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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.
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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.
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COMING
PROGRAMS
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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.
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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. |
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DIRECTIONS TO THE
COLLINS RESOURCE CENTER
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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.
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