deaths) -An effective treatment cocktail like for HIV -vaccination (10-18 months away) -Social distancing will quell it, then rotating blocks of social distancing for the next 2 years or so. There is another Pandemic taking place since 2000, but now in parallel with Covid-19 and that is the Opioid Crisis. Since 2000, 500,000 Americans have died from opioid overdose. This crisis could be blamed on people’s lifestyle choices, but it also includes thousands of first time users and accidental users and people who didn’t know what they were taking. In Canada 12,800 mostly young people have died in the last 3 years. Harm reduction strategies have flattened the curve somewhat, these include Naloxone, Safe injection sites, enhanced addiction services and opioid substitution eg. Suboxone. The opioid pandemic is a manmade crisis with many people launched down the path to addiction via prescription opioid painkillers. It may take 200 codeine pills to overdose, but one hit of a street drug with no quality control. Fentanyl is 100x as powerful as opium and carfentanyl is 100x as powerful as fentanyl. As a result, trafficking synthetic opioids are hugely profitable and the Vancouver model of money laundering makes it easy to make huge profits. The key points of the presentation are: - Pandemics are inevitable - We have survived worse - good things can come from pandemics - we can apply our pandemic response to other crises: homelessness, poverty, mental health and especially the opioid crisis - The opioid crisis will be with us long after Covid19 The session ended with a lively Q & A session.
Management committee and Activities reports During the monthly general meeting Brian welcomed new members Herb Hawson and Joe Cavasin. Herb has an engineering background and Joe has worked in the securities industry including with the Ontario Securities Commission. Brian also mentioned that he and Ted Cartier our resident photographer and Treasurer would be making appointments to give new members Ray Wechselberger, Lyle Chase, Peter Guest, Damon Bowman and Al Dahl their name tags and welcome letter to the Club. In addition to the activities mentioned below he noted that the Zoom meeting participation has been excellent with 56 people attending this one and a similar number at the last. Considering that our usual meetings generally had around 50 members the attendance at Zoom is excellent and has contributed to the high member retention. We had three guests at our meeting. Due to the Covid-19 situation the Management Committee has decided to cancel the summer Barbecue. The Management Committee has reviewed and approved the guidelines for participation in both golf and the walking group ensuring that these meet the guidelines established by the Club for all its activities during the pandemic. The Management Committee has struck a committee to review Bylaws and Policies and this work is proving to be quite time consuming but worthwhile. The Committee is fortunate to have the leadership of our Past President and lawyer Frank Palmer, and to have some model Bylaws that were recently developed by Probus Canada.
Membership - Bob reported that we have a total of 94 paid up and life members, 2 new members have joined this month. Treasurer – Ted reported that we are in great shape right now with more incomings than outgoings and a healthy balance of $10,979. Website/IT – Bill reported that after a year low in May, visits to the website have been increasing steadily, especially since meetings and some activities have restarted. There were 859 visits in June. Probus Connections – over the last months Connections has contacted members and encouraged people to stay active in the Club. The group is in into hiatus until September. This group is unique to our Club and has been a great success. Golf Group – We had 15 Probus members at Morgan Creek Golf Course for 9 holes of golf on June 25, our 1st golf outing of the year. Everyone had a most enjoyable afternoon on the course which was in its usual excellent condition. 16 players had intended to participate, with only one at the last moment not being able to attend. 16 out of 20 is exceptionally good, in the newsletter authors view, in fact it is the largest number and highest percentage we have ever had. Currently there are 20 Probus members who have become part of the Golf Group. Our next golf outing [9 holes] will be at Nico Wynd Golf Course on Thursday, July 23rd, commencing at 3:00 M. Those interested may contact the Golf Coordinator - Frank Palmer at frank@fgpalmer.com . Frank mentioned that the Golf Tournament is unlikely to take place this year because of the pandemic.
Book Club – The book club is meeting weekly via Zoom, but discussing a specific book every 2 weeks and having general discussion on alternate weeks. If you are interested contact Bill Jones. Investment Group – The investment Group does not meet in the summer and meeting via Zoom in the fall may be an option. Movie & Dinner Group – The local theaters are open again and restarting this group will be examined. Currently there are no movies at the local theater considered worth the trip. Walking Group – Our club relaunched the weekly walks on June 25th. A small group of hearty walkers did the 4.5km Crescent Beach loop. No one seemed to exhibit the much feared Covid weight gain. Lean and mean, this small group seems to have weathered the pandemic extremely well. A total of 23 club members are currently registered with the Walking Group. Future scheduled walks can be found on our website or can be obtained by contacting the Walking Group Coordinator. Keep Moving, Al Zemrau, Walking Group Coordinator
Member News When members consent, we will feature member’s news. Bob Sinclair – Bob’s son Bruce reports … “Bob has become much weaker in recent months and can no longer continue as a member of Probus. His wife and family are very grateful to the club for the times he was able to attend meetings in the past year. He always appreciated the warm welcomes he received and enjoyed seeing old friends. The meetings brightened his days and being with the other members made him feel his old self. Thank you.”
