Day 6
Today was our second to last day out in the clinics. We set up in a church about fifteen minutes away from our hotel. We will be here in the same spot tomorrow which will be nice since we won´t have to take everything down and reset everything up. It has been constantly raining since yesterday afternoon. It was nice that we were in one building all day today because it was so completely wet. The patients took a little longer getting to the site today because it was harder to travel. It was almost like a snow day where everything is cancelled. There was no school for the kids and some of our patients that came from across the river couldn´t get back home after getting their teeth done because the river was too high.
One patient we saw today really touched a few of our Doctors. It was a man with the disease elephantiasis (not sure how to spell it). It is a viral infection and had spread completely throughout his mouth and his teeth were completely rotten. Dr. Clint Blackwood and Dr. Coby extracted 17 teeth that were down to nothing. The man was so sweet and it was obvious he deals with a lot. Everyone became emotional after for a minute especially the Doctors. But the good thing is they showed him love and got him out of pain. You could see how grateful he was when he left. Just one of the stories that happen several times throughout our days here. Life changing
By the end of the day we ended up seeing around 85 patients. They were all so patient and grateful when we were done. Our team has grown so much stronger and we have accomplished so much. We had an awards night tonight after we got back to the hotel and were talking about how we have grown so much closer in less than a week. There were several awards handed out to all the Dominican Dentists and Hygienists that were all stars this week. Camaryn, Halle, and Luke Mohan received the awesome kid awards. They were so wonderful to have around this week. They spoke Spanish with the kids, played with them, helped any Doctor that needed it, and not once complained. We were so lucky to have them. Also, the students from Burlington High School received awards for being so awesome. Senorita Robbie really has been amazing with them and I can tell their Spanish has improved ten fold since coming on this trip.
Roy and Glenda truly have done an amazing job of accomodating everyone and making everything a success. We are so lucky to share this experience of love and hope with them.
I wasn´t able to upload pictures again tonight but once we get to our next hotel I will be able to so stay tuned. Tomorrow we have a full day of work and then we head to the resort to decompress. Until then....
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