January 12, 2017

Posted by Nick Aroutzidis on Jan 12, 2017

January 19 2017: John Kastner “Museum Calendar “. Our speaker will be introduced by Charlene Gordon, and thanked by Michael Fox.

Head Table: Our President Kevin Silver, invites, Charlene Gordon, Ellen Balmain, Linda Bathe, Walt Bathe, David Bean and Michael Bellai, to join him at the head table.

Dr Kathyrn Hibbert introduced by her brother Brent Shackelton speaking on Fukusima Disaster and some of medical and organizational problems around the disaster.

This Week: Today our featured speaker was Dr. Kathy Hibert, sister of Brent Shackleton, who spoke on “Fukushima – Lessons from the aftermath of the Disaster”. While Kathy’s background is in education, with the focus of her doctorate being e-learning, she established a connection to the medical community when Western University was seeking to improve its teaching methods to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student base.

The Fukushima disaster occurred on March 11/11 when a 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan. The subsequent tsunami and meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant was a disaster of tremendous proportions. Even today 180,000 people are still displaced and the prefecture economy is struggling to re-establish itself.

Through her connections with the International Atomic Agency in Vienna, Kathy was invited to work with first responders in Japan to help them develop a plan for dealing more effectively with emergency situations in the future. Her work was mainly with the hospital in Fukushima City, which is located about 2 ¼ hours from the nuclear plants themselves. This is very similar in distance to that between the London Ontario and the nuclear plants in the Bruce or at Darlington.

She dedicated her talk to the first responders who chose to stay on site and those who came from around Japan to help, when they could easily have remained where they were. The people with the most training in radiation exposure were working at the plants and were evacuated so they were not available to assist in a meaningful way.

A typical ‘hero’ was Dr. Ari Hasagawa, whose most recent nuclear training had occurred 10 years previously. Fortunately, he was able to locate the conference materials in a binder because all of the communications systems were down. He gratefully received the assistance of a specialist in nuclear systems who drove by taxi from Nagasaki with three days of clothing. They are both still in Fukushima working to improve coping strategies.

The Japanese people are taught not to debate or question authority so a major shift in thinking must occur. The biggest challenge for the first responders to face was the mental health of those with exposure to the radiation, and the population in general. Japan had a zero tolerance for radiation which was much more stringent than internationally accepted standards. When the government tried to communicate that the radiation exposure was within acceptable international standards, this represented a shift in thinking that caused much anxiety and suspicion within the general population. Public health nurses were most effective as a source of information.

Strategies and standard operating procedures are being developed to deal with radiation contamination and radiation exposure in people. Devices are placed throughout the area to measure the radiation found in locally grown foods, in the soil and in the air. They provide reassurance for citizens.

The Fukushima event has been identified as a low level, constant leak of radiation as opposed to a high risk event such as occurred at Hiroshima. There are many places in the world where similar exposures occur naturally, such as Brazil.

Kathy has found that her work in Japan has been one of the most interesting and humbling experiences in her life.

She was thanked by Phillip Schroeder.

Scribe: Wendy Anderson

Rotary Announcements

Rotary Complex Booth – Extra volunteers are needed this weekend. Please check clubrunner or contact Katherine Hahn.

Aquabox build on January 21 - Gary Morris reported that the ‘build ‘ positions are filled but anyone available to help load trucks should arrive at around 10 to begin that work. Contact Gary for more details.

Home Show – The committee is struggling to make satisfactory arrangements with the City and is hoping some pressure can be brought to bear on City officials so that the Home Show can happen this year. For more details contact Gary Lingard or Charlene Gordon.

Guests: Today we welcomed Larraine Shackleton, Kevin Nonomura and John Wright.

Draw: The prize donated anonymously was won by Dan Kane

Make-ups: Steve Rae, at the Estero Rotary Club.

January’s Attendance Committee: Peter Maranger (I/C), Gerry Culliton, Bob Martin, Ralph Robinson, Bill Arthur, Tracy Van Kalsbeek, Karel Hodgert, Bruce McLaren, Katelyn Aitcheson, Diane Sewell, Craig Pearce.

February’s Attendance Committee: Ron Mckay (I/C), Michael Fox, Shawn Malvern, Ryan Erb, Rob Roes, Rick Orr, Elizabeth Gaffney, Dan Kane, Wendy Anderson, Michael Bellai, Jerry McEwin.