Percy Smith – “Gentlemen. Just a note that I returned home this afternoon (Friday July 3). I had two heart catheterizations both done at Royal Columbian as they were 100 percent occlusioned. The angiographic reports say they were 100% blocked Thank you for the well wishes and the concerns. I will have to take things easy for a few weeks. Regards. Percy.”
Quote of the Month
Smiles and Chuckles
You may need to pause between images
June 2020 Newsletter
PROBUS CLUB OF WHITE ROCK & SOUTH SURREY
General Meeting Wednesday June 10, 2020
Zoom Meeting NO. 2
Speaker: Mr. Justice Wally Oppal
Wally Oppal is a lawyer with a QC – Queen’s Counsel, former Attorney General, Order of BC, the head of two Commissions of Inquiry and most recently head of the Transition Team to replace the RCMP with its own police force in Surrey.
Wally’s talk was on Policing and Community safety in todays unique times.
As a student in the 60’s he remembers the time of Vietnam protests and the civil rights movement as the best decade because of the changes that happened. But those times pale in comparison to today’s worldwide protest against Police abuse of minorities, the poor and people of colour. The lack of accountability in the US police has had them acting with impunity.
There is a stark difference between the policing model in the US and Canada, although he acknowledged that there is work to do in Canada to solve the problem of systemic racism in Canada.
The biggest difference is the lack of accountability and civilian oversite of police forces in the US. In addition, US police forces are recruiting from the military while Canada requires post secondary education.
The Police in BC are held to account by the Independent Police Complaint Commissioner who oversees an independent investigation of Police incidents with retired Judges who act as Adjudicators, Wally being one.
There is no such monitoring of Police conduct in the US and in many cases the power is held by the Police Unions. George Floyd’s death was perpetrated by a Police member who had 17 prior complaints against him. No Police member with that many complaints against him would still be a member in Canada.
Policing in a Democracy should have 2 characteristics:
1. Police have to be accountable to Civilian oversight and authority.
2. Police must operate independently on all operational matters (no one should be able to interfere in an investigation).
The session ended with a lively Q&A session which included a question on the possible outcome of the changeover to a Surrey Police force from the RCMP. Wally says it will not likely be blocked by the Province because the request came as a unanimous vote of council.
Management committee and Activities reports Membership - Bob reported that we have 77 paid up members. No new members since the lockdown Probus Connections – over the last months has contacted members and encouraged people to stay active in the Club. The group will go into hiatus until September. This group is unique to our Club and has been a great success. Golf Group – The golf group is starting up with 17 members showing interest and 10 playing at Morgan Creek June 25th with appropriate precautions in place. Nicowynd and Newlands are possibilities for July and August. Gathering after in a restaurant afterwards is a possibility. Contact Frank Palmer if you are interested. Book Club – The book club is meeting weekly via Zoom, but discussing a specific book every 2 weeks and having general discussion on alternate weeks. If you are interested contact Bill Jones. Investment Group – The investment Group does not meet in the summer and meeting via Zoom in the fall may be an option. Movie & Dinner Group – The local theaters are open again and restarting this group will be examined. Walking Group – Al is working on putting together an acceptable restart/safety plan as well as Walking Schedule. The group could be up and walking by the end of June. Special Activities Wants to Know: Would you be interested in Zoom meetings about: 1. Who is that Man? Featuring members and their histories and/or 2. Travel Information? Featuring travel ideas in the time of this pandemic. and/or 3. Joining a Book Club? and/or 4. Meeting regularly to discuss the events of the day? Perhaps as a Zoom coffee meeting. Your views are important please respond to Barry Gaynor with your feedback. Also Barry can help you if you have experiencing difficulties using Zoom. This months Zoom meeting was a great success! After Bernie Saunders endorsed Joe Biden over live-streamed video, Jimmy Kimmel said “That’s a very powerful message for the country-if two 80 year old men can successfully log into a Zoom meeting, anything is possible.” Clearly Jimmy doesn’t know about our Probus club where the attendance at our last meeting was 56. Pretty good considering at Hazelmere our maximum meeting was 50!
Quote of the Month
Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, 'Where have
I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me,
This is going to take more than one night.'
Charles M Schulz
Smiles and Chuckles You may have to pause the slideshow to read the captions