1000Smiles2010 Day 10

Day 10

Today was our first day with the new group in the Maroon Town clinic. I felt a bit disheartened because we saw quite a few less patients today. The bottom line was that on a new day, in what was a new clinic for most everyone aside from Tina and I, it takes a minute to acclimate yourself to your new surroundings and new people . And it was also the first volunteer trip for a lot of the people in our group. I was just so used to the AWESOME groove that TEAM AWESOME had :) :) :)

Sandy and Steph are rockin the sterilization duties, I’m working with Leslie doing restorative work, Tina is teamed up with Jim doing the complicated/ surgical extractions and the Ohio State guys, Ben, Brandt, Brad, Jon and Loc are working with each other doing a little bit of everything. They’ll be joined by a faculty from OSU tomorrow. Again we have the FABULOUS Nurse Winsome and the lovely Ministry of Health ladies. And those ladies seem to be extra chipper today with the addition of the guys to the clinic :)

It took a while to get re-established after last week, then we started and the flow felt good again. Music, singing, super loud generator, teeth shuckin’, composite a’ flowin.

The dental nurse and the ladies of the Ministry of Health were super excited to have us back again this week. I had some time to sit down with them and they told me how truly happy they are that we are up in Maroon Town providing care for people who are in such need. It made me really emotional to hear her tell of all the people she knows personally that go through so much pain when they have had dental problems. Debbie, from the Ministry of Health told me how excited all of her friends were that we were going to be staffing the clinic for one more week. The word definitely got around over the weekend, and as a result our waiting rooms were packed and then some when we arrived today.

On the way home the ladies shared with us some salted banana chips and fresh picked avocado from Maroon Town. Seriously the best avocado I’ve ever had J These went really well with our Red Strips J While we were in the store buying beer for the trip home there was a bolt of lightning and a loud crash of thunder. The woman behind the counter literally dropped to the floor. Unfortunate to know that even in the distant hills of Maroon Town fear of gun shots are still a concern. The good ending to that story is that we had a laugh about it with the woman, then she pointed out that she had a broken front tooth that she really wanted to have fixed. We told her to stop in tomorrow.

Back at home it was beach party night, food and drinks on the beach, some entertainment, then an early night for me. Although we didn’t see a ton of patients the days are exhausting none the less.

There is a feeling of constantly being ‘on’ and around people all the time. Not having some personal space and quiet moments to myself can feel really taxing. So tonight I’m tucking in early :)