Archive for the ‘Communication’ Category

Guatemala Dental Mission – 2009 was an amazing year!

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

It has now been ten weeks since returning from our Guatemala Dental Trip — 2009 was an amazing year!

Click here to see more photos from our trip.

Our first week was in the Northern Jungle town of El Remate; our second week was in the poor parts of Guatemala city and a kindergarten in a town outside Antigua called Pastores; our third and fourth weeks were spent providing treatment in the Western Highlands in the small remote town of Comitancillo (Comi) in the Department of San Marcos.  There are 60 smaller communities that consider Comi their city centre; many without dirt roads connecting them. In Comi, six dentists were available each day. Patients from small communities within 2-3 walking hours of Comi were designated a particular day for that community to walk to Comi and receive treatment by our three “in-town” dentists.  Farther more remote communities had the other three, “out-of-town” dentists drive to one of them to provide attention to that community for the day. With the donation last year of a gas compressor we were able this year to help previously unserviceable communities without electricity.  We’d awake with the sun and work until dark; exhausting and rewarding.  Even though many people went untreated, many others were taken out of pain because of our efforts.

“There is so much good that can be done in this world and this is just one of those little things we can do.” Trip Leader Dr. Brad Krusky Spring 2008.

These regions are not serviced by other dentists besides our group. The numerous patients with toothaches that waited over a year for someone to help were alleviated of constant pain. The very appreciative 194 men, 545 women, 214 boys and 230 girls were reminded that the treatment we provided was only possible because of support back home. These 1183 patients received 2999 more procedures than would have ever happened in their lives without support.

This year, with one extra week, increased efficiency, more donations & volunteers we provided 42% more patients with 56% more procedures than last year.  Over the past year, a group we work with closely, AMMID (Association Maya-Mam of Research and Development) collected a 15 page petition of signatures and fingerprints, (from those who can’t write), requesting we build a permanent clinic in Comi.  A requested plot of land has been donated by the municipality.  In partnership with AMMID, we have kicked off a campaign to raise the funds to construct and equip the clinic.  The land has passed environmental and engineering studies and excavation plans are underway.

Turn on the volume & see this video from Pastores:

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Guatemala Dental Mission 2008 - Making a Difference

Thursday, October 30th, 2008
It has now been eight months since returning from our Guatemala Dental Trip; a worthy effort.
Click here to see more photos from our trip.
To summarize: two of the three weeks of care were dedicated to providing treatment to the Guatemalan’s of the small remote town of Comitancillo (Comi) in the Department (Province/State) of San Marcos, in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.  There are 60 smaller communities that consider Comi their city center; many without dirt roads
connecting them.  Six dentists were available each day.  Patients from small communities within 2-3 walking hours of Comi were designated a particular day for that community to walk to Comi and receive treatment by our three “in-town” dentists.  Farther communities, accessible by road, had the other three, “out-of-town” dentists drive to one of them to provide attention to that community for the day.  We’d awake with the sun and work until dark.  Even though a lot of people went untreated, many individuals were taken out of pain because of our efforts.  Patients sign up on a list up to one year in advance to receive treatment; this list was almost full for patients requiring attention before we left Guatemala.

“There is so much good that can be done in this world and this is just one of those little things we can do.”  Trip Leader Dr. Brad Krusky Spring 2008

This region is not serviced by other dentists besides our group.  The numerous patients with tooth aches that waited seasons for us to help were alleviated of constant pain because of your efforts.  The 150 men, 411 women, 156 boys and 119 girls who were very appreciative patients were reminded that the treatment we provided was only possible because of support from back home.  These 836 patients received 1920 more procedures than would have ever happened in their lives without your support.  Thank you.

In its fifteenth year of existence the Society for Third World Dental Care will embark on treating its 10,000 patient.  In addition, this registered charity is undergoing a name change to “Dentistry for All”.  We have decided to extend our trip next year by one extra week to provide more care.  We are also currently involved with trying to build a permanent dental clinic in Comi and are attempting to partner with a Canadian-based group to provide medical treatment.

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