March 30, 2007, Hospice San Miguel brings comfort and care to the terminally ill, By Françoise Lemieux, Afternoon delight, Community support funded, Red Cross collection—give generously!, Funds for environmental projects, Go and grow organic!

Hospice San Miguel brings comfort and care to the terminally ill
By Françoise Lemieux, March 30, 2007

We spend a lot of time thinking about how to live our lives, but how much thought do we devote to how we will die? We write wills, maybe even make burial arrangements—but what if we are diagnosed with a terminal illness? How on earth do we deal with that? First, the news, then the decisions about how to live our final months. Will our family be there for us? Or, God forbid, will we die alone?

Enter Hospice San Miguel, founded by a group of local residents whose own experience with dying friends and relatives made a deep impression on them. Hospice offers people for whom medical intervention will no longer produce results an alternative to dying in an institution. Hospice workers are willing to do all they can to help people make the final transition as comfortably as possible—physically, mentally, and spiritually.

“People who enter hospice typically have a disease considered to be incurable, generally with a prognosis of less than six months,” says Lee Carter, co-founder, director, and vice president of Hospice San Miguel. “Hospice focuses on quality of life and dignity. When days are limited, hospice tries to make the most of each day.”

Carter’s younger brother died of pancreatic cancer. He and his family were so impressed with, and grateful for, the help they received from hospice that they all became volunteers. Carter’s father, an advisory board member for a Virginia hospice for the final eight years of his life, died in hospice care in January, 2006.

Hospice San Miguel co-founders Milou de Montferrier, president and volunteer coordinator, and secretary and spokesperson Joanie Barcal both nursed loved ones through their deaths without the benefit of hospice care. What they went through led to a heartfelt commitment to helping loved ones die with dignity in a loving environment. They believe that a terminal illness doesn’t have to be painful, lonely and overwhelming. “It’s a choice people can make. Instead of going on with doctors, hospitals and medications,” says Montferrier, “they choose to go peacefully and at home.”

The possibility of having hospice care in San Miguel is deeply important to our sizeable elderly community, as many no longer have family, or at least none nearby. For them, hospice can mean the difference between being sent back to the States and/or being institutionalized or letting go gently among friends—here, in this beautiful place where they have chosen to make their lives. And when family members come to San Miguel to care for ailing relatives, Hospice San Miguel will be an invaluable resource to them.

Modeled upon the philosophy and established procedures of programs in England and the US, Hospice San Miguel’s doctor and staff work with the patient, his or her doctor and the family. They are committed to minimizing suffering, maximizing quality of life, and counseling and accompanying the patient through the process. The emphasis is on palliative care, which, as opposed to fighting a disease, focuses on providing as much comfort and symptom relief as possible. In most cases, care is compassionately provided in the patient’s home.

The nurturing is complete: it eases the progression of an illness for the patient’s family, as well as offering immediate caregivers education, training, professional and volunteer help, psychological, spiritual and grief counseling, as well as assistance with funeral arrangements. Bereavement counseling is also available, even long after the death of the patient.

Hospice San Miguel is currently putting together a team to make this service a reality. Dr Roberto Maxwell, who studied medicine in the US and has a private practice in town, heads up the medical team. On board are a social worker and administrator, as well as psychologists Dr. Martha Horton and Dr. Liz Seabrook.

The center is being assessed by hospices in Florida and in Virginia. Workshops start next month, with a visit from Florida nurses. Later this summer, a team of doctors and nurses from the US will participate.

Hospice San Miguel offers their services regardless of the patient’s ability to pay. A non-profit, non-governmental organization, they receive no government funding. This means both that they are free to tailor the program specifically to the needs of our own bicultural community, and that they will rely entirely on fundraising, contributions, and volunteers.

Want to help? Donations to Hospice San Miguel are tax-deductible. In addition to financial support, the center needs donations of medical equipment—beds, wheelchairs, walkers, bedside commodes, and anything else that will assist in comforting those moving on from this life in San Miguel.

Volunteers are the core of any hospice program. People who want to help will receive training and will have infinite ways to make a difference (see sidebar). No previous experience is necessary. “Everyone can make a difference in the life of the person who is dying,” says Barcal. “And in the lives of all who are touched by their leaving.”

In order for Hospice San Miguel to function, they need financial donations and/or your caregiving time. Montferrier is dedicated to the need for hospice care in San Miguel. As she says: “Nobody should have to go through this alone.”

For information, to donate or to volunteer, please call 415-154-4287, email info@hospicesma.org or stop by. Hospice SMA is located on calle Manuel Rocha 35 in colonia La Lejona and welcomes visitors Monday through Friday, between 10am and 1pm. Also, visit the website at www.hospicesanmiguel.org. All inquiries are totally confidential.

