HUMANITARIAN TRIP

By HEATHER SMATHERS
BULLHEAD CITY – A group of local business leaders, doctors and dentists are heading out for a humanitarian trip to Costa Rica in January.
The group of six will visit the tiny village of Jorco and will perform medical and dental exams for the villagers, and the seasonal visitors who pick coffee.
“After going to Central America earlier in the year, I realized there was so much more we could do to help the people out,” said Dana Kern, owner of the Firehouse Coffee Company and Roaster and organizer of the trip. “I came back and wanted to get a group together to go during the prime coffee-picking season to help out the pickers.”
Exams will be offered to both villagers and coffee pickers, many of whom will travel from Panama and Nicaragua for the season. Exams will include blood pressure and blood sugar checks, and screens for respiratory problems and diabetes. Basic CPR, first-aid and hygiene lessons also will be offered.
Traveling with Kern, who also is a paramedic with the Bullhead City Fire Department, will be his wife, Karen, serving as a dental assistant; Dr. Rob Sturms, DDS; Adriana Bauer, RN; David Vierthaler, RN; and Alice Cummins.
Each person is paying their own way to Costa Rica, where the group will stay at the coffee plantation.
“I’m really excited,” Cummins said. “This will be my first trip to Costa Rica and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Kern said he planned the excursion because he believes it is the right thing to do. He said he tries to think globally by purchasing organic and free trade coffees from Central and South America, and by helping the people picking the coffee.
“I believe that if I recycle and use organic coffees and try and help the people who are picking the coffee, that the people will be paid back in other ways,” he said.
The group will be gone from Jan. 17-23.

SOURCE:http://thecostaricanews.com/