HealhFirst Network
216 South 3rd Avenue
Wausau, WI 54401
(800) 246-5743

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From expectations to conversations. We offer all the services you would expect health first network provides quality confidential reproductive health care, education, and nutrition counseling care and what made you decide you want to get into WIC just like public health, public health nutrition is really where I as a dietitian because all the counselors are dietitians, public health nutrition is something where you can really see the impact of what you do, didn't even realize there is any motion on that note to school. One of the cool things about the WIC program is that you get to see kids grow and develop over the course of time as a dietitian in the hospital or clinic settings you see people one or two times and you don't get to develop that relationship with the families like we do here WIC stands for women infant and children and WIC is a supplemental food and nutrition program for pregnant moms new moms and young children where families meet certain qualifying criteria to be eligible for the program once they're determined to be eligible, besides getting a lot of nutrition education and support we provide supplemental food, healthy supplemental foods like juice, cereal, eggs, peanut butter, milk and assortment of things and a lot of nutrition education and breast-feeding support as well as referrals and information about other resources within the community that might benefit that family. I know the education side of it is pretty amazing. I don't usually show this but when my twins are born, we participated in work we were able to live and stay in her house and you know because you we are twins and having twins on top of two other children, you know it was it was a big expense and to have WIC there to help out was a godsend was life saving your example is in exactly the kind of family that we really really want to try to help the difference between WIC and some of the other supplemental programs like food share is that our income cut off goes quite a bit higher then the other programs that are out there and so were really designed to help those struggling young families where you working but maybe child care expenses has exceeded what it's worth, and so you choose to have one parent stay home will then how do you get groceries and how do you pay your bills and the benefit that the families receive per person. It's roughly right around $70 for a child durum woman that they received. If you were to purchase all the foods that you're able to for a babysitter getting formula that's over $100 a month per child. It's a supplemental program but it adds up. And if we can help families get their basics then their resources can go to pay for other bills like diapers or gas in the car or electric bills or things like that that don't go away just because you'd one parent decided to stay home and what kind of items does WIC provide two-family good question. If you're a pregnant woman. Let's use that as an example, you would receive a quantity of food per month or you would be able to purchase that in the grocery store you would get 5 1/2 gallons of milk, a dozen eggs three containers of juice, a jar of peanut butter, a pound of dried beans or four cans of the dried beans that are cooked a loaf of bread 36 ounces of cereal now. We can also provide for people that want we can substitute out. We can provide some yogurt in place of some of the milk and cheese is another choice. If you're a child you get the same types of foods only a little different quantities babies are able to get those that are not breast-fed, or those that are getting supplemental formula. So say a mom is breast-feeding but she works out and is enabled to save enough of her milk that her baby is able to get enough to eat. Then we can be flexible and we provide some Formula One amount still get some benefits after the baby turns six months they're able to get some baby foods and then infant cereals as well. The foods that families are allowed to purchase from us. What happens is we have a very strict guideline that the USDA has set for us to provide nutrients for our families and every three years. All the foods that are available in the grocery store get looked at to see if they would qualify to meet our standards. Like for example the cereals that you can get from us are cereals that have to have a lot of iron in them. Not much sugar in them and be whole-grain if you think about examples of that. That would be something not like Lucky charms or Froot Loops. We also are able to provide fruits and vegetables for families. We give the dollar amount per month per individual. So if you're a child you get nine dollars worth of fruits and vegetables a month and women get $11 worth of fruits and vegetables a month so you can get any in the fruits and vegetables can be fresh but as you know how are growing season is so short in the middle of winter. You may not want to buy all fresh because they just don't taste so good then but so you can get fresh frozen or canned plain fruits and vegetables with your WIC benefit, and that's on the standard WIC now in the summer we do something really cool. We are able to provide farmer market checks for our families and what that is is in the summer, we provide per family $30 worth of the special farmer market checks. They take those to the local farmers market and purchase Wisconsin room fruits and vegetables get our organization on Monday afternoons in our parking lot. We have a farmers market, so it's a really neat connection where families can come if they happen to come on Monday afternoon to pick up the farmer market checks they can go right into our parking lot and purchase fruits that are grown here in Wisconsin that's instant gratification. Fiber is so cool. It is just so cool that we have this going now and families they that utilize the farmer market checks just love them so that age group for workers from birth to five till five. The history behind the five-year-old cut off is kinda interesting in that WIC program was designed in the late 60s early 70s when our country had a surplus of commodities and we had people who were hungry and there was a neat thought, where if you combine the commodities the farm commodities so flower dairy products things like that that the government was paying to help farmers produce and get them into the bellies of people who were hungry and coordinate that with some nutrition education. The thought was that we would provide these foods until kids were five and it five years old. Kids would go to kindergarten and through the school lunch program. They would then also be provided with the healthy food combinations through the school program. So that's why the five-year-old cut off was implemented. When does the client begin with WIC as soon as a mom finds out she's pregnant they can enroll with us. We want to help them throughout their pregnancy. So we see moms every three months throughout the pregnancy and help them deal with whatever the pregnancy presents for them whether they are they have morning sickness real bad there again and not to wait or not enough helping them figure out how to eat is best they can, even their life circumstances. Another thing that we do is help moms with stop smoking referrals to other programs within our community that help them eliminate barriers to being healthy through different resources that are available in the community to talk a little bit about the fact that WIC offers help to families to go out and purchase things what about families who choose to breast-feed. You have programs or do you help new moms to families without yes yes, that is one of our primary emphasis is to help moms be successful with that. So when we see moms when they're pregnant were helping them answer questions they have about how to feed your baby no matter what way they choose to feed their baby, their options galore today. We want moms to be successful with their breast-feeding efforts and so all of the counselors have extra training in breast-feeding support. We continually go for extra trainings to help us be better at that because we want moms to be successfully. For more information visit www.health1network.org or find us on social media health first network

