ROTARY CLUB OF OAK BAY MEETING 4 APRIL, 2017 - CHRIS LINFORD ON POST TRAUMATIC STRESS SYNDROME

REPORTER: Ryan Gisler

Child and Maternal Health month commences in April. 

Rotary Foundation funded midwife jeep in Central Haiti.

Jim Force's meeting for the Rotary Global Grant takes place after the meeting today.

Guests and visitors: We had a large contingent from former Royal Oak Centennial Club.

Crawford McLean; Jim Parker; Jim Hickie; Art Joyce; Laura Malo; Bruce Curtiss; Josh Wintoniak (Sunrise Club, Medicine Hat, AB and lone Albertan)Ceci Valdes;  Lt. Col. Chris Linford (Guest speaker) 

Celebrations Master: Janette had a table quiz. Everyone was bilked. 

Giles won 50/50 and used up his month’s good luck. 

GUEST SPEAKER: Lt. Col. Chris Linford

Chris gave a talk on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which he described as  “a family journey”

He wrote a book published in 2013, titled “Warrior Rising; A Soldier's Journey to PTSD and Back” 

He is an active participant in the Wounded Warrior program for PTSD.

He suffered 22 years of PTSD brought on by his military experience in Rwanda, as a trauma nurse in the medical unit for 200 Canadian soldiers. He became increasingly disassociated through assaults on his personal moral code through traumas evidenced during the first 100 days in deployment.

What he experienced was: fear, despair, sadness, stigma, uncertainty, isolation, loneliness.

He explained his depression was intense.and his family life suffered. He ultimately had suicidal thoughts. Counselling at the last moment diverted a dangerous spiral.

Chris began COPE (Couples Overcoming PTSD Everyday. There are 5 couples per session with a team approach. It has proved successful.

(Editor's Note: Lt. Col. Chris Linford's book is published by Friesen Press. A portion of the proceeds of sales will be donated to the Veteran's Transition Program. For more information on this book, go to this site: aWarriorRising.com)

Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting 28 March 2017 - Dr. John Cassidy from the Pacific Geoscience Centre on Earthquakes

Reporter: Peter Lawrie

Wendy Townsend – President Elect – called an unruly and raucous crowd to order at precisely 12:15. 

Mary gave the blessing and Lorna introduced visiting Rotarians and visitors. 

We had lots of visitors!! 

Rotarians – Gary Lunden – Walla Walla (Noon); Ron Hardie – Calgary Chinook; Nancy Singh – Downtown Victoria; Daljit Singh – Visacia, CA; Christopher Dietlein – Rotaract, Victoria

Visitors: John Cassidy (guest speaker); Katherine Singh - guest of Nancy Singh; Ravi Kaye - guest of Nancy Singh; Trond Holtbu - guest of club; Ethel Aked - guest of Heather; Alexander Ewanchuk - guest of Heather

We had two banner exchanges – Gary from Walla Walla and Daljit from Visacia

Health of Club – Mary reported that Tom Lidkea is mending well

Black Jack Petrie, our celebrations master, was greeted by a pounding  and resounding ovation! He then proceeded to shamelessly extract funds from all and sundry. Some members were reportedly weeping, one was heard negotiating new terms for their mortgage and another was heard to be opening a new line of credit. 

Among the Happy/Sad Dollars included:

• Mary was happy to host Jacqueline and David for dinner and catch up on Guatemala
• Lorna was happy to have returned in one piece after looking after 2 grandchildren for several days in San Francisco and also for the recent opening of the Victoria Food Safety centre
• Wendy was happy and sad – her son visited, then left, then got word his Calgary job was re-instated (after downturn) and he got a pay raise.

Lynne won the weekly draw but no cigar on the big pot! Only 3 marbles left! Everyone needs to invest heavily in the next week or so!

Wynn introduced our guest speaker – John Cassidy, PhD, from Pacific Geoscience Centre (Natural Resources Canada). John spoke to us a few years ago about the “imminent big one” destined to hit in our area. This talk was about “the other ones”! His opening line was “Victoria has faults ….”

John gave another very interesting presentation about the variety of quakes in our area and new research/technology focused on well-known local faults.

John gave us an overview of the numerous moving pieces and plates impacting our area. There have been >100 earthquakes in past 30 days and this is consistent with the normal ~1100+ per year. Only a few each year are “felt” by us.

The new technology John reviewed and explained included:

• LIDAR – air born (from airplanes)
• High Resolution Marine (ocean floor)
• InSar – from satellites
• GPS – from ground to satellites

The local faults being more deeply researched included Leech Creek (from Sombrio Beach through Esquimalt Lagoon to underwater and Devil Mountain fault which is from ~Mount Baker to just past Oak Bay. 

More information can be found at earthquakescanda.ca. John is actually the twitter source for “earthquakeguy”. 

The Institute of Ocean Science is hosting a Public open house in early June – Very Interesting Stuff!!

Wendy concluded a successful meeting at precisely 1:30 (Well done!!)

Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting 21 March 2017

Reporter: Corey (waiting for notes)