Volunteers are needed for:

Direct patient care

Bereavement counseling

Outreach programs

Fundraising

Transportation

Running errands

Caregiver respite

Meals on Wheels

Administrative/office work

Casework

Research

Grant writing

Reading/art therapy

Benefit art/fashion show

For Casa Hogar Santa Julia Don Bosco, A.C.

Sat, Apr 7, 4–7pm

La Carpa

100 pesos

What more could a girl want than pretty clothes, dazzling jewelry and beautiful art for her home? The abandoned girls at Santa Julia orphanage will settle for enough clothes, a secure home, and enough food to keep them learning in school. That’s the idea behind “Afternoon Delight,” an art/style show benefit featuring the creations of Alma Guerrero and various other artisans.

And for the rest of us, a delightfully low US tax deductible donation of only 100 pesos admits us to see the Santa Julia girls model Guerrero’s unique creations alongside professional model Crystal Calderoni and others. As well, we’ll have the opportunity to view religious (it will be the day before Easter!) and secular art from Chris Doolin, Jenny Norman, Genny Claro, Mujeres Trabajando Juntas, Fran Schiavo, Alfonso Alarcon, Jim McDermott, Maria Isabel Ayala and Dawn Gaskill, to name a few.

All of this will be set to delightful music by the Santa Julia choir and violinist Libby Clemens. Amplifying the style show with descriptions of the one-of-a-kind designs is popular speaker John Barham, and in case that’s not enough, participants can sip and crunch to their hearts’ delights on La Carpa’s gourmet wines and foods.

In the end, the amazing and delightful Dominican Madres who care for the girls of Santa Julia hope to raise enough funds to buy the girls the clothes and shoes they need during the year.

“We did this sort of thing last year for the girls at the Sollano orphanage,” said Guerrero, “and the results were so good—even for an inaugural event—that we decided to do it again this year.”

Tickets to Afternoon Delight may be purchased in advance at the Biblioteca, Border Crossings, La Conexion, and Olvera Real Estate (Mesones 56).

Casa Hogar Santa Julia Don Bosco, A.C. is home to 32 girls who cannot live with their families of origin due to dire family crises. They range in age from 2–26, the eldest being a moderately retarded girl with no other appropriate place to live. They are cared for by four Dominican nuns without the assistance of the church or the government. Without community support, their only means of fund raising is begging. The Santa Julia girls are very happy girls because the Madres are raising them in an atmosphere of pure love.

Donations are tax deductible in the US when made out to the San Miguel Educational Foundation (noting Santa Julia on the memo line). Donations may be dropped off at Border Crossings at Mesones and Relox, or mailed to 9902 Crystal Court, Suite 107 BC 2323 121A, Laredo, Texas 78045.

For more information about Santa Julia, see www.santajulia.org.

For more information about the event, contact event organizers Alma Guerrero at almarguerrero@yahoo.com or Robin Loving at robin@robinloving.com.

The Center for Global Justice has received a generous donation of US$5500 from severañ anonymous donors who visited the rural community of Peñon de los Baños on one of the Center’s weekend trips.

The donation was made to the Fund for Community Support, which provides seed money for community projects, earmarked for Peñon, an ejidal community northeast of San Miguel.

A small part of the donation is earmarked to cover attorney’s fees to constitute a legal organization (cooperative or Rural Production Society) that will officially receive the money in Peñon.

The donors expressed their wish for the remainder to go toward building a greenhouse for tomato production like those managed by the Integradora in Hidalgo, a recipient of the Center’s first two Fund for Community Support loans. The cost of the smallest greenhouse, however, runs about US$15,000, so additional donations are needed in order to realize this project.

The people of Peñon hope that projects such as this will help eliminate the need for family members to migrate north to work. Several representatives are planning to go with the Center delegation to Hidalgo on March 31 to see the greenhouses there, and it is expected that as a result, some of the Hidalgo cooperative members will come to Peñon to help them set up their project.

For more information about this project and/or to make a tax-deductible donation to the Fund for Community Support, please contact the Center for Global Justice, info@globaljusticecenter.org, or call 150-0025 (weekdays between 9am–1pm).

Red Cross collection—give generously!

The Red Cross in San Miguel has begun its 2007 collection since March 20. The volunteers collecting donations are located in the main accesses to the city: Salida a Querétaro, Salida a Celaya, and Salida a Dolores. They are also in Comercial Mexicana and since today, they will be in Banamex Bank in Portal Allende, from 11am to 4pm. Volunteers are carrying a money box with a blue cap and a red seal, with a red or black strap. Money boxes are identified with a six number folio beginning with 228, located next to the cap. The last three numbers of the folio are also printed in the bottom of the money box. The collection will last until April 15.

For bigger donations, people can attend to the Red Cross facilities in Libramiento Manuel Zavala, close to Hospital de la Fe, or call Roberto Méndez at 152 4225.

