Hello everybody, and welcome back to another installment of Rosa’s Beat. We are officially back after a break of sorts, and are ready to talk again about what Rosa has been doing over the past couple of months. Rosa has gone many places and has made headway in her fight against her injury. One place that she went was Stomp.
Stomp is a musical performance that highlights percussion used in music. Rosa went with the Olathe Northwest students to view the miraculous performance. At the performance, drums seemed to be the largest and most exciting piece, and everyone enjoyed the performance. The event was held at the Kauffman Center, so it was a fun and convenient location for the performance. Another major event that Rosa and John went to was the Olathe Northwest graduation.
The Olathe Northwest graduation was an exciting event for Rosa and John. They were happy to attend the monumental event in honor of the students at Olathe Northwest. During the special event, they were presented with a personalized conducting baton from all of the kind people at Olathe Northwest. Rosa was then crowned ‘Director Emeritus’ in honor of her help with the music program. Rosa and John also were gifted with a donation from all of the students and faculty at Olathe Northwest. Overall, it was a great event for Rosa and John to attend.
Rosa and John are very thankful for all of the donations that they have received. You can rest assured that your money is being put to good use. In fact, the money is being utilized to decrease the time that Rosa and John have to spend on the road to recovery. One way the money is being used is on Home Health Care. This is a fundamental service that the duo needs, and it is being covered thanks to you, the donors. Additionally, John and Rosa also bought an application that allows Rosa to talk to her computer, and for the computer to dictate what she said. This tool is very important to Rosa, as she is now able to send text messages and emails to her friends and family. Also, the money has gone towards in-home modifications that have increased the standard of living for both Rosa and John. The main renovation that they have made is altering the bedroom so that it is now wheelchair accessible. Even though the renovations on the house have been good, they are unfortunately temporary. Both Rosa and John are looking for more long-term solutions and fixes. The musical tag team also plans to donate their time to the Olathe Northwest music department. Rosa will be able to interact with the students there, while John will be able to alter the influential instruments critical to having a great band like Olathe Northwest does.
We’d like to thank you for dropping by and reading up on how Rosa and John are doing. We would also like to give a big thanks to Olathe Northwest for all of the help you have given to Rosa and John. Please be encouraged to donate to the fund for Rosa and John; whatever you can give really does help them on the road to recovery. From all of us at Rosa’s Beat, thanks for supporting John and Rosa.

Hello everybody! We are delighted to report that Rosa is doing fantastic during both rehab and in her transition to try to get back to a normal life. She is grateful of all of the donations that have been received but she is still a long way from being 100% recovered. However, there is another event to help Rosa in her recovery. Penny Snead and the band staff of Shawnee Mission are hosting their band festival next Tuesday at Shawnee Mission East High School at 7:00 pm. At this event they will be collecting donations for Rosa’s Beat. Ken and Kathy McMullen will be speaking on behalf of Rosa at this amazing event. Not only would it be a good idea to go and represent Rosa’s Beat, but I’m sure a great concert will also be but on as well! Thank you to all of Rosa’s supporters, you are all greatly appreciated. We may be gone but the beat goes on.

Hello everybody! The beat is back now, and we are delighted to report that Rosa is doing better than ever with her transition into her regular life. She is still in the process of moving back into her house, but is making monumental progress day by day.

We are very grateful for all the donations that the Rosa’s Beat Foundation has received. We would like to honor a few special donors that have given their time and resources to Rosa’s recovery. We give our best thanks to Ben and Susan Melling. They have been so generous as to donate a van, which is extremely beneficial.  Please continue to donate to the fund, which you can find a link to on this website. Even though Rosa is making lots of progress, she still has a long and treacherous road to recovery. Whatever you can give really does help the revival of Rosa’s original life, so please do remember to donate to this excellent cause. Thanks to Dr. Poss and the Olathe Northwest Band Community, along with the entire Olathe Northwest Community, Music Department: Tim Starks and Robert Davis; Culinary Department: Loretta Shull for Chili and embellishments; ArtDepartment: Tim Barnes for Chili Bowls for the hugely successful Rosa Bowl event! We are so grateful for their diligence in making this event a success. 

It is with much gratitude that we also give special recognition to Laura Murphy and her extended care by creating a “care calendar” where people can log on and sign up to bring meals to the Bussards on Tuesday and Thursdays.  Simply go to www.carecalendar.org and log in with calendar ID 131143 and security code 6462.

Thank you all for the support you have given Rosa, and hopefully next time Rosa will be doing even better. Have a nice day!

It has been awhile since the information on Rosa and John has been updated. However, I sincerely hope this finds everyone rushing into the holidays with the same spirit and determination they have exhibited as they give so generously of their time, their monetary support and their consistent help in making the obstacles to Rosa’s recovery become less and her quality of life to improve. She and John have very; very full days addressing transportation, housing, paperwork, rehabilitation, health and a multitude of other associated tasks that have daunted many people in similar situations. The support received from your ongoing personal and monetary endeavors provides them with daily motivation to stay focused and intent on their goal to overcome these seemingly insurmountable tasks.

