United Hearts for Health

Fall 2014

FALL
2014

United Hearts for Health

A health partnership linking Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, to Rosita, Nicaragua

2015 MEDICAL MISSION

Once again a United Hearts for Health medical team will travel to Rosita, Nicaragua, to conduct mission
clinics for a one-week period. The team of health providers and nurses will leave the United States on
Friday, February 6, 2015.
The team consists of Dr. Tom Ries, Gynecologist and Dr. Barbara Zink, Pediatrician, Co-leaders
Dr. Bill Trager, Pediatrician
Nicole Steinhardt, Nurse Practitioner
Linda Doeckel, Physician Assistant
Registered Nurses are Kayla Costello, Jodi Doell, Katie Herzog, Kirstin Kroll, Elaina Voskuil and
Hailey Wisner
Flavio Arana will serve as translator
The team will arrive in Managua Friday evening, and after a brief night of sleep, they will fly Saturday to
Rosita on Nicaragua's airline, La Costena. The work for the team then begins. Barrels with medication
and supplies shipped this past summer will need to be unpacked and sorted. Other necessary
medications and supplies will be purchased in Rosita, and transportation arrangements will be made
for the medical groups to reach remote villages.
In preparation for the daily clinics, the team, with the assistance of two or three hired local individuals,
will count and package vitamins and other medications for distribution in these clinics. This task
becomes an evening ritual in Casa Schlaefer, the Santa Rosa parish house where the team resides
during this week.
Each day the medical team will be divided
into three groups to serve two rural areas
and Rosita. It will be with the assistance of
several local people, such as Sr. Marise Meis
of the Sisters of St. Agnes; Arely Garcia, a
Rosita native hired by United Hearts for
Health to oversee projects in Rosita; and
Chico Martinez, the mayor of Rosita.
Arrangements will be made to hire other
local residents to serve as translators, and
to provide transportation, food and water,
supplies, and other necessities.
Going to a rural area for a day means that
each team must plan ahead for medical
problems they may see in patients as well as for their own food, water, and sanitation needs since rural
areas are without clean water or any plumbing facilities.
(Continued on p. 2)
Patients line up to see UHH doctors.

United Hearts for Health

Fall 2014

At the end of the week, when clinics are completed,

any medications and supplies remaining are given to
the Rosita hospital. After serving hundreds of
patients, the team will leave Rosita and return to
Managua on Friday, February 13th where, hopefully, a
half day of rest awaits them before returning to the
United States the next day.
We want to thank all the nurses and health providers
for the sacrifices they are making to participate in this
trip. We hold you in our hearts and pray that you have
a productive and safe trip.
~Marcie Janz, NP

A home in the rural area around Rosita

Mark your calendars for Saturday, January 24, 2015,

the date of the 11th annual Super Spin Saturday to
benefit the health partnership of United Hearts for
Health linking Fond du Lac and Rosita and to assist
the Fond du Lac Family YMCA youth wellness
programs. The Fondy Y has been the location of
Super Spin for nine years, and since the 2014 event,
it has been the official partner of UHH in presenting
this exciting indoor biking fundraiser which doubles
as a challenging workout for those participating.
Last years event featured Jacob Mueller, managing director of PAINCAVE Production. PAINCAVE is an
innovative and dynamic approach to fitness training. Jacob will again lead the three-hour spin session.
The morning will be broken into two sessions, each 1-1/2 hours long. Participants can register for the
entire three hours or choose which session that they want to ride in. All bikers will receive a goodie
bag, and door prizes will be awarded throughout the ride. There will also be a silent auction giving
participants the opportunity to bid on a variety of beautiful and useful baskets.
For more information, call the Fond du Lac YMCA at 920-921-3330 or go online at
http://www.fdlymca.org/superspin.html
~ Barbara Lent, RN
United Hearts for Health
Mission Statement
We propose to join the faith journey of Holy Family Parish in
its twinning relationship with Santa Rosa Parish by facilitating
a Fond du Lac community effort to assist in raising the standard of healthcare and promoting a more healthy environment in Rosita, Nicaragua, and the surrounding rural areas
This long-term relationship will seek to work in partnership
with the people of Rosita, its healthcare and church community and Nicaraguan government, while recognizing the dignity and the many talents of the people we hope to serve.

United Hearts for Health

c/o Holy Family Parish
271 Fourth Street Way
Fond du Lac, WI 54937
Contact Numbers: (920) 923-0155 M. Cappellari
(920) 923-2446 M. Janz
Facebook: www.facebook.com/UnitedHeartsforHealthFdL
Website: www.fdlunitedheartsforhealth.org/
To receive your newsletter electronically,
please e-mail jcappellari@charter.net

United Hearts for Health

Fall 2014

SR. MARISE CONTINUES HER WORK

In our spring newsletter we gave details about Sr. Marise
Meiss Emergency Fund and the many ways she has
helped the needy in Rosita with funds given to her by
UHH. She continues to do this important work, and
detailed below are just a few examples of the funding she
has provided the last few months to enable each of the
following patients to travel to Managua to be treated.