Franciscan Spirituality Center
920 Market Street
La Crosse, WI 54601
608-791-5295

Steve Spilde: Welcome. Today I’m excited to introduce our guest, Karen Skalitzky. She teaches in our Spiritual Direction Preparation Program. She comes to each group and presents Ignatian Spirituality, talking about Saint Ignatius and the spirituality that he offered the church. Welcome, Karen.

Karen Skalitzky: Thank you.

Steve: So, tell us, who was Ignatius, and why was he important for people of the year 2020?

Karen: Ignatius, as you know, was a Saint in the Catholic Church. He’s most widely known as the founder of the Jesuits, which is a religious order that went all around the world. I think what makes him particularly relevant in 2020 – and particularly compelling to me, personally – has everything to do with the theology of what he taught about God. And what he taught is that God is present here in our lives, active [and] moving, and that we can attune our hearts to the movement of God in our lives. He taught that in the 1400s, and it’s still relevant in 2020, especially given our current cluster of crises that keep happening. It can sometimes be hard to find God in the midst of all of that, but he taught that God is here present in every moment moving in our lives. He taught that our spiritual journey and on our faith walks that you never actually arrive anywhere. There isn’t a destination that you’re trying to aspire to. There isn’t some point in this walk where you say, ‘I have that all figured out and I’ve got it and I’m good.’ He taught that what there is, is just a constant invitation to go deeper in our relationship with God. I find that to be the most compelling piece of his theology.

Steve: Introduce us a bit to Ignatius, because he had an amazing personal story. Tell us who he was and the parts of the story you find very interesting.

Karen: I love his story because it’s like anyone else’s story. It’s just full of all these twists and turns. What he taught about God was actually born out of his lived experience, which is also what he taught. He taught that you could trust your lived experience of God, and he was very inclusive of everyone else’s lived experience of God. I think he is one of 11 kids born in the northern part of Spain. He is from a fairly noble family. He goes to become a page in the King’s Court at like 11 or 12, which had to be pretty exciting. His first big twist and turn came when the king died and he essentially lost his job. He was laid off, and he had to refigure out what he was going to do. He ends up going to defend the border between France and Spain. And he, at this famous battle which name has completely escaped me, is in a fortress defending Spain, and he’s surrounded by the French and he refuses to give up. Some people think that was really bold and wise, and some people think strategically it was completely the wrong move altogether [because] there was no way they were going to win. Either way, a cannon shoots into the fortress and it shatters his leg, and he goes home in defeat. They have to surrender, and he is carried home on a stretcher, humiliated, in pain, and suffering. Again, another general … turn in his life in terms of how he’s going to recover and what’s going to happen then. He spends time recuperating and he’s pretty bored. The story goes there are only two books in the house because he has to read something, and of course there is one about Jesus and one about the saints. He starts reading and gets compelled into it. He spends all this time daydreaming, which just seems like something all of us do whether we want to admit it or not. He spends all this time daydreaming, and he just starts to pay attention to the movement of that and he has one of his romantic notions of how he wants to win this woman’s hand back and he’s worried because his one leg hasn’t healed...

