Meeting of January 14, 2014 - Alzheimer’s

Reported by Ron Cooley

President Peter opened the meeting with a request for us to provide him with our reasons for attending Oak Bay Rotary.

Cory Burger introduced our guests:

                                                    Guest of ...   

Julia Phillips                                 Rotaract Club of Victoria

Katie Ashwell                                Rotaract Club of Victoria

Philip Zeman                               Club Speaker

Tanya Ponich                               Barry Mutter

Regalino Moxychur                      Barry Mutter

Paul Macara                               Ron Beyer

Perry Bamji spoke to us about our upcoming Paul Harris night which will give us the opportunity to showcase Rotary. There are 8 nominations for 3 Paul Harris presentations. The focus will be on Community service. Jack Petrie will provide a screen show focusing on Oak Bay Rotary with music included. The event will be Black Tie with Bow Ties compulsory. Tickets are on sale now at $60 per person.

Mary Canty is heading off to Guatemala. She will have little room for clothes as she is filling her suitcase with dental items. There was a mention of Red underwear for John Snively to round out his wardrobe. No doubt if it was anyone other that Mary doing that, there would be a number of  colourful comments.

Heather Aked reminded us to use the Thrifty Smile cards. See her if you do not have one. The proceeds will go to purchase an overhead projector for a school.

President Peter brought up that we need to vote on a bylaw amendment to make us consistent with Rotary International.

Joan Pegs moved we change the Bylaws to match Rotary International, Heather Aked seconded, passed.

Wynn Taylor announced a service club meeting after the regular meeting.

Jim Force announced that on Thursday Jan 30th there would be  a Fireside and Club in a Pub at the Penny Farthing from 5 to 7. Please confirm your attendance with Jim.

Our own Pirate Jean (Jack) Lafitte kept up his New Orleans theme to remove as much booty from the members as possible.

Mardi Gras will be on May 10 th, 2014 at 6pm; please help us make this a huge success.

Lorna and Michelle were both fined for their fine foot wear.

Happy & Sad:

Joan Firkins was happy to be back.

Next year’s theme is “Light up Rotary”.

Joan Peggs asked why ties and socks were not targeted by Jack for fines.

Richard Acomba won the draw and the treasure which he donated to the Foundation.

John Jordan introduced our speaker, Philip Zeman, who has 4 connections to Rotary

1.   In high school, Phillip went on an “Adventures in Technology” field trip that toured companies across western Canada.

2.   He worked on a Rotary sponsored Eye Care effort in Belize with Optometrists doing testing.

3.   His father is in charge of recruiting new members to the Victoria Rotary Club.

4.   Last year he gave at talk to the Victoria Rotary Club about his work on an Alzheimer’s project.

Philip holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. encompassing Engineering, Neurobiology and Neuropsychology from the University of Victoria. He spent 2 years in San Francisco designing consumer products and devices to assist people with disabilities. More recently, he has consulted for a number of companies developing medical and biometric data related products.

Philip currently holds a position at Seeker Solutions here in Victoria, coordinating business, customer and software developers in an effort to build tools that help medical professionals make better decisions related to Alzheimer’s patients.

Philip said he spent a lot of his life in school when academia focused on social problems and he wanted to make a difference with people's life problems.

Dementia risk begins after age 60 and increases from there. From age 74, the risk doubles. Most people over the age of 85 have some form of dementia.

Dementia is the symptom but disease is the cellular basis of the problem. The problems stem from not measuring the brain malfunction but looking at the effect.

GP’s refer to specialists (5 on Vancouver Island) which has a population of about 750,000 of which 127,000 are over 65 years old.  There are 750 new cases of dementia each year here.

 Usually it is only diagnosed when there is over 80% damage and no opportunity for treatment.

Doctors' observations and tests only show symptoms and behavior but not the disease. The key to early detection is when subtle changes in behavior occur.  If we can detect it earlier, we can slow progress and it will lead to identifying cures.

Traditional  research is expensive and uses a very small sample set. We need a grass roots' study with big data and Google-like technology. A system which can measure brain activity to determine brain impulse, something like an EG headset, would be great. The subject would wear the headset for 30 minutes, which would then be downloaded to a computer for analysis.

You can learn more about Philip here and here or contact him at pzeman@abvsciences.com

Ted Chambers thanked Philip and noted how he was impressed by the importance of interdisciplinary research.

President Peter closed with “God save the Queen.”