Mission to Buca Bay, Fiji June 8 to 24
Seven dental students and three dental hygiene students recently returned from a mission to provide oral health care in in Buca (pronounced “butha”) Bay, Fiji in the South Pacific. The group included: fourth-year dental students Jason Ballou, Shea Bess, Byron Diehl, Michael Giddings, Todd Schroeder, and Steve Wernick; third-year dental student Nathan Carlson; and dental hygiene studetns Stephanie Sobieski, Emily Springsted, and Joann Grosso.
Dr. Larry Dunford, president of NASDAD and Dr. Marta Kalbermatter served
as preceptors. A feature article will appear in the next issue of Dentalgram.
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| Vatuvonu School staff welcomed the group with garlands of flowers. Pictured with a school staff member (left) are Nathan Carlson, D3, Shea Bess, D4, Emily Springsted, dental hygiene student, Michael Giddings, D4, and Joann Grosso, dental hygiene student. | The waiting area was in the open air, in front of the clinic. Patients signed in from local villages, including Tukavesi, Mereoni, and Suina. |
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| After a long day in clinic, Larry Dunford, president of NASDAD, held staff meetings with the students. | First-year dental hygiene students (from left) Emily Springsted, Stephanie Sobieski, and Joann Grosso confer about a patient. |
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| Dental student Todd Schroeder speaks with a patient’s mother while Devin Tooma looks on. Ms. Tooma supervised the clinic’s busy sterilization room the final week of the trip. | The school held a farewell dinner for Larry and Terri Dunford, and their friends Bobby Ray and Norma Lyons. |
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| Dental hygiene student Stephanie Sobieski cleans a woman’s teeth while her child patiently waits. | Byron Diehl and Steven Wernick treat a patient from a local Fijian village. |
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| The school has a dorm for children too young to be without their parents. The LLU students also slept ina dorm on cots, with mosquito netting. | Dr. Marta Kalbermatter supervised the clinic the second week. Here she is assisted by dental student Nathan Carlson. |
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| Shea Bess, who rallied his classmates to sign up for the mission trip, works with Steve Wernick. |
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