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This Week
About a hundred Australian doctors and nurses had visited China under the `Rotary China Doctor' program with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Mr Gordon Low from the RACS said after his address to this week's meeting.
He added that more than 80 doctors and nurses had come to Australia after learning better English in China under the program. In a reflection on hospital funding here he drily added the Chinese practice of acupuncture had cost benefits.
A former doctor, he was talking at the presentation of the Colin and Dorothy Martin awards. Colin and Dorothy Martin had strongly supported the program. Long-term Rotary members they had pursued the `China Doctor Exchange' program seeking greater benefits for the program which sought to improve the English skills of Chinese medical staff before they continued their training in Australia. The Colin and Dorothy Martin Project China Doctor Award is made on recommendations from the RACS with an RCB a donation of $4000 a year for three years.
The awards went to Mr. Low and his wife Rosie who had supported the program at the RACS and teachers of English to the Chinese medical staff, Bronwyn Ronan, Heather Simkin and Maureen Power. Mr. Low and Rosie also were presented with Paul Harris awards for their work. All spoke at the meeting addressing the courses run in China to polish the conversational skills of the Chinese medical staff who were to come to Australia to further their careers.
Both sons of Colin and Dorothy, Paul and Andrew and their wives Linda and Louise, attended the meeting.
RCB member Les Horner introduced the China Doctor concept to the meeting talking of the work of Colin and Dorothy Martin. Colin Martin had been a member from 1973 to the Rotary Dlub of Balwyn but had been a member of Rotary in Parramatta in 1969. Colin spent 36 years with the New Zealand Insurance Company and on retirement in 1989 was state manager for the company.
He was inducted into Rotary Club of Balwyn in 1977 and held a variety of positions within the club - assistance secretary, program chairman, vicational service chairman, major projects chairman and vice president nd rotary foundation awards councillor. He was president of RCB in 1984-5 and following that, he was the District Governor's Group Representative before holding the positions of sergeant and fellowship chairman.
He was District Governor of 9800 and continued to work hard to the Rotary Foundation which was his passion.
``If I recall correctly, during the course of the illness that led to his untimely death, he drove from Melbourne to Queensland's Sunshine Coast stopping and speaking at some 14 Rotary clubs along the way,'' said Les. Colin received seven Paul Harris fellowships including four Sapphires and a Ruby and served on the District Committees since 1982. He served for six years as director of VATMI, a handicapped workshop employing more handicapped peopel than similar organisations in the state.
``Dorothy died of cancer in 2002 and Colin rang me in Queensland where we had holidayed together to say he had the same cancer as Dorothy. He died in 2006,'' said Les Horner.
Thirty seven years a Rotarian, Colin and Dorothy worked a lifetime for the community around them. The RCB had initiated plaques in memory of Colin and Dorothy to be fixed to two bench seats in Beckett Park Balwyn near the children's playground and an area near their home they both loved.
Both sons of Colin and Dorothy, Paul and Andrew and their wives Linda and Louise, attended the meeting.
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