KAPAA — You can call Mario Lott a lot of things. Some might call him the singing registered nurse, for example. Or a skilled, hard-working guy with a propensity to grow edible flowers. All of the above are true for
KAPAA — You can call Mario Lott a lot of things.
Some might call him the singing registered nurse, for example.
Or a skilled, hard-working guy with a propensity to grow edible flowers.
All of the above are true for the 50-year-old traveling nurse, green thumb and owner of Haumea Home Health.
“People on Kauai live a long time. We need to take care of them,” said Lott, a father of eight children and 10 grandchildren, who has a knack for growing fresh produce along with flowers made for eating.
“The taste of the edible flowers reminds me of when I would suck honeysuckle out of the flowers when I was a kid,” said Lott with an infectious laugh.
Seven years ago, Lott switched from island living in the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean when he moved from St. Thomas to Kauai.
“I got tired of problems relating to work ethics in St. Thomas,” he said, adding he practically lived in the water when he wasn’t working at area hospitals, nursing homes and juvenile facilities on the island.
Lott got his start in the nursing field while serving in the Army. His tour included Desert Storm and South Korea, where one of his first duties was delivering the baby of a soilder’s wife.
“I thought I was going to be saving soldiers from gunshot wounds, not delivering babies,” said Lott.
Today, Lott helps care for babies who are either developmentally delayed or had a traumatic injury. He teaches their mothers home care, so they can keep the newborns’ airways open. But the range of home health care needs runs the full gamut, from inserting catheters in patients of all ages, packing and wrapping wounds, doing medication setups and more.
His contingency of 40 medical professionals kept busy around the clock. And they were kept even busier when Lott suffered a life-threatening stroke in May 2013.
While in a coma for two weeks, it became necessary, prior to brain surgery, to remove a couple of Lott’s treasured dreadlocks, which measured three feet long each and took 14 years to grow — a minor sacrifice for the operation that saved his life.
Before the hospital trauma, Lott said he lived his life fully and continues to do so, but there is one other noticeable change which he said is difficult to talk about.
“I’ve learned to love more,” he said.
That loving includes singing in his Barry White baritone voice to those who are homebound and need medical care. And on occasion, Lott has been known to leave behind freshly picked goodies from his garden on those medical, musical visits.
If you know a person you would like to see featured in The Garden Island who is lokomaikai (generous, giving), email Lisa Ann Capozzi at lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com
