Couple weaves Red Thread from River Falls

Debbie Griffin River Falls Journal
Published Friday, January 11, 2008

Local residents Tim and Jane Steinmetz use their professional skills in careers at the River Falls Area Hospital but also work to weave strong cloth into Red Thread Charities.

The organization serves the needs of Chinese orphans with training and humanitarian programs.

He’s a doctor and she’s a nurse at RFAH, and the two have made three, three-week trips to China with hopes to return this fall and maybe every year.



Jane Steinmetz encourages the orphanage staff members to take pictures of all the babies as they grow and develop.

The Steinmetzes adopted their daughter Quin from China in 2003. That led them to mission work there in 2005. After that, Danling Cai, who lives in Edina, Minn., contacted them about Red Thread Charities.

They’ve taken kindergartener Quin with them for each trip, and Jane says about their six-year-old on the 16-hour flight: “She’s a great traveler.”

She’s glad for Quin to get exposure to her native culture and learn along with her parents. The family always has an interpreter but is learning bits of Mandarin.


Job of the heart

“Our trips are working trips,” Tim explained.

The first time, they conducted exams to check each child’s medical condition. Orphanages have staff called doctors, but Tim said they don’t have the extensive education or training that a licensed physician or specialist has.

Orphanages run on a small, limited budget that’s never enough, according to the Steinmetzes.

Tim said China has good technology but lacks resources. Access to medical care can be extremely limited, especially in areas far from big cities.

The volunteers trained people and gave talks that some hospital doctors attended.

“We had about 100 people at the one talk we gave…,” he said.

On the last trip, they helped an audiologist friend conduct hearing tests. The couple often spends nights at official dinners with diplomats and hospital heads.

They were excited when a recent trip yielded one official’s commitment to give orphans half-price health care — a significant breakthrough.

The Steinmetzes said they’ve learned a lot about the kids’ lives. Their hearts go out, especially to the “special-needs” orphans.

“They are very, very few physical therapists in China,” said Jane.

Tim said, “After our first trip, we realized what they (kids) really need is physical therapy.”

The couple connected with the Hudson-based Special Children Center, its director Nancy Lawton Shirley and its 13-year pediatric physical therapist, Kiki Dickinson. They all went to China in October, caring for special-needs kids and teaching orphanage staff simultaneously.

For example, orphanage staff wasn’t sure what to do about a boy who cried constantly. The therapists recognized his autism and stopped his crying by placing him on a bouncy ball.

Tim said, “We make a three-year commitment to every orphanage we go to.”

That entails training, equipment and long-distance consultations.

For example, a new child came to one of the orphanages and the doctors had questions, wondered if the boy should be in leg braces. Talking with other physicians and reviewing pictures revealed that the boy would grow out of the condition and doesn’t need braces.


Hard lessons

Jane said the people are kind, hard-working and always willing to listen.

“The Chinese are so ready to learn,” she commented.

She said the one-child limit in China impacts orphanages. Laws don’t allow people to give up babies for adoption. Families face huge, unaffordable fines if they have an additional child.

The choice many make is the only one they think they have: Leave their baby where someone will find it and take it to an orphanage.

The Steinmetzes said that most Chinese generally agree with the one-child policy because of the country’s immense population. About 1.3 billion people live in China, compared to just over 300 million in the United States.

The couple went to one orphanage where the way of life is cold — literally. It has happy people but no heat. It’s below a geographic boundary that dictates which buildings can have heat and which can’t.

“Somebody had to draw a line, and that’s where the line is drawn,” Tim said.

Jane said it’s shocking that the kids and staff literally live and sleep in their coats, bundled with several layers of clothing underneath. She learned and accepted that’s just “how it is” for them.

The charity will be donating money to heat one room of the orphanage, where Jane said the kids can get physical therapy wearing only one layer of clothes.

The couple’s work also helps prevent misdiagnosis and encourage early diagnosis — two things that can really help the kids.


Small world

Jane said about their mission work: “It’s very rewarding for us.”

As Red Thread’s network grows, so does its ability to help.

Jane keeps in touch with many other parents who’ve adopted from the country. While on their first trip, the Steinmetzes’ son, Nick, came along and took lots of pictures.

Jane’s contacted parents who adopted from that orphanage and provided them a baby picture of their child, something many adoptive parents can’t ever get when adopting an older child.

She and Tim examined a baby who was later adopted by people in Madison. Jane said she e-mailed the parents their child’s baby picture and exchanged contact information.

Then she realized that she works at the hospital with the adopted child’s aunt.

Jane said about the connections, “We have a lot of weird, small world stuff like that.”

One little girl the couple examined while in China, ended up adopted and in the same St. Paul dance class as Quin.

The couple said Cai, Red Thread Charities director, makes things happen. They say she’s passionate, organized and well connected. They say she paved the way for all the progress volunteer groups are making to improve the orphans’ quality of life.

Tim sums up his and Jane’s multi-faceted work in China: “Our goal is to help each child do the best they can.”

The Steinmetzes encourage anyone interested in helping or learning more about Red Thread Charities, to log onto its Web site at www.redthreadtour.org or contact Cai at dcai55435@yahoo.com or 952-927-4705 and Cheryl Heley at cwheley@aol.com or 612-743-3810.

Reach Debbie Griffin at dgriffin@rivertowns.net or 426-1048.

http://www.riverfallsjournal.com/articles/index.cfm?id=85625§ion=news&freebie_check&CFID=83235667&CFTOKEN=92910257&jsessionid=8830f42fb5b4555a6311





China-Babies Research