Governor / District news November 2024
Organizing a district conference is a big challenge for any governor. I started preparing for the conference already when I was DGN, i.e. 1.5 years before. This is also required by Rotary International’s guide to hosting a conference. And this is where “I” ends and “we” begins.
The district conference was organized in Tartu, the 2024 European capital of culture. Conference participants were offered a city tour. The day before the conference, the district council, heads of committees and AGs were invited to a reception by Kuldar Leis, director of Tartu’s capital of culture. Both at the reception and at the conference, Kuldar Leis talked about what happened and will happen in 2024.
Read more about the Capital of Culture year:
https://tartu2024.ee
https://tartu2024.ee/en/
When we prepared the conference plan, we thought above all about the changing world and the changing Rotary International. In addition to the performances, several people had to be invited to the stage. This is how Paul Markus Orav, president of the newly founded Kristiine Rotary Club, received the presidential chain from Philip Dyer, representative of Stephanie Urchick, president of Rotary International. By the way, the average age of club members is 27 years.
The conference also celebrates the 120th anniversary of Rotary International. The organization has a colorful history and an active present.
Rotary International’s action plan aims at four activities:
- Increase our impact
- Expand our coverage
- Increase participant engagement
- Increases our ability to adapt to changes
The Rotary Action plan was our guide when we prepared the conference plan.
The name of the conference was “Healthy society: health and peace” and the conference had three separate thematic blocks.
The president of the Tallinn Rotary Club, Margus Viigimaa, was the director of the health conference. With him, we carefully consided how current the topic of the different speakers is, how it speaks to Rotarians and how much it helps to change the world for the better.
Sirje Karis, the wife of the President of the Republic of Estonia, spoke about how important it is to notice and help those who themselves or a family member have mental health concerns. Children who need special attention, as well as those children who get along well at school and participate in many hobby groups and exercises, or also those children who are said to be: just a child prodigy! Mental health problems cannot be dealt with comprehensively. One organization can’t do much either, the whole society has a strong network that always accepts helpers. Together we can ensure better mental health for people of all ages. We can all make a difference in raising awareness and noticing
We need all people!
Academician Andres Metspalu gave such an emotional presentation that it is even difficult to describe. On the one hand, he encouraged people to get to know their resources and use them purposefully, on the other hand, he emphasized that disease prevention is significantly cheaper for society and significantly more effective for humans than disease treatment. Personalized medicine is not a dream, it is today’s reality. The role of Rotarians is to increase health awareness in society.
Professor Margus Viigimaa spoke about Rotary International’s important efforts to eradicate polio around the world and called to support the End Polio Foundation. What is the pandemic crippling the world after polio? Could these be cardiovascular diseases? A healthy society expects the Rotary movement to follow healthy lifestyles, to establish sports facilities in smaller towns, to support disease prevention everywhere. Let’s break the myth “can’t” and replace it with “Together you can!”
Healthy lifestyles are supported by developing medicine and innovations in the pharmaceutical industry. Kersti Mäses Novartis, Head of Patient and Drug Access, spoke about the need to be health conscious and support healthy lifestyles. The pharmaceutical industry promotes the extension of life expectancy, because innovation in the field of medicine is one of the fastest. The future is personalized medicine and very precisely targeted drugs.
Marina Kaljurand, the patron of the sun camp of Reval Rotary Club of Tallinn, the very popular ambassador of the European Parliament in Estonia, closed the health conference. I know that Marina is also working in Brussels on how people of different ages can work together. Marina spoke about a phenomenon that needs to be known and changed – ageism. Society is aging and the life expectancy of the healthy is increasing. Today you could say that 60 is the new 40. The problem of Rotary clubs is also how to keep the average age of the club the same throughout the years. What is important is not the age number, but how we can promote an active lifestyle over the years. Rotary – action people! So that’s about it.
DG Aune Past, Sirje Karis, wife of the President of the Republic of Estonia, Member of the European Parliament Marina Kaljurand and Philip Dyer, representative of the President of Rotary International.
With an overview of the district health conference, it’s a good start to December – Rotary’s disease prevention month of the year.
DG Aune Past
D1420 2024-25
Tartu Hansa Rotaryclub
Photos: Jassu Hertsmann
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