Chris Jones is well known for his appearance on America’s Got Talent when he made the impossible happen: Known germaphobe Howie Mandel shook hands with Heidi, Howard, and Mel live. Since his first TV appearance, Chris has performed on shows like The Steve Harvey Show, Windy City Live, Good Day Chicago, Penn and Teller, Scam School, and the Adam Carolla Show.

Transcription is for SEO purposes only. To find out more about the city of La Crosse please visit their website www.cityoflacrosse.org to find out more about Podcast For Hire please visit PodcastForHire.com

La Crosse Wisconsin is a great place to live, work and play the city vision 2020 podcast this month featuring Jared Flick recreation specialist from La Crosse Park recreation forestry Jared a lot of things stopped this year because of Covid-19. Let's talk a little bit about Covid-19 and will can move on to some other things. How did the city of La Crosse Park and rec deal with Covid-19 and what are things moving forward when it comes to dealing with Covid-19 why things happen. We had outright programming it canceled. We lost our aquatics needs and we also thought how important parts are the people we saw a flurry of flooded people into the park this summer, which is great but short of a weakness that showed a lot of positive things that are out there really help the singles out there. The programming people is very difficult just because things start off with some restrictions as far as you want people to get together and we tried programming some things and we tried many baseball program. We had to cancel it now or try to be proactive with things that were doing as far as they could fall we ran track and soccer program athletic that is easy to social distance is less contact with you. Turn out that that never going to get you turn the page to winter here in Wisconsin. What are some of the things that the La Crosse Park and rec is going to be working on are doing in the winter season. Yet some of them are hoping that we would do would be like our basketball program for kids and that is something that we can't do this because access to facilities around the school district. Right now schools are closed so that way. So will try to focus on things that we can kind of control would get people outside correctly starting hiking program for kids highly structured setting go out and move around as an exercise in kind of time to help improve their overall really doing that we have a figure skating program or another were doing over the Green Island ice arena and then we can focus on more stuff that we can outside the work we were working with thought about running with you from Bali over a Copeland something to get people out and move around and motivated your dimension Green Island in early Green Island was a big in the news at the beginning of the year that staying open now right and there's new facilities happening there as well. It is yes, that the arena itself is open, the River city youth hockey organization that didn't do a six-month use agreement with the city, with operation of the facility. So it is often worse over up and out and they're doing everything they do a great job in there to get a lot of use over there right now a lot of construction happening in that area. Tennis courts happening. As a matter fact and that the and in that specific location right there. As we entered into agreement with UBL Aquinas and the tenants Association of La Crosse to build three of 13 brand-new outdoor tennis courts and the construction was completed in red on Labor Day so we did have a few months of having been opened and they then they been popular at the outset of our first phase to the construction out there with the tennis courts in phase 2 was in becoming an looking at some whites to the seven of the court. So we kind of expand the community access to the courts in the spring and fall file phase. Phase 3 would be coming probably in the next you know one to two years would be indoor course, that's all you to be raised privately we know about the organized groups of the tennis Association. There is a lot of like little sob popular groups about playing there's a lot of people and I was actually surprised because this last summer, especially Covid-19 and everything being shut down. My kids took up tennis and they're playing a wagon park at the tennis courts there. Yeah, all of the courts this summer got slammed whether they were the tennis courts and what we saw the really really heavy to be at Invesco court over a call and that things that Joseph is been bombarded with people everything a lot of people. It was an improvement over the Erickson festival course over a block you as well to that people are just think they need something to do and that's it. As her going sledding coming up in the upper Midwest. As always, you know that the thrill of going sledding. Is there any places in La Crosse to go sledding German poor so that is a very popular place. This led last year we started doing the pop-up letting nights where we bring lights out and people can play that night with hot chocolate fires like that were do more of that this year just trying to keep people out motivated sledding very popular. Where do something that we also got some other kind of ideas out there that were to try to do with letting actually learn to skate his or so learned skating times as well are now is that part of the hockey is a hockey Association on Valencia program now, so if you want to do the initiate programs I received. Hockey is doing that late summer early fall. There is some construction over depending on what happened over there yet we cannot restructure the parking lot you never really have like a road intersecting a parking lot to destinations is create a problem. We redesigned it will replace the parking lot up to the bathhouse and the beach and then we move the road behind it. That kind of our Facebook first phase of construction at tableware next year will actually raise the S. Table Dr., Road where you go from the bathhouse to the boat club. It tends to flood a lot back there and it floods that low level as well. Square way that the defendant just enhance that state and a lot of people put their kayaks in right there in front of were you rented out the kayaks and panel boards. Is that still going to be an option. We actually just finished some construction of that. Do we put a new paved walking way for people to feel user kayaks and a little better approach space to. So what are some flaws and blinking lights and some stuff to get others in your road that kind of intersect that but it should be a lot safer for people he saw that your was extremely busy for people to be watching kayaks and canoes and stuff over. They don't let it cool things happening with La Crosse Park recreation enforcer department chair and how we find out more information about all the fun things in all the excitement that's going on with the park and rec department can add to our Facebook page city La Crosse Park Receration for streamlining that to our website city La Crosse.org and that's/Park, telephone number area code 608-789-7533 their number 608-789-7533 the your vision 2020 conversations with department heads from the city of La Crosse is a podcastforhire.com production. For more information about the cross, visit the website city of La Crosse to work

