North Central Florida Post-Polio Support Group

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2009 CALENDAR OF EVENTS


Mission Statement
:


Founded in 1990, the mission of the North Central Florida Post-Polio Support Group is to inform and educate polio survivors, families, friends, physicians, therapists and suppliers about post-polio syndrome (PPS).  We are a not-for-profit support group reaching out to well over 800 survivors of polio within a 100-mile radius of Ocala, Florida, and to hundreds of additional survivors throughout the world.

   

Are you looking for a Support Group?

List of Florida Physicians,
Therapists & Suppliers (PDF)

 

Grace R. Young, MA, OTR, had recently re-inaugurated her website into what has become an excellent blog.  Her site continues to aid many who need answers.  She would like that. We invite you to have a look and mark
Disabled2Abled
as one of your "favorites."


July - August, 2009

About our support group:  

The North Central Florida Post-Polio Support Group was established by Carolyn and Jerry Raville, both polio survivors, so they could learn as much as possible about polio and post-polio syndrome and share that information with others who need help.  Carolyn had previously formed a support group in Miami when, as her mentor, Gini Laura advised her to rely on professionals as resource persons and polio survivors as leaders.  Our information is designed to help educate physicians and/or health care professionals, if they do not already understand post-polio syndrome.  Our articles are designed to help you improve your own way of life, show you how to deal with a mate, relative or friend with PPS, and more.  No fees or dues are required of our members, though donations are certainly appreciated.  Our support comes from contributions from our members, families, friends, the March of Dimes and the medical community.
  
We are pleased that we have a stable and knowledgeable network of very talented physicians, therapists and suppliers in our area eager to work with us and we have a very fluid exchange of ideas with them and other physicians, therapists and researchers from all over the North American Continent as well as post-polio support groups around the world.  We also have an excellent relationship with the University of Florida in Gainesville and are often involved in research studies and polio-post-polio lab and help to educate the Senior Physical Therapy students each fall.  And each year we find ourselves even more excited and very proud of another class of  graduating University of Florida therapists.
  
We share a wonderful working relationship with the March of Dimes, North Central Florida Chapter, that continues in the great tradition established in the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  We are pleased to support the March of Dimes' efforts in "Saving Babies, Together", by offering them our aid wherever possible, and we find they have not forgotten the victims of polio and the problems they face today with post-polio syndrome and vaccine-related polio.

  
About our programs:
  
The programs (meetings) of the North Central Florida Post-Polio Support Group take place six times a year at the Collins Health Resource Center on the second Sunday of the month at 2PM, unless otherwise stated.  Anyone and everyone, polio survivor or not, is welcome to attend any of our programs.  We also present workshops, seminars and resource fairs, plus we have a "summer vacation" during the hottest part of the Florida summer (July and August).  Our newsletter, however, will continue to come out every other month right on schedule.
  
The length of the programs are usually about two hours with a speaker who is expert in some area of the medical, health care, health service, equipment supply or legal community.  Questions from the floor are considered an important part of the program and are encouraged.  We keep the programs as informal as our dress (being comfortable is important to us, so dress is casual, much the same as you might wear shopping).  We try to be informative, and we are serious about our goals, but we also like to have a few good laughs.  In fact, we consider the ability to laugh as important as any prescription a physician can write.
   
While we strive to improve our physical and mental well-being and promote understanding to those around us, our ultimate goal is that no other child or adult should ever have to undergo the ravages of polio and, ultimately, post-polio syndrome.  A big step in that direction was made when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked physicians in the United States (as of January 1, 2000) to cease using the live oral vaccine (OPV) in favor of the safer Salk (dead) vaccine (IPV) unless special individual circumstances warrant it.  Information on the current vaccine recommendations are available elsewhere on this site, or you can download the complete page in PDF format.
    

COMING PROGRAMS
        
  

  
Annual Summer Vacation
    
The North Central Florida Post-Polio Support Group takes a time-out to avoid the heat every summer, catch up where we need to catch up, and maybe take some time to think up new ideas for the group.
Only the regular programs will go on hold until our next meeting on September 13, 2009, the POLIO POST NEWS will continue as always.
  
____
  
Special Program
  
Saturday, August 29 (10:30 AM)

"What Is Post-Polio Syndrome"
  
Carolyn and Jerry Raville present this introductory program twice a year for the benefit of "new" members who need to gain a better understanding of what post-polio syndrome is, how it affects the polio survivor, and how to deal with it.  This 29-minute video will be followed by a question and answer session where you will be able to participate or simply listen, if you prefer.
An RSVP is required to make sure we have enough refreshments for all.  Please call Carolyn at 352-489-1731.

  

  
DIRECTIONS TO THE COLLINS RESOURCE CENTER


About our Newsletter
:

  
The most valuable tool in our "mission of informing and educating" is our six-times-yearly newsletter, the POLIO POST NEWS, presented in American English, but frequently translated to other languages, including Japanese and Russian, by some of our members across the world.  The 10-to-12 page hardcopy newsletter is now published six times a year and comes out approximately two weeks before the next scheduled program.  (Residents of the USA, Canada or Mexico click here to download a subscription form.)  Or, if you live outside the United States, Canada or Mexico, you may subscribe to the Polio Post News in the PDF format delivered electronically via email link.  

We include a subscription form in the newsletter at the end of the year and ask those who wish to continue receiving the newsletter to fill the form out and send it in.  If we don't receive the form, we discontinue the subscription.

North Central Florida Post-Polio Support Group
mirror site - Japan

(Thanks to Shoji Nakagane
for all of his hard and caring work.)

     

       

    
AUDIO/VISUAL AID SERVICES for our events are donated by SHARON MIXSON and THE AV CONNECTION
       

      

SOME GREAT SOURCES AND RESOURCES:

Grace R. Young's "Disabled 2 Abled" Blog
Information Resource Japan
The Polio Outreach of Connecticut
Post-Polio Network (NSW) - Australia

Post Polio Network RSA -  South Africa
Post Polio Support Group  - Dublin, Ireland

    Organización Post-Polio México

Ocean County Post-Polio Support Group - Toms River, New Jersey


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Reproduction whole or in part without permission is prohibited
The page last updated May 07, 2009