Super Sniffers
In briefAI summary — tap to read
Sara Backhouse-Wood, a volunteer with Medical Detection Dogs (UK), presented how specially trained dogs use their extraordinary sense of smell to detect medical emergencies and diseases in humans. She shared her personal story of living with type 1 diabetes and how her dog Frankie alerts her to dangerous blood sugar changes, while also explaining the charity's broader work training bio-detection dogs to identify cancers, Parkinson's, COVID-19, and other conditions from breath, sweat, or urine samples.
Key takeaways
- Dogs have 300 million scent receptors compared to humans' 5 million, allowing them to detect diseases through volatile compounds in breath, sweat, and urine often before medical tests can.
- Medical detection dogs are paired one-to-one with people living with conditions like type 1 diabetes or severe allergies, alerting them to medical emergencies and significantly improving quality of life, independence, and safety.
- The charity's bio-detection dogs achieved 94.3% accuracy in detecting COVID-19 compared to lateral flow tests' 58-77% accuracy, and can screen 250 people per hour at large venues.
- Dogs are trained for 6-8 weeks to detect specific scent signatures (each disease has a unique smell), with total assistance dog training lasting up to two years while living with volunteer foster families.
- Medical Detection Dogs is not government-funded and relies on donations and volunteer support to continue life-saving work with multiple conditions including prostate cancer, Parkinson's, bacterial infections, and allergies.
About Sara Backhouse-WoodSara Backhouse-Wood is a volunteer and fundraising coordinator for Medical Detection Dogs, a UK-based charity that trains dogs to detect serious medical conditions. She has type 1 diabetes and was paired with her dog Frankie to alert her to dangerous blood sugar fluctuations.
AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.
Meeting for the week of November 01, 2021 - November 07, 2021
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Super Sniffers
Speaker: Sara Backhouse-Wood
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Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
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Hi everyone,
Welcome members and guests to the first November meeting of the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley.
November is Rotary Foundation Month on the Rotary calendar. The Rotary Foundation was started in 1917 by then Rotary International President Arch Klumph “for the purpose of doing good in the world”. Since its inception, the Foundation has gone on to spend more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects around the world, transforming millions of lives.
The Rotary Foundation is only able to achieve this impact through the generosity of Rotarians, such as yourselves, that support the Foundation with donations and charitable contributions. As our club members have contributed to the Foundation in past years, so then our club has been able to benefit by receiving funds back from the Foundation in the form of District Grants. We have put the money from these grants towards many of our club’s projects in past years, including Laptops for Good, to help the communities that we serve. Our club has also received a Global Grant for our Soda Education Project in Ethiopia which again is only possible through the generosity of Rotarians supporting the Foundation.
The club’s Foundation and Programs Committees have worked hard to arrange some great presenters for this month, so you will have the opportunity to learn more about The Rotary Foundation and its projects and impact as you hear from them. If they leave you inspired, then I encourage you to donate to The Rotary Foundation, which you can do via the link below, which will enable the Foundation and Rotarians to continue to do good in the world as they Serve to Change Lives.
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Brett Sham
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president@siliconvalleyrotary.com
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Weekly Funny with Shags
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2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
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5. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
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This week you'll learn about an organization doing impressive humanitarian and scientific work in England. This story about Barbara and Frankie will give you a preview of what you'll see in the program!
Through a Rotarian's Lens
Sometimes a photo can capture an amazing moment. In this section Member Keith Marsh shares his incredible photography!
If you'd like to submit a photo for this section please contact Keith.
I took the photo on the left with my iPhone 11. It is a bucket of artist brushes of all shapes and colors. The composition was too busy, so I decided to play with it at the recommendation of the artist who owned the brushes. He has a small studio in town where he sells his work and teaches children to paint. Both our granddaughters have taken his summer programs. First, I cloned in the corners to eliminate the edge of the bucket. I then desaturated the colors except for three large orange brushes that form a triangle. Lastly, I tried some filters (watercolor and oil paint) to soften the image. You may or may not like the result, but the point is that you have an unlimited number of ways to create a new image using your imagination.
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This Song is Super...
I love barbershop quartets! My first exposure to it was from the 1962 movie, The Music Man, featuring the Buffalo Bills. This quartet is a bit different, for sure.
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powered by TypeformProgram: Super Sniffers
Speaker: Sara Backhouse-Wood
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub nor Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
This week our speaker is Sara Backhouse-Wood, a volunteer and fundraising coordinator for the group Medical Detection Dogs. Sara is based in the Essex area of England.
Medical Detection Dogs trains dogs to detect the smell of human disease with the aim of developing faster, more efficient, and less invasive diagnostics that lead to better patient outcomes. As companions, these dogs can save lives and allow those with life-threatening diseases to live much more normal lives than they would otherwise, as you saw in the Barbara and Frankie video earlier in the meeting.
The presentation will cover projects including training dogs to identify cancer, Parkinson's, and even COVID, as well as the Medical Alert Assistant Dogs, who identify minute odor changes emitted prior to an emergency and alert the person they work with to take preventative action.
Members and guests, please welcome Sara Backhouse-Wood!
To learn more about Medical Detection Dogs, visit:
https://www.medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk
Upcoming program recording schedule
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
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