HealhFirst Network
216 South 3rd Avenue
Wausau, WI 54401
(800) 246-5743

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There are a lot of services that are provided at health first network Jesse, what are some of the things that you do we have the WIC program which is women, infants and children went to the nutrition education program and provide supplemental food benefits for moms that are pregnant, postpartum, and then children 0 to 5 years of age. We have the breast-feeding peer counseling program we have the for families program, which is an obesity prevention program for preschoolers. Then we the farmers market program within the WIC program so families who are on the WIC program are also qualified to receive a $30 fruit and vegetable voucher that can be used at local farmers markets during the summer and fall months so that they can go and get fresh fruits and that's both then if we change course and go into the reproductive health program the reproductive health program offers several services from annual exams FTI or STD testing for STI testing a sexually transmitted infection testing. It used to be called FTD, sexually-transmitted diseases, but that nomenclature has recently changed. We do, pregnancy testing, we do referrals for individuals who are pregnant to any resources that they may need, including the WIC program we provide contraceptive methods or birth control to individuals that come in with provide colposcopy's which are biopsies that the service for individual had abnormal paps. We also provide just general labs that an individual may want and then a lot of education around sexual health. Health versus the confidential reproductive health clinic that means individuals who come in, have confidential services, and that's not being shared anywhere else that we serve adults, but we also search for teenagers within the clinic and do some pretty great programming with teenagers outside of the clinic as well just interrogate you're in charge of the teams program yes so we do the teen outreach program, and we recently implemented that down in Adams friendship. So within the Adams Friendship school district. We work specifically with sixth-grade students implementing that program so teen outreach program is an evidence-based program that has a holistic approach to education. So it does focus on reproductive health, but also focuses on things such as decision-making, goalsetting, setting boundaries, healthy relationships, things of that nature. So really encompasses a lot more than just the reproductive health side, but were happy to be able to include that in there as well know it. With this education piece that you bring out of the schools and Adams friendship. Does that encompass both Boys and Girls Club yes we serve the entire sixth-grade class. So unless someone chooses to opt out our parent would choose to opt their child out of that that is just part of their curriculum. Now that we are implemented into the school day. When we serve those to finishing which success in the program yes so will last year was our first year implementing it. We saw really great success. The students are really engaged in that and there is a community service learning component to that as well so they get to be engaged within their community, which is a huge piece of that. We were caught a little bit short due to COBIT. 19. In talking with our funder is that when we met at the end of our first program year they had relayed to us that they thought really great results. We have a previous survey and post-survey that goes along with that were able to kind of track anonymously how the students have progressed, or what is change throughout the course of the year and then just being able to meet the criteria to make sure that were implementing the program correctly and we were on track with all of that to have a really successful year so I still talk that up as a success, even though we didn't get to see it quite through all the way to the end. Due to those unforeseen circumstances, any other type of outreach programs that you do. Yes. So we do a lot of education within the schools as well so we serve eight different counties and we actually have been in at least one school in each of those counties that we serve. So we go mostly into high schools. We do a little bit of education in some middle schools as well, but we are able to provide education. STI's are sexy transmitted infections and prevention of that and then we also discuss birth control methods and just kind of safer sex practices. We touch on consent some independent overall message of getting a comprehensive look at reproductive health education along with that, we did serve on the committee for human growth and development for the Wasit school district just to help kind of sure that their education again was not only comprehensive but to make sure that it's evidence-based and accurate information that's being provided to those students as well. And of course we make sure that we're providing that sort of education regardless of what school district were in or were serving. Have you thought about taking your curriculum that you're using for sixth-graders and taking that to some of the other counties that you cover yet so that is a potential in the future and we are hoping to do that down the road when there is the opportunity to do so. Currently, as if it were just in that Adams friendship school district at this point in time, but we do hope to spread that again in the future. There is a beginner and intermediate and advanced level to each of the lessons you can really tailor it to make sure that it's going to make sense for those students that you're serving at that point in time. Just it seems as though health first network is doing a ton of things. Is there anything that health first network doesn't do someone a large misconceptions and that communities that we serve is that where an abortion provider and that is not a service that we provide is not even the service that we refer for it something and that we are aiming to prevent through access to easy contraceptive services for individuals

