Poisonous frogs, snakes and spiders couldn’t keep Dr. Linnea Smith from the Amazon. After falling in love with its beauty, she decided to stay and open a clinic there. 

Linnea has been in the Dane County area since 1975 and some might remember her from her flower shop, the Sunshine Store in Cross Plains. She closed that some years later and earned her medical degree, then began practicing at Sauk Prairie Healthcare clinic in Prairie du Sac. 

Curious to see the plants where many medicines came from, Linnea traveled to Peru in 1990. After her week’s stay was up, she applied for a leave of absence from her job and eventually just stayed to open a clinic close to Iquitos, Peru, which she described as the largest city with no paved roads. 

Linnea shared pictures of the houses there, built on stilts to allow the flooded river to pass below. Seasons are measured by water levels there, and when snow in the  Andes begins to melt, the river rises. 

Its course also changes, and the first clinic there eventually had to be moved and later rebuilt in another location. 

That was in 2009, and the new clinic has solar panels. It was built with donations, including with one Rotary Club’s help. 

Linnea practiced medicine in the Amazon for about 35 years treating burns, snake and spider bites, administering tetanus and other vaccines, caring for machete wounds and a number of other wounds and illnesses. She still knows some of her patients from 35 years ago, some who would not be alive today without the clinic. 

In the Amazon, all cooking is done over a fire in a kitchen separate from the house, she said, so if a fire ignites, the home can be spared. But, burns are more common, and women, who do most of the cooking and can spend several hours a day in the kitchen, tend to develop COPD. 

Today, Linnea spends less time there and more time in the Dane County area, but because of satellite technology and wifi, she can communicate with others to help oversee the clinic.

The clinic received nonprofit status in 1997, and is funded almost entirely through donations although Linnea began it with her own savings and a little equipment from Sauk Prairie Healthcare.

Asked what has kept her there, she noted the “rainforest is magical.”

“I have a love for this place,” she said. 

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Other News:

• Jim Elvekrog is planning to attend the Madison Downtown meeting May 7 when Mark Maloney, Rotary International Foundation Chair, will be the guest speaker. To register, no later than May 2, visit rotaryoffice@rotarymadison.org or call (609 255-9164.  The buffet lunch starts at 11:30 and the meeting is from 12:10 to 1:05. Jim is willing to drive if you’d like to ride along. 
• The club thanked the volunteers who helped with spring clean-up day, including Ken Pesik, Jennifer Tasker, Tracy Graber, Tom Kennedy, Bill Kennedy and Jim O’Brien.
• President Phil Willems attended the district convention where the club received recognition for its contribution to the End Polio fund. Phil said it’s close to being eradicated, with just a few cases left in Afghanistan.
• The Kentucky Derby Party is Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Lamphouse.  

Guests: Kate Shaw, guest of the club and helper at Rotary Clean-up Day; Dr. Linnea Smith and Gerald Goth, guests of the club; Sean Kleinwolterhk, guest of Ken Pesik; Noah Gear, guest of Kevin McDonald; Brett, guest of Paul Knutson; Ken Pesik, guest of Neal Kruschek.

Birthdays: May 13, Sarah Bonk.

Anniversaries: May 8, Todd and Tonya Schmidt

What’s for Lunch: May 8, pepper steak with rice; May 15, lasagna with bread.

Greeters: May 8, Tracy Graber and ??; May 15, Chris Zellner and ??; May 22 ???

Programs: May 8, Cade Reddington Foundation/opioid crisis; May 15, Create Waunakee Inc. and Especially Strrtopwafel.

To sign up to greet or to find out if you are greeting, visit: 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805054CAAAA2CA7F85-44320149-2023#/