Ruth Portway - Team Leader

Ruth Portway

Lives: Higham, Kent

I have been a member of RC Rochester for 8 years but have had about 20 years insight into Rotary as my husband is a member of RC Gravesend and also editor of RSE.
RC Rochester is a very active Club and I was very proud to be President in 2007/08; I am currently a member of the Community and Vocational Committee. I am also a member of the Inner Wheel of Gravesend.

I was one of Noel Tatt's Humanitarian Volunteers to West Bengal in 2004 and have had several roles in District ever since ranging from Simplified and Matching Grants Officer (Foundation), Emergency Response (International) and ShelterBox (District Chairman/Coordinator). In each of these 'jobs' I have had the opportunity to visit many clubs and give presentations, also giving talks on the Jubilee Sailing Trust and my position as Relief Medical/Purser and fundraiser. I can thoroughly recommend attending as many other clubs as possible as each has its own character and qualities.

Throughout much of that time I have been involved with GSE as a host and in helping to plan programmes when the Teams were visiting our locality in the North of The District. I am delighted to have been selected as the Team Leader for our visit to District 7870 in New Hampshire and South Vermont USA and feel privileged to lead such a great team.

My background is nursing, with some health service management thrown in for good measure, and my experience has been concentrated in treating people in the community and enabling them to be cared for in their own homes. I currently work with MedOCC, which deals with urgent primary care problems when GP surgeries are closed or no appointments are available. Using this as my focus I have indicated that my vocational requests are:
Seeing how the role of nurses has developed, to what level they work as part of a team and how autonomously.
Seeing where direct care is provided to people in their own homes and in the community.
Visiting family doctors offices and outreach clinics, but also see where care is provided when those offices are closed whether this is in ERs or other facilities.
It would be interesting to see where a mix of income groups, get their medical care and cover and any initiatives to encourage people to be self sufficient in maintaining their good health and managing their chronic diseases.
I would welcome the opportunity to discuss the impact that the new Health Reform Bill is expected to make.

We have been very busy planning and making preparations for our visit and now the weeks are really counting down.