2010 In Review

Much hard work went into the completion of the 2010 GreatShape! Inc. project. Passing along the totals from Papa Joe. Congrats and cheers to my fellow OneLovers, may the love and hope you have spread come back to you tenfold!


1000 Smiles Dental Project Report 2010

Overview

In its eight history making year, the 1000 Smiles Dental Project once again lived up to the standard of world class humanitarianism that has become the hallmark of Great Shape! Inc. Made possible by the unsurpassable support of Sandals Foundation, Great Shape! was once again empowered to sustain and even grow the world’s largest international humanitarian dental program.

A record breaking 225 volunteers, from all across the USA, Canada, Jamaica and, yes, even Norway put their expert knowledge and skills to work making life even just a little bit better for 15,000 plus ordinary Jamaicans in great need of dental care. What is the definition of hero? “To leave ones home and even country, to spend your own money, to leave your job and family, to travel to a far away place, to help relieve suffering and pain, to give someone back their God given smile, to lovingly serve children and adults whose names you may never even know”. That is the definition of hero. That is the definition of One Love.

It was an exceptional year by any measure. Here are a few numbers to tell the story:

1. Over 15,000 Jamaicans benefited from this year’s program across 3 parishes:
St.Ann, St. James and Hanover
2. 13 portable rural dental clinics were set up in MOH clinics, schools and churches
3. 4,301 patients received a total of 7,930 free clinical procedures, including:
a. 1418 cleanings
b. 1511 fillings
c. 3676 extractions
d. 1325 sealants
4. 10,150 students receive free and fun oral health education sessions complete with
toothbrushes, paste and floss when available. Over 11,000 free brushes were
distributed.
5. 74 basic and primary schools across three parishes were included in the education
program
6. 1.77 Million USD value in services were delivered
7. 1 life changed at a time

NEW in 2010:

In 2010, with the support of the Sandals Foundation and the Jamaican Ministry of Health, we launched a new and history making dental sealant project in the Parish of Hanover. The grand vision is to cut cavities in half across the Island of Jamaica by seeing that every child gets sealants and fluoride at the right time and in the right way. Our pioneering team of dentists, hygienists and helpers launched both a scientific study on the efficacy of sealants and topical fluoride in the parish of Hanover and a school based oral health care program that is intended to become a model for the rest of Jamaica to learn from. A separate report on this exciting new program will be released soon.


Patterson Dental Sponsors A Jamaican For World Class Training:

Richard Cameron, a humble young man from Ocho Rios, has been working very hard for the last 6 years with Great Shape! as our in-country dental equipment technician. Now, thanks to Bob Pattillo who is a Great Shape! Board Member and Patterson Dental Sales Rep, Richard will be going to Seattle for a 9 month training program with Patterson Dental that will teach him the state of the art techniques in equipment installation and repairs. A giant thank you goes to Patterson Dental for this life changing opportunity for Richard and for building capacity within the people of Jamaica to care for their own. Thanks to Kelliann for countless hours of help.

Supporting Jamaican Dental Staff:

In 2010, Great Shape provided equipment and repairs to several dental clinics in support of those Jamaican Dental nurses, assistants and dentists who work so hard all year long. Those clinics include Cambridge, Darleston, Green Island, and Lucea. Great Shape also was happy to be able to donate a large amount of dental supplies to the Western Region.

Giving Thanks All Around:

I want to personally extend a warm and hearty thank you to the Stewart Family and Sandals Foundation (Heidi, Sheryl and Vicki) for continuing to believe in our work. Your partnership makes all of this amazing work possible. Thanks to all the Sandals staff, especially the PR managers, for your world class professionalism. Thanks to Dr. Mckenzie and Dr. Grey, visionary leaders for Jamaica’s oral health, for helping us get the Sealant project off the ground. Thanks to Nurse Stanton and all the Western Region dental staff for your incredible support and trust. Thanks to Dr. Konstantinov for always being available and supportive when needed. Thanks to Ms. Walker and all our friends at the Office of Cooperation.

I want to thank every person who donated a even a single toothbrush, a dental instrument, a vacation for our fundraiser, time to put stamps on envelopes, money to sponsor your friend or family member. Thank you to all our One One Cocoa supporters who “get it”! Big thanks to Patterson Dental, Arimex, Ultradent and Pulpdent all who made significant contributions this year to our program. I want to thank all of the Great Shape! staff and board for tireless year round efforts. Most of all I want to thank the 225 world changers, who despite a global recession, acted on their faith and their belief that right now it is more important than ever to be a part of the solution. Words cannot even capture the sweet smile of joy on the face of the young girl who looks in the mirror to see her teeth magically transformed from black to pearly white. This moment is exactly why we come. It is exactly why we care.

One Love

Joseph Wright
Executive Director