04/21/2026
Paul Patenaude - Finding a Way to Serve Others Through Rotary
By Ed Fink
Rotarian Paul Patenaude has a Servant Heart! In a recent “Classification Talk,” given by
Patenaude to his Rotary Club of Madison West Middleton, he shared a bit about his
education, military service, civilian careers and where he has found ways to be of
service to others.
Patenaude’s service bent was nurtured by education and experience. As a young man,
Patenaude studied Criminology and Corrections at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison, graduating in 1970. While a student, Patenaude worked as an orderly at St.
Mary’s Hospital. Not long after graduating from the university, Uncle Sam called his draft
number. Ultimately, Patenaude was deployed to Vietnam as a radio operator with the
Army’s Americal Division, an infantry unit. Paul remarked that carrying a radio was like
wearing a target on your back. Shortly after arriving in country, Patenaude was
wounded by an exploding landmine, earning him a Purple Heart and a continual metallic
reminder of his service by the shrapnel he carries in his body to this day.
Following military service, Patenaude joined the U.S. Postal Service, spending twenty
years until retirement. Next on his agenda was preparing himself for potential volunteer
opportunities. For Patenaude, it entailed enrolling in the nursing program at Madison
Area Technical College (MATC), completing the nursing program, passing his boards
and becoming a registered nurse, all of which culminated in 2006. Patenaude had
experienced being a patient and was continuing to learn how to be a caregiver. The next
step in Patenaude’s plan was getting some hands-on hospital experience, acquired at
the University of Wisconsin Hospital, where he worked as a nurse for three years. In an
interview, subsequent to his Rotary presentation, Patenaude said his real motivation for
enrolling in nursing school, and logging three years in a hospital setting, was a strategy
for becoming a volunteer with a helpful skillset.
Some of the early volunteer opportunities were with the Haiti Medical Mission of
Wisconsin (HMMW). Patenaude traveled to Haiti with the group for six to eight years,
helping out in an area called Thiotte. At some point, Patenaude would discover his
future Rotary Club supported a couple different projects in Haiti, including Thiotte.
Fittingly, while volunteering with the Red Cross, Patenaude encountered Jeannine
Desautels, a fellow nurse and a dynamic Rotarian. Desautels suggested Paul join her
Rotary Club. Twelve years ago, Patenaude signed on with The Rotary Club of Madison
West Middleton, where the motto of all Rotarians is “Service above Self.” Volunteer
opportunities both locally and across the globe are part of what is available to any and
all members looking for a way to be of service. For Patenaude, the Rotary service
adage is more than a nice concept, but evidently his personal call to action.
Upon joining Rotary, Patenaude discovered several of his fellow Madison West
Middleton Rotarians were helping out with medical missions in Guatemala. Over several
years, the Madison West Middleton Rotary Club has offered financial and “boots on the
ground” assistance to the Guatemala Medical Resource Partnership (GMRP), a
501(c)(3) started by a Thiensville Mequon Rotarian, and a signature project of that club.
Rotarian Enrique Gandara, a former member of the Rotary Club of Madison West
Middleton, now residing in Guatemala, has hosted the clinic and its medical travelers at
his ranch in Oliveros, Guatemala.
Paul Patenaude has been on six medical mission trips to Guatemala, often working in
triage alongside other GMRP volunteers. A typical medical mission trip involves
approximately 40 people. They include doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and
translators, Rotarians and non-Rotarians alike. Prospective patients, over the typical 4
1/2 day clinic, line up for hours before the clinic opens each day in space donated by a
local school.
Usually, about 600-700 patients are seen over the course of the several day stay. Many
patients require the attention of multiple caregivers and a pharmacy visit as well.
When specialized care is needed, the mission is able to make referrals to a hospital
elsewhere in the country. Patenaude has usually worked in triage on these mission
trips.The nearest Guatemalan doctor for those living in Oliveros is in Chiquimulila,
twenty miles away from Oliveros. Since the typical modes of travel are on a motor bike
or by foot, getting to Chiquimulila can be problematic, adding to the importance of
medical and dental care coming to Oliveros itself.
Many years ago, at one of these Guatemalan medical missions to Oliveros, Madison
West Middleton Rotarian Jeannine Desautels found that many of the children weren’t in
school because they couldn’t afford books, uniforms and transportation, though tuition
was free. Instead of being in school, several young people were working in the
sugarcane fields. Learning this, Desautels passed the hat and enough money was
raised to send three children to school. With continued support from the Rotary Club of
Madison West and other donors, the Oliveros Scholarship Fund, a 501(c)(3)
organization was founded. Now, after at least nineteen years, OSF provides 60
scholarships to middle and high school age students and 20 university scholars.
Each year, Rotarians and other Oliveros Scholarship Fund volunteers travel to Oliveros,
where they meet with parents and then interview the prospective scholarship students.
Paul Patenaude has also been involved in some of these interviews.
If you too have a Servant Heart, come check out your local Rotary Club and see what it
offers!
Want to learn more about Rotary and how to become a member? Contact
[email protected]" rel="ugc" target="_blank">[email protected]
Paul Patenaude Mary Van Hout Mary Feldt Abby Benbow Aune & Associates Inc, American Family Insurance Pleasant View Golf Course