Franciscan Spirituality Center
920 Market Street
La Crosse, WI 54601

Steve Spilde: Today it’s my pleasure to welcome Sister Rita Heires. Sister Rita is someone that I’ve had the honor to know for several years. One of the reasons why I am speaking with her today is that Sister Rita is the oldest Sister at Saint Rose Convent. I find Sister Rita to be an amazing person. I always enjoy my visits with her. One of the things I enjoy in visiting with her is her sense of perspective. She’s 93 years old. She was born in 1926. She has actual memories of The Great Depression. She has actual memories of World War Two, especially during this time of the pandemic when this is a very difficult time for folks. Sister Rita has seen a lot of life, and [she’s] seen similar experiences in the past. Without further adieu, I want to welcome Sister Rita Heires.

Rita Heires: Hello.

Steve: Sister Rita, tell me about your family. You grew up in rural Iowa on a farm. Tell me about your family, you siblings, and where you belonged in the family.

Rita: I grew up just on the edge of the little town of Carroll, which at that time had about 5,000 members. My mother and father lived on this farm where we grew up, and the farm was actually my father’s farm. His dad built that house, and just as an interesting aside, it cost $1,600 to build that house. The lumber came from a little neighboring town called Maple River, and it was a lovely house. It was Florentine in style, and [it had] ornate kinds of trim on it. So this is where I grew up, yes.

Steve: And that house was built in about what year?

Rita: It would have to be about 1900, I would say. It’s around that time, yes. My family is composed of eight members, eight siblings, [and] my father and mother, Walter and Rose Heires. My mother’s name was Rose Brooke Heires. We had eight children. The oldest was Dorothy, who became Sister Mary Walter as a Franciscan Sister here at Saint Rose. The second was Helen, who became a Medical Mission Sister from the order in Philadelphia. The next [siblings] were three boys: Carl, Paul, and Donald. And then comes myself and two more boys, Alfred and John. I always call myself “the middle of five boys.”

Steve: In your family there was eight children. Two of your sisters became religious Sisters, so you had that experience. Your family experienced The Great Depression. Your dad was trying to take care of eight kids in the midst of The Great Depression. Both your parents, how did they remain resilient in that very difficult time?

Rita: Everybody was in the same circumstances, which I think gave a sense of support to each other. When the Stock Market broke in ’29, that was a huge loss, and it created a sense of stress on everybody. I think the comforting part was that everybody was in the same circumstances, so no one was poorer, perhaps. I’m sure there was a gradation of poverty, and there were people of great faith. Their faith was very strong to them, and Carroll is a very Catholic town. We always called it the “Sioux City of Iowa.” Sioux City was very, very, very Catholic, as well as Dubuque, [which is] even more Catholic. Iowa has pockets of Catholicity, and [there are] a lot of Methodists, et cetera. We made do with practically anything, and nothing. We always had enough food when we lived on the farm, so it was never a matter of starvation or any kind of poverty that way. But poor in many other ways, we all were. There was scarcity of clothing. We had what we needed, but [we] never let anything go to waste. We had handed down, handed down, handed down, as many families have done in all ages, I think. I would say that my father was always a very serious and burdened man concerned for how to make things mate. And I remember my mother telling me at one time that he said if he just had $1,000 in the bank he would feel so...