Sr. Marise Meis and Sr. Francesca are both

Sisters of St. Agnes who work in Rosita.

Juan Ramn Gutirrez, an adult male, was sitting in a

taxi when someone shot him in the chest. He was
operated on in the neighboring town of Bonanza, and
they sent him to Managua for a more thorough check-up.

Erika Jarqun is a middle aged woman who suffers from epilepsy. Sometimes the episodes happen
when she's walking down the street, and she passes out. Helpful hands pick her up, but she often has
bruises and scrapes. Sometimes the local health unit has the medicine she needs, but they
occasionally send her to Managua to see specialists there.
Marisela is a young girl of 14 who was transferred to Managua to the Lenin Fonseca Hospital. She had
a very large stone in her gall bladder. Sometimes people are operated for gall stones in the Rosita
hospital, but when the surgeon is not here, they have to make the trip to Managua.
Doribel Jarqun Orozco is a 12-year old girl who has been sent to Managua to see a dermatologist. For
the past three years she has had a fungal growth on the bottom of one foot, about five inches long and
three inches wide that she can't get rid of. Her mother accompanies her to Managua.
We thank our donors for their generosity in making it possible for Sr. Marise to help many people.

MEET OUR EDITOR

For many years, current co-chair of UHH, Mary Cappellari, has
been the exceptional behind-the-scenes wordsmith -- carefully
writing and editing stories, choosing photographs, and doing the
computer layout of the organization's newsletter. UHH is
grateful for Mary's skills. She is, after all, a retired U.W. Oshkosh
Senior Lecturer in English. Mary grew up in Fond du Lac,
graduated from St. Mary's Springs Academy, and earned college
degrees from Marian and Marquette Universities.
She and her husband, John, have four children, all grown.
Among them are a physician, an engineer, a financial analyst,
Mary Cappellari and her
and a data analyst. They have six grandchildren with whom they
husband John
spend time in Fond du Lac, Atlanta, and Northern California.
John is a retired G & L engineer who came to this country from
Northern Italy. Each year they travel to Italy and spend several weeks with John's relatives.
The Cappellaris are members of Holy Family Parish where Mary volunteers in the church office on East
Fourth Street Road. On meeting Mary Cappellari, many of us wish she'd been our English teacher. She
is kind, quietly elegant, organized without being autocratic, and sincerely dedicated to helping others.
UHH is blessed to have Mary's steady hand at the verbal tiller.
~Anne Kaestner

United Hearts for Health

Fall 2014

FILTRON CLAY POT PROGRAM

United Hearts for Health has spent the last year investigating the possibility of building a clay pot
production plant or a distribution plant in Rosita to make clay pots more readily available to the people
in need of clean water. Unfortunately, there were insurmountable obstacles to building a plant or
distribution center primarily with the ownership and management of a plant.
The next plan was to form a partnership with Potters for Peace, St. Lucas, a Nicaraguan NGO, together
with the owner of the production plant in San Marcos, Frank Shuringa. UHH received a proposal for a
project which would be implemented in several of the rural areas around Rosita. After reviewing the
plan, however, UHH felt that the overhead cost seemed disproportionately high, UHH would have no
input into the program, and there was no future planning after the initial investment was made.
So we have come full circle and have learned a lot. Arely Garcia has been administrating the UHH
Filtron program since its inception. She lives in Rosita, has good computer skills and knows the people
of Rosita. UHH has decided to expand the program with Arely as the administrator. She has found a
means of transportation to bring the Filtrons from the west
coast of Nicaragua to Rosita. She will store them in her
home and distribute them to the barrios in Rosita that UHH
has previously worked in The Filtrons will be given to
people who will pay $1.00 a month for 24 months. When
that time is up, they will be given another Filtron and will
continue to pay $1.00 a month. Special exceptions will be
made for those families that absolutely cannot pay the
$1.00 a month. This $1.00-a-month investment made by
the families will provide ownership and motivation for
Diagram of a Filtron clay pot.
those using the Filtrons and will provide ongoing funds to
perpetuate the Filtron program in Rosita. She will also
experiment with selling a few of the Filtrons to those residents who have the funds to pay for them.
Sr. Marise Meis, a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes who has lived in Rosita for
many years, will be the financial administrator of the program with Arely Garcia being the on-ground
administrator. These arrangements seem to be the most practical way of continuing to provide clean
water to the poor of Rosita using a proven and successful business model.
~Barbara Lent, RN

From your cornucopia of blessings, please consider giving a donation to United Hearts for Health to
enable us to continue to help improve the health situation for the poor of Rosita.
Thank You.
Please make your check payable to UHH/Holy Family.
Send to: United Hearts for Health, 271 Fourth Street Way,
Fond du Lac, WI 54937

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