For getting a tax deductible receipt valid in United States you can also attend to San Miguel Educational Foundation, with Aracely, at Prologanción Pila Seca 91A or call her at 152 7447.

Save the Laja, Inc. presented a check for US$25,000 to the Board of Directors of El Charco Del Ingenio A.C., at the Cactus and Champagne Brunch on March 25. The grant was awarded to fund restoration works at the Botanical Garden and Parque Landeta wetlands, including an additional treatment area to complete the Constructed Wetlands Water Treatment System being built by the State government in Parque Landeta.

This environmentally sound water treatment system will treat sewage from the community of Palmita de Landeta and create a new clean water source in the garden wetlands. The Constructed Wetland System will be able to treat 108,000 gallons of black water per day. Constructed wetlands have been used in many areas of the US and Mexico as an alternative to very expensive chemical treatment plants. Not relying on concrete and steel, constructed wetlands are less expensive to build, are more environmentally sound, and require less maintenance in terms of cost and staff. Since plants are used to clean and oxygenate the water, the constructed wetland also provides a natural area for wildlife habitat.

Based on a proposal launched by Val Nicholson, a former enthusiastic Chairman of Audubon in San Miguel, El Charco and other local NGOs and citizens spent many years lobbying the state government to make the Constructed Wetlands System become a reality.

The first two phases are funded by state agencies: the bio-digester, already built, and the constructed bed, of about half an acre, surrounded by a sloping rock wall, which is almost complete. It will be lined with a membrane, filled with graduated sizes of rocks and gravel, and planted with a variety of wetland species, such as Cattails and Calla lilies. A constructed zigzagging channel in the marsh area behind the Presa Colonias is the third and final stage of the process—the one assumed by the Botanical Garden and funded by the Save the Laja’s grant. This marsh area will also be planted with wetland vegetation to further clean the water and provide new habitat for wildlife. New plantings in the riparian areas will also provide additiona l oxygen to improve air pollution and act as carbon dioxide sinks.

The benefits of this project are numerous. Sewage from upstream communities will be adequately treated and no longer cause pollution of the marsh and wetlands. This can improve both the health of the natural areas and its citizens. A new source of clean water will be available for Parque Landeta, the Botanical Gardens and wetlands. The wetlands and reservoir will have a new and constant source of water and not dry up if there is no rain. Plants and trees in Parque Landeta and the Botanical Garden can be watered during the dry season or times of low rainfall. New and larger numbers of birds and waterfowl will have access to a year round wetland habitat. In addition, there are real cost savings as a regular treatment plant would cost 9 or 10 times more to build based on comparative data from Arizona. These systems are replicable and can be utilized by cities, agricultural industries and single households.

The project is expected to be fully operational by the spring of 2008. It will include walkways and signs to educate children and adults and explain the process at work. El Charco intends to promote the project as a demonstration for communities and government to learn about this technology and how to apply it in other communities. Since the constructed wetland does not use expensive technology and chemicals it can be maintained and monitored more easily and at less cost. Using wastewater to create wetlands helps redeem wastewater from its status as a befouled residue. It enables even wastewater to share, to some extent, the image of water as a basic and elementary resource, with the potential to support life, satisfy human needs and even be a source of beauty.

Save the Laja, Inc., a US 501c(3) public charity, with major funding from the estate of Susan Porter Smith, founder of Save the Laja/Salvemos al Rio Laja, is honored to be able to assist El Charco del Ingenio with this environmental initiative. For more information about Save the Laja, Inc. please contact Betsy January at 154-9561.

Go and grow organic!

Organic food festival
Presented by Bioagrimex
Fri, Mar 30–Sun, Apr 1, 10am-6pm
La Carpa
Calzada de la Aurora S/N
Tastings 50 pesos
Workshops 50 pesos

The production and consumption of organic food has increased considerably all around the world. In the year 2000, Mexico had 85,675 certified acres; in 2002 this number increased officially to 215,843 acres and, it is believed to be actually around 400,000 acres.

But why buy organic?

In general, people consider the following reasons when buying organic products:

The purchasing and consumption of these products have health related benefits, work towards nature preservation and give a heightened, more natural taste and freshness.

Organic farming in Mexico

Eighty-five percent of our organic produce is exported, five percent is sold as organic and the remaining ten percent is sold as conventional produce. Mexico has the highest number of organic farms worldwide.

Thursday, March 29: Fair’s opening

10am-6pm Conferences about organic food with debate and questions to the presenters

Friday, March 30

10am-5pm: Conferences about commercialization of organic food and workshops about horticulture, apiculture, and processed food preserving

Saturday, March 30

10am-5pm: Organic products sale all day long; workshops about organic agriculture; cooking and tasting organic food

Sunday, April 1

Midday to 5pm: Organic products sale all day long; cooking and tasting. .