Transcription is for SEO purposes only. To find out more about the city of La Crosse please visit their website www.cityoflacrosse.org to find out more about Podcast For Hire please visit PodcastForHire.com

The city vision 2020 podcasts this month featuring Adam Lorentz from the MTU Adam thanks for joining us again a lot of things happening with the MTU this year. I think with any department a lot of things happening. There's been some big impact to our services and then how we operate, but there's also some really good things happening. Well, let's talk about was positive with the MTU. We are actually awarded to additional buttons those buses came as part of the round two of the VW settlement which was a settlement that VW settled with the government for falsifying emission records and we were awarded to hybrid buses. The purpose of the VW mitigation was to take some old boxes that produce a lot of that carbon footprint. Heavy levels of fumes out the bus replace more efficient buses were really thankful that we were one of the year that were awarded to buses and after put our fleet up to 10 new buses by the end of next year. So 10 new buses coming in 2021 Adam what is that mean for the average writer in the city of La Crosse wanted just to be an easy riding on somebody's bus that we had were mundane back from 2001, 2002 and to get those off the road obviously anything new is better. Things like needed a ride can always send this now that the fumes that come from the box you know what the lowly mission titles uniting only minutes about anything with Erica on 1015 20 years ago where you know the joke was that there is a cloud of smoke coming out of the back of the buses, so it's really just user-friendliness of the buses you know some of our new buses are equipped with charging stations for USB charging all the buses now are equipped with an anti-out monitoring system. So the riders can see where the buses are in real time so that they know exactly if the buses can be there in one minute to answer the next buses need and 21 of the things I noticed in the last few years as more and more people are using the bike racks in the front of the buses are the new buses going to be equipped with those, absolutely. Yeah, you know we work with a lot of the local bike advocate groups around the Supercross and they always call us are. That last mile they call it where you know the bike rider you want the life of these great trails throughout the La Crosse but they can get from point a to point B to utilize them variable to use the MTU to get the last mile that the nation absolutely will be bike rack and all the people at diminished abilities to get on and off the buses there any help for that all the buses are ADA equipped so buses can lower light to the curb right to the ground and all the buses are equipped with the motorized ramp. So anybody has something mobility device. We can get them in their we also have securement stations and answer new buses are equipped with more efficient and safer securement stations are people that have such a motorized scooter or wheelchair ramp this your kid against the front of the box so I don't have to worry just not getting on the bus to one third line on the box. They can feel safe and now with their time. The nation think the speaking of safety and a lot of protocols in 2020. That is that in common and I see the bus drivers using them all the time with the masks and stuff do the riders have to wear masks as well when they're on the buses yeah yeah so as to before the government order. We were putting in. Where everybody had to wear a mask on the box and obviously are bus operators are required to the that's really just the tip of the iceberg of what was done here from faculty protocol we spoke last time. The kind of getting started with some of the items but you know me have a fog or any Mr. machine that each sanitize the buses every single day. We have new chemicals that are proven to kill not only the culprit but also the common fluid other types of viruses that our cleaning staff relentlessly goes over the buses. We have used utilize the back door as much as we can to try to stop that close proximity with the bus operators the passengers and talk about positive the vessel on the positives is that we were actually awarded there's money directly to us. The federal government, which allowed us now spent care for the rest the year. So what that does is two things. One is obviously not the interaction with the bus operators that keep that up for something also was handling of cash bears and passes that you don't want to do right now but really certainly it's allowing people that are maybe have been impacted by COBIT feel financially that they know that they don't have to worry about the bus pass at the bus there for that day and month and on all the midst of all the negativity I think that's one positive that's really set out that the MTU for their people in the now obviously there's a cost to a lot of the stuff. How to cite in the getting paid for was funded federally and through the state, then also there's some local share. So on the city La Crosse is a portion that's running contact communities of the Crescent Campbell and I'll have to double that goes into it, but that, but the main course of action are capital purchases such as the buses are equipped for the buses, really. The majority of our purchases are coming gently from federal or state ranked very little amount that is actually charged by PDW and the grant fees tend to buses all or part of a grant and out of our ABL system was part of it to what's the name of the city La Crosse MTU okay so I just researched city of La Crosse and to you one last question. I have Adam's work we find out about what's happening right now, so we really try to make a good effort to keep our website up-to-date kind of right to the city La Crosse not working right on the front page of the transit was also really had an increase on enter Facebook on so we do daily updates there in daily posting to find out that is across the MTU Facebook and then also our app so I talked about a mobile app which is free download for Apple or play or through iTunes and we do updated information on there as well. Really trying to make sure that people have that information. Right then and there is a post that you know back in a row had a newspaper posting now. People That the content and then lastly people that don't have access to those items that can give us a call here rally staff year can visit the fourth, Monday through Friday minutes, occasionally on Saturday morning so that you want to call it that 608-7973 50 will be something in the morning to get more

