Covenant News

Saturday Concert to Benefit Iowa Heart Patient

MASON CITY, IA (May 19, 2004) - First Covenant Church will host a benefit concert at 7 p.m. Saturday to support a parishioner needing funds to pay for extensive heart surgeries.

Dave Olson experienced a massive heart attack last December and has been hospitalized in various facilities ever since. He received a mechanical heart April 1 to help him survive while awaiting a suitable donor. He is staying at an apartment near Fairview-University Medical Center in Minneapolis while receiving therapy and recovering from extensive surgery, according to a recent story written by the Mason City Globe Gazette daily newspaper.

According to First Covenant pastor Tammy Swanson-Draheim, Olson has experienced heart problems in the past, although the December episodes were the most troubling. Swanson-Draheim said that there were many incidents during the winter where doctors at Mason City's Mercy Hospital wondered if he would survive. Olson also spent time in a Des Moines hospital - a specialist performed an innovative procedure - before the family headed to Minneapolis this spring. Right now, Olson's heart damage has been so great that the organ only functions at 15 percent of its capacity.

The Olsons have been in the community for a long time and have been deeply involved in many things. Mary Jean works at a school that assists special needs students and Dave has driven a school bus in the area for many years. As Olson's plight became known, the close-knit First Covenant and Mason City communities have responded in a variety of ways.

Mason City has a population of about 30,000, but there are as many or more living in the outlying areas as people commute an hour or more to work at a large community college and at Mercy Hospital, two of the city's largest employers. "We've had a 'You've Got To Have Heart' committee that has handled the benefit concert and has alerted all of the local radio stations," said Swanson-Draheim. "Local businesses have posted the flyers and have put out jars so people can give money to the cause. A local bank has also opened a trust fund for people who wish to help."

Along with coordinating the upcoming benefit concert, the church has helped by providing transportation for the Olson's two children and caring for them at times while Dave's wife, Mary Jean (known as M.J.), traveled to the hospital. Swanson-Draheim has received many monetary gifts earmarked for the Olsons during her six months as pastor of the church and she knows that many other acts of kindness have gone on behind the scenes.

"It's been very heartwarming to watch," she said of her church's care for the Olsons. "There's a passage in John 13:34-35 about how 'they will know we are his disciples by the way we love one another,' and this church is living that out in a profound way. The church is really enjoying helping the Olsons and they are excited to see how the community has responded. It's encouraging."

For more information on the benefit concert or ways in which individuals can assist this project, call the First Covenant staff at 641-423-6359. To read more of Olson's story, visit the Globe Gazette website at www.globegazette and enter the name First Covenant Church in the website search engine.

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