I attended a training session a couple of days ago with about 30 other lawyers. It was a training session in preparation to the opening of 3 new legal clinics around Melbourne. These are "specialist" clinics in that they target a particular group of clients. As pro bono clinics, they offer free services to clients if they are unable to obtain free legal assistance and are otherwise unable to pay for those services.
The clinics will service senior citizens. Primarily, it will provide legal services such as the drafting of wills and enduring powers of attorney. There may also be cases of elder abuse, financial abuse which the elderly person may be a victim of and are afraid to seek help or unable to seek help. Elder abuse is where an older person is in a relationship of trust with another person and that other person abuses that trust. This comes in many forms and it is not always clear whether there is abuse. It may also come in many forms: physical, psychological, financial or sexual.
Currently, less than 1% of reported elder abuse is sexual but, like all other forms of elder abuse, it is unclear if the statistics reflect the true state of affairs. Although often the children or the cares of the older person are responsible for such abuse, it is not always the case. The real challenge, though, is to encourage elderly persons to recognise that they themselves may be the victims of elder abuse and to seek help if it is happening to them.
As the population ages, the over 85's is the fastest growing age group in Australia. This means there is a larger number of potential victims of elder abuse. It also means we can expect an increased incidence of elder abuse. The opening of the legal clinics will hopefully address some of the issues. The clinics may also be involved in promoting awareness of elder abuse and act as advocates in the areas of law reform and public policy.

We can all tackle this growing menace to elderly persons by talking about it, raising awareness (to people of all ages) and to encourage victims to speak out. Many elderly people live the last days of their lives in fear because they refuse to speak out about their plight. Now is the time to give them the support they need and to give back the respect they deserve
 

Yours in Rotary,
Gabe

Thanks to Troy for excellent scribe notes!

Meeting Date: 3/02/2009 Meeting Number:468

Announcements:
• February is World Understanding Month.
• A reminder that District Conference is approaching. Please let the President know if you are coming.
• State Street Soccer Championship camp in Lancefield from Friday Evening, 20th March to breakfast Sunday 22nd March. Those that are interested please contact Tracey Brown.
• President Gabe requested those that are interested in a club uniform consisting of a T shirt and cap at a cost of $40 to please let him know.
• Variety Club sent the club a “thank you” plaque for our work in the Book Fair. Wendy accepted on behalf of the club.
• Reece has been charged twice by the Emerald Hotel after the fellowship night and advises all members to check their credit card statements.


Speaker’s Name: Ian Bjorkman & Roger Budd of the Lions Club of Wheelers Hill.

Speaker’s Topic: Lions Eye Health Program.

The Lions Eye Health Program is a community awareness program to prevent unnecessary vision impairment. Vision impairment costs Australia in the vicinity of AUD 1.8 billion per annum. Early intervention is key in order to reduce vision impairment, and symptoms are usually noticed when it is too late and damage has been done.
Those at risk are diabetes sufferers, over 50s, smokers, those with a family history, and those with high exposure to UV. If you or someone you know falls into one of these categories it is vitally important to have an eye check up at least every 2 years.

Member’s Moment by: Nick Kane.

Nick told of a number of examples of poor planning in his previous roles in project management. Some of these involved needing to remove a roof in order to get some equipment into a building when it was discovered it didn’t actually fit into the lift, and needing to lift the whole fork lift over a 4” rise in a concrete floor. We wonder where the beanie was during all of this?

Time Meeting Closed:7:53 pm.