HealhFirst Network
216 South 3rd Avenue
Wausau, WI 54401
(800) 246-5743

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Jesse Scharfenberg, the CEO of HealthFirst Network. Let's begin with what is health first network. We are a network of clinics throughout north-central Wisconsin that serves individuals usually have lower income with reproductive health services and then with services such as the women infant and children program is about first network for a long time hasn't so we are actually at 47 years old now, so we are created back in 1973 as family-planning health services of Marathon County and as the organization has grown. We went to just family-planning health services and then back in 2016. After I was hired part of my mission and part of coming to health first with developing them new mission bring us forward. So what health services were provided through reproductive health, 40 some years ago. It looks completely different than what healthcare looks like today. The goal is really to move us forward family-planning health services had a lot of negative connotation because some individuals don't like reproductive health services are family-planning services. So going with a more generic name such as health first. Also included are with programs so we were so focused individuals would call and that receptionist is a payment plan health services and some of that. Oh, I thought I was calling the WIC program now is this an individual calls and the answer HealthFirst Network. They understand that we are network of clinics and services that offer many different services, so it's not just reproductive health is not just wickets several service so why was family-planning health services of Marathon County started 40 years ago there was a need for reproductive health services that were affordable for individuals. I know what we charge for services compared to other health care entities in our area and I know what we charge for the specific services is way less than other healthcare entities charge were you see health first network in 510 years from now growing on that part of our strategic plan is to find areas that are deserts for reproductive health care and let's fill in those gaps. That's really what we do is fill gaps and provide access to individuals who don't have access to. So we are looking at the map and figuring out where contraceptive deserts are. That was a term that was new to me when I started 4 1/2 years ago, but there's criteria that considered a contraceptive desert that individuals don't have access to birth control. So how can we help fill those gaps. How can we put clinic locations strategically in areas that don't have access or partner with individuals who are already there to provide better access to the individuals who need services which are typical client depends on the program really so far reproductive health program individuals between 18 and 24 years of age. Usually females that are coming in. They don't have health insurance so we help set them up with health insurance and lower income when looking at the WIC program. I would say we have a wide range of age anywhere from them to 14 up to 45 years of age. Individuals coming in pregnancy or with children that are really struggling to feed their catalysts, and that's one of the great benefits of the WIC program. It is not only do we get by nutrition education for that we also get to provide supplemental food benefits to them on a monthly basis to help feed the kiddos. One of the really cool things about the WIC program compared to that say snapper the food stamps program is we only provide healthy foods so we know that the individuals that are leaving are going to get adequate amounts of calcium and protein in their diet versus just giving them a check and they can buy whatever they want you mission, but there's a different clinics do they have different focuses order. They all basically running the same type program yes. So they different clinics have pretty much the same focus, so our WIC program is only in three of our clinics which would be our Wausau laying late and Tomahawk clinics, and then in all eight of our clinics is reproductive health and the really cool thing about being a network of reproductive health clinics. It doesn't matter which clinic you go to you getting the same set of services. We have the same model of services you can contact in the same way. The nurse practitioners. That is, serve you in the same way is very prescriptive so that if an individual moves throughout the states which we do see a lot of individuals bouncing between clinics to getting the same services and is delivered in the same way. So when you say reproductive services. What is that mean to somebody that just wouldn't go so reproductive health is a conglomeration of different services. Whether it's annual exams. STI testing and treatments, pregnancy testing, contraceptive methods of birth control methods for individuals. One of the big focuses after I came was shifting a little bit from just reproductive health services to more of a preventative focused so, ensuring that individuals come in for those annual exams that they're having some of those general baseline labs drawn every year. The majority of our population doesn't go anywhere else for services. So if were only focusing on reproductive health. There is a pretty large percent of the person that were missing out on so really looking at the whole person care as well as the focus knows of something that's been part of the mission since you been here in the last four years. Results of this but the whole time knows that was part of the changes that were made after I came was to really look at the whole person versus just the very small focus of the reproductive health services only. So we've really looked at making sure that were having individuals come in for those annual exams. We seen a huge increase in male clients, which is great. Our men are coming in quite as frequently for the annual exams has we would like to see them by offering the services to both men and women is extremely important to the services. Are you offering to most of our men are only coming in for STI testing and treatment, but any man can come in for consult. We can do different labs for them. We can do an annual exam for them if they would like to come in, but our main population that we see or serve the 18 to 25 year old. We don't see a lot of men in general. Outside of even health first that are going in for those annual exams between 18 and 25 years and yet be within a certain guideline of income in order to come in now that's one of the best things as there is no income qualifications for the reproductive health program. Anyone with any insurance that they can't pay. If they don't have health insurance. Anyone can walk to the door and were going to serve them with a lot of different opportunities within the reproductive health program for an individual to come in, say, is an undocumented citizen and they don't have any source of income. We can put them on our sliding fee scale and if health is your pain. They don't have to pay for their services, but they can still get those super important services we have that group of individuals that are Wisconsin residents that make less than $20 an hour and we can sign them up for F because it is the family-planning only services waiver program. Part of Medicaid. It covers all of their services that 100%, but we can say have a doctor walk in from a different location and that wants confidential STI testing, but also has private health insurance. We can build that private health insurance as well so we have so many options for individuals of whether they have health insurance. They don't but we can sign them up for something or they just don't have a payer source at all and they don't have to pay for the services that they have

