Local ice creamery gives away to give back

By Stephanie Casanova, photos by Robert Alcaraz

Seven-year-old Melina Gomez lay in a hospital bed on Sunday eating chocolate ice cream from HUB and singing a song about macaroni. Before Sunday, Melina hadn’t eaten or said much since her brain surgery on July 31.

“There’s a lot of things that she did today that she has not done and we didn’t think she was going to do,” said Erica Maciel, Gomez’s mother.

Melina was at the top of her class and read above her grade level according to Maciel. What Maciel thought would be a simple visit to an eye, nose and throat doctor led to an unusual discovery, she said. Apart from having to use glasses and being 100 percent deaf in her left ear, Melina, who never showed signs of having cancer, also had a tumor on the right side of her brain.

Since she got to the hospital on July 31, Melina has had two brain surgeries after facing complications on the first one. Maciel said until Sunday, Melina seemed depressed because she couldn’t do everything she used to do. Things like reading and drawing remind her of home in Oracle and make her sad, her mother added.

On Sunday, Kade Mislinski, owner of HUB restaurant and ice creamery, his girlfriend Jenny Rice and two of his employees visited UAMC’s Diamond Children’s Medical Center to give kids, their families and the staff ice cream on the house.

“As soon as she heard ice-cream her eyes lit up,” Maciel said. “She was trying to get out of the bed by herself already.”

Mislinski has made it a tradition to take the kids at the hospital ice cream the first Sunday of every month. August was Mislinski’s sixth month cheering up not only the kids at the hospital but also the nurses, who look forward to working on Sundays.

“Sometimes we have kids that never get up for anything and they come out (for ice-cream) and … the therapists and the nurses really appreciate that,” Mislinski said.

Kids are given the choice between chocolate or vanilla ice-cream and a selection of toppings like whipped cream, sprinkles, nuts and caramel, strawberry or chocolate.

Aimee Brown, a manager at HUB, volunteered at the hospital for the first time Sunday. Brown said she’d wanted to for a while but usually worked at the restaurant on Sundays. She enjoyed doing something different with the end of her weekend, she added.

“It’s nice to give back to the community because Tucson’s been so great to us,” Brown said. “It’s so good to give them something simple to make them happy.”

Javonte Palmer went to the hospital Saturday when he fell off a bike and ruptured his spleen. The 9-year-old boy enjoyed a cup of vanilla ice cream with strawberries on Sunday. Palmer had just been moved down from the sixth floor, where kids with more serious illnesses are kept.

Lori Mitts, a part-time child-life specialist who has worked at UAMC for two years, said she appreciates Mislinski, his girlfriend and his staff for volunteering their time once a month. Mitts’ job is to help kids cope with their illness, and works on psychosocial issues with the children with the goal of lowering their stress level to avoid complications and trauma.

“We try to help normalize their stay so bringing ice-cream to the hospital is a treat,” Mitts said. “Everybody that I told that the HUB was bringing ice-cream today had huge smiles on their face.”
While the ice cream comes at no charge, Mislinski said the hospital has repaid him in the past.

Mislinski’s 20-month-old son was born at UAMC and was also treated for respiratory syncytial virus when he was 8 weeks old. The virus causes infection of the lungs and breathing passages. Mislinski added that being a father contributes to making their visits worthwhile.

“It’s just two parents that make ice-cream,” Mislinski said. “It’s really about us parents giving back to them. It just makes me feel good doing it.”