Let's Give Rick a Lift

This morning's post is aimed directly at readers who know my former colleagues and longtime friends,  Rick and Ann Gehring.

Please read the story below. Do whatever you can do to help spread the word about this fund drive [send emails/direct folks to the website listed in the story, etc.]and help show support for the Gehrings.  

Your efforts will be much appreciated. Thank you.  And, Happy Mother's Day to all mothers.

Donation Drive for Retired SHS Math Teacher Rick Gehring

Special to the Bee

By Marianne Love

For nearly three decades, math teacher Rick Gehring and his classes dominated the annual holiday food-drive competition at Sandpoint High School. 

Each year before Christmas vacation, individual classrooms of students and their teachers competed with one another, formulating strategies for gathering and loading up tons of food and toys bound for the Bonner County Food Bank and the Lions Toys for Tots.

Even though Rick’s classes usually won the spirited competition, everyone involved viewed the activity as a win-win situation. Students learned the art of giving.  And, families in need throughout the county enjoyed an extra boost during the holiday season.

Besides his ability to inspire his students with humanitarian goals, Rick also distinguished himself both locally and nationally as one fine math teacher.

The common saying among his students was that Mr. Gehring knew how to explain mathematical principles in a way that they could understand.  He also constantly inspired them to reach toward high levels in their learning.

This encouragement and good teaching led toward Sandpoint High School’s domination of district, regional and state math competitions under his tutelage. Also, after graduating from high school, Mr. Gehring’s students moved on to topnotch universities and excelled in math-related fields.

Rick was honored several times for his teaching abilities and dedication---including the Presidential Award for Math and Science teaching.

Throughout his career at Sandpoint High School, Rick helped his students, the community and his colleagues (including coordination of a fundraiser for a fellow staff member recovering from a brain tumor).

Now, this gifted and much-admired retired teacher could use a little help himself.

On Feb. 7, he suffered a massive stroke while he and his wife Ann were in Palm Beach, Fla., set to take off on a cruise through the Panama Canal with their Sandpoint friends, Allan and Debbie Koski.

He was immediately transported from the condo where they were staying to nearby St. Mary’s Trauma Center. He was initially administered a clot-busting drug which, at first, appeared to be working well.  Soon, though, when his condition suddenly deteriorated, doctors realized the need for angioplasty to clear a blockage.

“Unfortunately, it meant the stroke was very serious,” Rick’s wife, Ann Gehring says. “The damage was to his left brain, so his right side and speech were affected.”

Further early treatment included a medically-induced coma, which lasted for three weeks.  In addition, his recovery has been hindered by several infections.  Progress is “excruciatingly slow,” says Ann Gehring, “but it is progress.”

On March 1, Rick was moved to Kindred Hospital – The Palm Beaches, a long-term acute care facility, where he is undergoing rehabilitation.

“He has a tracheotomy. He is on a feeding tube, and he is unable to walk or talk,” according to his wife. On Easter Sunday he could sit up by himself, with help; he could lift his right leg and had some strength in his right arm.

“His speech therapy has been the slowest, ironically [he has always referred to his ‘gift of gab’], but he is not getting it back very quickly,” Ann added. “ . . . just now, starting to make sounds . . . it is very frustrating for him . . . .”

This past week he was again moved to Bethesda Memorial Hospital Cornell Institute in Boynton Beach, Fla., for more intense therapy.

With many months of rehabilitation ahead, Ann, the Gehring children, Kristen, Natalie and John, would like to move Rick closer to home, specifically to North Idaho Advanced Care in Post Falls.

“My goal is to have him home by Memorial Day,” Ann says.

Options for transporting Rick from Florida to North Idaho, all  involve expensive price tags, not covered by insurance or Medicare.  Costs range from $15,000-$30,000.

This move will occur when Rick can be without a sitter for 12 hours.  At this point, because of two falls from his bed, he still needs someone sitting with him 24 hours.

In the meantime, the family looks toward a time when he can return to Idaho.   

 

Doctors estimate he has at least four more months of intense therapy.  

“Mom is racking up bills left and right,” explains Natalie Gehring Auth,  “and she knows the whole thing is going to cost money, but if she can get him home so she doesn't have the cost of her living down there anymore, it would help them.”

In hopes of helping with Rick’s transportation costs, the family has set up accounts where individuals can donate to a “Rick and Ann Gehring Fund” at Panhandle State Bank or at an account under the same name at any Wells Fargo bank in the United States.

A website http://rickgehring.com/ has also been set up where people can donate online via a paypal button [it is not necessary to have a paypal account to donate].  

Get-well cards can be sent to Rick Gehring, 408 West Oden Bay Drive, Sandpoint, ID 83864.

Ann would like to thank the many community members, friends and family who have already reached out through cards, calls, gifts and even a cell phone with a plan.

“My story is incomplete without addressing all the good things that have happened since the initial horrible event,” she says. “We decided we needed to start keeping track of all the good things.  It is nearly impossible to list them all. The moral support I have received  . . . is unfathomable.”