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La Crosse Wisconsin is a great place to work and play lacrosse. Vision 2020 podcast this month featuring Art Fahey from the La Crosse Center.

Franciscan Spirituality Center
920 Market Street
La Crosse, WI 54601

Steve Spilde: Welcome, everyone. Today it is my great honor to welcome John Heagle as my guest. I’ve had the privilege to know John for about 10 years. I first was acquainted to him … He is the presenter for our Spiritual Direction Preparation Program, our weekend entitled “Personal Growth in Faith Development.” John has had a great influence on me and my own personal growth and faith development, so it’s a real privilege for me to join John in conversation today. Thank you.

John Heagle: It’s good to be with you – very much so. Thank you.

Steve: Could you talk about how when you first met with the participants in the Spiritual Direction Preparation Program, how long ago that was, and what your first experience was.

John: I couldn’t give you the exact time. I think I’ve been there four times now, and that would be every other year, so it would be about 10 years ago I think that we began that process – particularly because the topic was one that I felt so comfortable with.

Steve: What are your credentials to talk about that? Where does that come from? I know you as having experience as a priest. I know you have experience as an instructor [and] as a therapist. Talk about your background.

John: I guess I would like to start briefly [with] how I would frame my early life. I grew up with two main elements of energy. One is a very close farm Catholic family. My parents were survivors of The Great Depression, and they got married in 1934 and began farming together on the same land they lived on for 65 years, and that’s where I grew up. They had four boys; I’m the second oldest. There was a lot of boy energy in our house, a lot of physical interaction, a lot of testosterone energy that was there. We were never a perfect family, but [we were] a close family. What I remember in addition to my farm-close family is that I was born in the context of the beginning of the Second World War. Obviously I was too young … I was born in 1938. In November of that year, seven months after I was born is when the famous Kristallnacht happened in Germany when the Nazis began to persecute the Jewish people. I was too young to remember. I was even too young to remember much of Pearl Harbor; I was about three years old. All I remember is my parents being very upset. Only later did I come to understand that that was kind of a background setting that I didn’t become aware of until my adolescent years. I could remember the blackouts, the rationing of gasoline, butter, and sugar. Of course we made our own butter, so that wasn’t a problem with all that. But I just think that was a very important part.

I also remember when you turned six, you officially started helping with the chores in the barn. Also, since mom only had four boys, she also taught us how to cook and clean, so we also learned that. We had to get up before going to school and throw out the sileage and feed the cows, and then go back in and take a bath and catch the school bus. There was this kind of sense of uber responsibility. I know I was raised as kind of a pleaser, to be “a good boy,” and to jump through all the right hoops – not just with my parents, but [also] in school with the sisters and with the whole church part of it, which was also very important. We went to church every Sunday and prayed every day. We had all our meals together because we were working in the field or doing the chores together, so it was that kind of setting, I think, that really helped shape me. I think that’s a very significant influence, anyway. And also, the war part of it got me back into social justice work.

Steve: You grew up in northern Wisconsin, near Menomonie. You became a priest. Can you talk about that journey and at what point that idea entered your mind and kind of the path that led you in...