Rosa is attending rehabilitation therapy sessions four to five days a week where she is pushed to the limit on a daily basis.  Although she returns home totally exhausted, she worries that other daily demands will inhibit her progress. She and John have, as anyone reading this can readily understand, won the hearts of everyone at the Kansas City Rehabilitation Institute. Their determination, positive attitude, and labor are an inspiration for the staff and the other patients.  That same focused attention finds Rosa showing daily progress and improved mobility that is to them the greatest reward for the intensity of their efforts. She now has progressive movement in her arms and wrists, her left side and is gaining more feeling in her right leg. One might note that she also manages her wheelchair quite well and is no longer a danger to others when she is in a crowd. They are faced with additional barricades to progress as they seek the purchase of proper transportation and attempt to return to their home (they have been living in a leased apartment since her return from Craig) and address the need to renovate or move. Neither of those is an inviting task. John is becoming an expert healthcare provider, a great paperwork expediter, and a master of time management!

John and Rosa have managed to find time to attend a few functions at Olathe Northwest High School and are always ecstatic when the return because of the reception from students, staff and parents during  their visit. They set aside a day to attend the City of Olathe’s Disability Expo where they met with Mark Cameron who inspired them to continue and who was highly impressed with their teamwork and progress. It was the beginning of what promises to be a mutual friendship.

It is a time of year to visit our fortunes and to truly count our blessings. John and Rosa, their family and friends, myself and Jean and our family, have discovered that there are still those who emulate what true good exists in this world and we have been humbled by that discovery.

OlatheNorthwestHigh School is a model for what teamwork really means in education. The students, administration, teachers, parents and all staff members have displayed care beyond all expectations and have taken continued action to provide support for John and Rosa during this crisis. Dr. Poss, Tim Starks, and Robert Davis have from day one provided personal and group efforts to alleviate some of the physical, institutional, mental and monetary challenges to John and Rosa as they concentrate on their progress. Tim Barnes and his ceramics class as well as the teachers and students and staffs who filled the bowls with chili and apple crisp and set the tables were the epitome of congeniality at the Rosa Bowl. And I digress, which I have a tendency to do when I am emotionally impressed with the outcome of human (educational) proof of excellence. Hopefully this update will find everyone as jubilant as we are with Rosa’s progress,

Rosa’s Beat

October 27, 2012

Hello all! Welcome to another post on Rosa’s Beat! We have some exciting news to bring to you today – a fundraiser announcement from The Olathe Northwest Performing Arts/Visual Arts/Family and Consumer Science Departments. This event is called The Rosa Bowl! At the event, you will be able to enjoy a hearty bowl of chili and sizzling apple crisp topped with a frosty scoop of yummy ice cream. While you are filling your stomach to the brim with scrumptious food, the Olathe Northwest Orchestra, Band, Choir and Theatre students will provide stunning performances. The event will be held at the Olathe Northwest commons on Thursday November 29th from 5:30 – 7:30pm. Tickets are $20.00, and in addition to the yummy food, you will get a free hand-made chili bowl for attending!

Tickets can be purchased from an Olathe Northwest band member or from Bob Davis (rdavisonw@olatheschools.org). You must have your tickets purchased by November 20^th … so don’t wait!  The goal is to have 400 attendees, so please invite friends and family. You can also let your friends and family know you are attending on Rosa’s Beat Facebook page.  We would love to “beat” the goal to help out Rosa! 

For all those that have previously contributed, we extend a gracious thank you. All of your donations are appreciated, and Rosa is putting them to good use.  For Twitter fans, you can now follow Rosa @rosasbeat!  Until next time, keep up the Beat! 

Welcome back everybody! John and Rosa are once again back in Lee’s Summit. They are all settled in to their new apartment. Rosa has gotten an amazing opportunity to interact with some of her very gracious students. The students are pitching in with Home Depot to construct a ramp that will allow Rosa to access her home. We are happy to note that John and Rosa are getting settled and excited to be back in Lee’s Summit.We would like to send our thanks to none other than Rosa’s students from ONW as well as Home Depot for providing their services to build the ramp for Rosa’s house. We would also like to thank all of the staff at Craig Hospital for helping with John and Rosa’s transition. Without them we would not be this far along in the process of recovery. We would also like to send out big thanks out to all of the donors to the trust. Truly anything you can give helps, and your donations are greatly appreciated.

Rosa is going to try to start tweeting!  She did a few tonight, so go ahead and sign up to follow Rosasbeat on Twitter if you haven’t already so you can hear the tweeting of the beat!  http://twitter.com/rosasbeat  Her first tweet was a big congrats to ONW for their stellar performance at K-State.