Marshfield Clinic contributes to Nicaraguan mission

Contacts: Amber Weldon, Marketing/PR Specialist, Northern Division, 715-358-1320, weldon.amber@marshfieldclinic.org; Bob Mackle, Media Relations Manager, 715-387-5250, mackle.robert@marshfieldclinic.org

Jens Nielsen, a retired professor from Itasca, Ill., with a summer home on Fence Lake, has been on a mission since 1996 to help impoverished people in Nicaragua. Each year, he raises funds, collects in-kind contributions and loads a plane to Nicaragua to help support the health, well-being and education of people living in extreme poverty.

This year, Nielsen approached Marshfield Clinic about donating items and the Clinic gladly assisted.

“I’ve been a patient of the Physical Therapy Department at Marshfield Clinic Minocqua Center and began to tell the physical therapists there about my mission in life, and they offered to take a collection to assist,” Nielsen explained.

“We knew that the Clinic has donated in the past to medical and other humanitarian missions and sends many supplies to impoverished countries, so we decided to take up a collection to help in this particular mission for Jens,” said Steve Hoffmeister, physical therapist, Marshfield Clinic Minocqua Center. “He’s a very compassionate individual who is making a tremendous effort in his retirement years to help others in need, so we were glad to contribute in some small way.”

Nielsen said he started Nicaragua Direct after a colleague returned from a trip to Nicaragua, where he visited the (then) University of Mobile’s campus in San Marcos. The school was interested in educating English-proficient students in subjects relating to the hospitality and tourism industries. Nielsen and another colleague undertook that mission during the following two summers.

“It was so clear to see from the outset that whatever assistance we could come up with was desperately needed and, perhaps we could make a difference. Through our work each year since that time we do have an impact, however small looking at the total need,” he said. “We will continue with this project indefinitely knowing that, at least, we are able to bring some optimism and hope into some people’s lives, whether it’s in the form of a wheelchair, a walker, medical supplies, eyeglasses, food items, food service supplies, school supplies, toys or direct financial support.”

Nielsen said 100 percent of items and funds go directly to the people of Nicaragua. Funds are used for direct purchase of food, medicine, emergency supplies and building materials. Items and funds are distributed only to carefully selected organizations and individuals to avoid problems with corruption and fraud, he said.

“We are the facilitators who, with the support of other caring individuals and organizations like Marshfield Clinic, are able to assist people much less fortunate than ourselves, he said.

“Nicaragua is a beautiful country,” Nielsen said. “The people, regrettably, also are among the poorest in Central America, with 75 percent of the population living in poverty.  In a country with their extent of unemployment and poverty, this assistance is critically important.”

If you are interested in helping with Nicaragua Direct’s next mission trip, slated for November of this year, contact Jens Nielsen at 630-773-2552 or visit the website at www.nicaragua-direct.org, or email to Nicaragua-direct@comcast.net.