Helping halfway across the world
<p>Dirne Community Health Center nurse practitioner Mike Szymanski returned from Nepal in the spring where he and his family helped bring medical and other aid to 4,000 people.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Mike Szymanski wants to say thank you.
The Dirne Community Health Center nurse practitioner also wants to show Coeur d'Alene how much help local donations can deliver halfway across the world.
"It's been put to great use," said Szymanski, who has been teaming up with International Nepal Fellowship to bring medical aid to Muri, a small village in the Himalayas. "We've witnessed firsthand the changes in the lives of all these people."
The Szymanski family has been involved in health care projects in Nepal since the 1980s, with trips in 2004, 2005 and 2007. But its most recent trip this spring was perhaps the most influential.
After raising around $9,000 before embarking in March, the five-member family helped 4,000 villagers with basic heath care needs Westerners may take for granted, such as tooth extraction and ear care.
The project also helped establish and educate the local population on basic necessities required for eliminating some very preventable diseases, such as clean drinking water systems, toilets, smokeless wood cooking stoves and solar electricity. Because of the trip, every household in Muri now has an engineer-designed outhouse, which wasn't the case before.
"They were absolutely thrilled," Szymanski said of the medical team's reception. "We really hope we can expand this."
Szymanski made the trip with his wife, Mary, son Luke, sister Mary Stengel and her daughter, Esther Stengel. They worked with local and governmental medical providers to educate and pass along the benefits of preventive medical care in the remote mountain country of northwest Nepal.
With the help of electricity for late-night studying, this year the village had its first high school graduates.
It's that type of help Szymanski is committed to continuing.
"We plan to stay involved," Szymanski said, adding that a return trip could be coming in the next 18 months. "This work will continue on regardless of where we are."
First up, though, the family will say thank you to everyone who helped support the cause with a presentation of the trip from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Community Room of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library. It's open to the public, and there will be Nepalese tea and dessert.
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