Rotary International has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. On Thursday, October 23, Broken Bow will have another opportunity to help in that fight.
The Broken Bow Rotary Club and Kinkaider Brewing Company will be hosting Pints for Polio from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM at Kinkaider’s Broken Bow location.
Poliomyelitis, generally known simply as “polio” is a highly infectious viral disease that mainly affects children under age 5. Polio is spread person to person, typically through contaminated water, and attacks the nervous system.
Broken Bow Rotary President Colleen Gates spoke to KCNI/KBBN about the effects of the disease, and Rotary’s global impact.
“It can cause death, but a lot of times it caused some form of paralysis,” said Gates. “It is something we don’t even think about anymore because it’s been eradicated in the United States for a long time, but it’s something that around the world is still there.”
Patrons at Kinkaider’s Thursday night get a free drink with the purchase of a $15 Pints for Polio commemorative glass. Ten dollars from that purchase will go directly fighting polio. Even more – the Gates Foundation matches every donation 2 to 1. The $10 donated through the purchase of a pint of beer becomes $30 toward eradicating this insidious disease
Gates notes that since they are about out of the special-order pint glasses, this may be the last year for Pints for Polio for now.
“We’ve had them for several years,” said Gates. “But yes, this will be the last year, and next year we’re thinking about a few different events that we might hold. Who knows what it’ll be, but this could be the last year.”
Once a child is infected, there is no cure for polio. Health experts have warned that unless we eradicate polio – and if we were to stop our intensive prevention measures, within 10 years as many as 200,000 new cases could occur around the world each year.
However, polio is preventable with a vaccine – Rotary and its partners have immunized over 2.5 billion children worldwide. The bottom line is that until we end polio forever, polio is only a plane ride away and every child is at risk.
Gates notes, “About two years ago when we had a case of polio in the United States, and it was from somebody who had traveled to a foreign country. So there is always that chance. Once you stop taking vaccines around the world, then the diseases come back.
Pints for Polio on Thursday evening at Kinkaider Brewing Company in Broken Bow is a chance to support the fight, while having a pint.
