Detection dogs
At the February meeting of Old Buckenham WI President Kate Lloyd welcomed members and two guests. Arrangements were made for those members attending the Federation Annual Meeting in March. This year is being held in the Theatre Royal as it is the Federation's Centenary. Also there will be a celebration service in Norwich Cathedral in April at which OBWI will process with their banner.
The speaker for the evening was Norma Howell, her subject Medical Detection Dogs. This charity is totally dependent on public donations and has the Duchess of Cornwall as its patron. Here is yet another amazing service that dogs can provide for us along with guide dogs, sniffer dogs, etc.
The charity was started by Claire Guest (who worked with guide dogs) when her own dog, Daisy, detected her breast cancer. Research followed and now detection takes place under clinical conditions with trained dogs sniffing samples of urine or breath. Dogs have an incredible sense of smell, 300 million smell receptors compared with a human's 5 million.
Norma also described the work of Medical Alert Assistance dogs. These dogs live with clients who have a disease such as diabetes and can warn carers when intervention is necessary. Each disease has a specific odour footprint and dogs can detect changes before any symptoms occur so, for example, they can warn parents during the night if their child's sugar levels are needing attention. Detection of Parkinson's disease for which there is no definitive test can mean treatment is possible up to 10 years earlier.
These dogs save lives, save the NHS hundreds of pounds and are life changing for many people.
Old Buckenham WI next meets on Thursday 28 March in Old Buckenham Village Hall and starts at 7.30pm. The speaker is Christine Humphries on the sbject of 'Laura Eke and the fisherman who painted on wood'.
The following meeting is on Thursday 25 April at 7.30pm in Old Buckenham Village Hall when Simon White will talk about Peter Beales and the romance of the rose.
At the February meeting of Old Buckenham WI President Kate Lloyd welcomed members and two guests. Arrangements were made for those members attending the Federation Annual Meeting in March. This year is being held in the Theatre Royal as it is the Federation's Centenary. Also there will be a celebration service in Norwich Cathedral in April at which OBWI will process with their banner.
The speaker for the evening was Norma Howell, her subject Medical Detection Dogs. This charity is totally dependent on public donations and has the Duchess of Cornwall as its patron. Here is yet another amazing service that dogs can provide for us along with guide dogs, sniffer dogs, etc.
The charity was started by Claire Guest (who worked with guide dogs) when her own dog, Daisy, detected her breast cancer. Research followed and now detection takes place under clinical conditions with trained dogs sniffing samples of urine or breath. Dogs have an incredible sense of smell, 300 million smell receptors compared with a human's 5 million.
Norma also described the work of Medical Alert Assistance dogs. These dogs live with clients who have a disease such as diabetes and can warn carers when intervention is necessary. Each disease has a specific odour footprint and dogs can detect changes before any symptoms occur so, for example, they can warn parents during the night if their child's sugar levels are needing attention. Detection of Parkinson's disease for which there is no definitive test can mean treatment is possible up to 10 years earlier.
These dogs save lives, save the NHS hundreds of pounds and are life changing for many people.
Old Buckenham WI next meets on Thursday 28 March in Old Buckenham Village Hall and starts at 7.30pm. The speaker is Christine Humphries on the sbject of 'Laura Eke and the fisherman who painted on wood'.
The following meeting is on Thursday 25 April at 7.30pm in Old Buckenham Village Hall when Simon White will talk about Peter Beales and the romance of the rose.
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