Friday November 6, 2009

We arrived...after a long night the group final all arrived in the DR at around 3:30PM. The hot humid air hit us all like a ton of bricks. Right as we walked off the plane the mugginess of this place had everyone wishing they had worn shorts and not sweatpants. We gathered our luggage and headed out to the bus, and had a nice 30 minute drive to Hotel Europa in downtown Santo Domingo. Our friends from Esperanza have been holding our hands all day today. They picked us up at the airport, guided us to the hotel, and just feed us dinner.

Everyone is excited to get to work Saturday morning. There are only 4 people in the whole group who have been here before - so everyone is so excited to find out what this experience is like.

"Take this experience in, and let it change your heart and mind. Go home a better person." Roy Hammond.

Wednesday, September 9

We kicked things into high gear again today in the town of Boca Chica. Our “clinic” today was a much more spacious church with plenty of room to spread out, move around, and work.

On nearly every expedition over the last 3 years, Dr. Roy Hammond encounters at least one young teenage girl who through abuse or bad health has suffered from the loss of a beautiful smile. Roy goes out of his way to give at least one girl her smile back and in turn, a brighter future. This expedition was no exception. We met a young teenaged girl on Saturday

who had lost all but one of her front teeth. Roy went to work and invited her to return today in the town where we were working. She made arrangements to find us and Roy completed treatment today totally transforming her smile and her appearance. During the “reveal” this afternoon, she just stared in the mirror in disbelief. It was an amazing transformation and a great experience to see her face light up when she saw her new smile. There was no question that her future will be much brighter just like her smile.

Seeing the number of patients that we do every day, there are always unexpected moments. Some can be tense. One of our Dominican hygienists became slightly startled this morning when her patient’s jaw locked open. Unable to help him she turned for some help from Dr. Tom Pekar who was working close by. Dr. Tom was the perfect man for the job with specialty training from his late wife who was a physiologist who told him several years ago, “If you are doing things that may put patients in this situation, you better know how to fix it correctly.” Tom stepped in and quickly gathered our Dominican dentist friends around as he turned this moment into a teaching one as he instructed the entire group how to

properly handle such a situation and keep your fingers in tact! The problem was quickly solved and Tom challenged our Dominican dentist friends to pass on the knowledge to others when the next opportunity presented itself. Tom took a moment to have some fun and replay the situation with the patient with some facial expressions to add some sprice to the situation! It was a great “save” by Tom and a nice teaching moment.

With the large numbers of children and adults waiting to be seen each day, Abby Anderson and Taira Hovden (both age 12) take time from their duties inside to interact and entertain some of the children outside with some red rubber ball kick ball, face painting, and nail painting. The girls become instantly popular each time they interact with the children attracting dozens who mob them at one time. There are some great moments watching the two cultures interact at a very young age.

We wrapped up our day by going this evening to the dental school at La Univercidad Central del Este. This is the dental school with which we have partnered over the last three years for our expeditions. Earlier this year, Dr. Roy and Frances Hammond spent an entire month here in the Dominican Republic guiding two different Crown Council expeditions between which they spent a lot of time teaching at the dental school.

As a surprise this evening, the Rector of the university,

Dr. Jose Hazim Frapier, Director of the dental school, Dra. Johanna Nicolas, and other university officials gathered along with our group, the dental students, and the university choir to
bestow upon Dr. Hammond an honorary doctorate degree for his decades of humanitarian work around the world. They also created a beautiful tribute to Frances Hammond that was very moving. It was an honor for all of us to be part of this special moment that was so well deserved by both Roy and Frances who have probably done more humanitarian dentistry over the years than any other couple.

It has been another moving, worthwhile day here in the Dominican Republic as we work, serve, mentor, and give back to a people who are most grateful.

Saturday was the the first day of dental work in the D.R. which took place at the school “Hay poder en aprender” or “There is Power in Learning” funded by Philadelphia Phili’s player Pedro Martinez. Pedro grew up in a suburb of Santo Domingo. After going to the major leagues, he and his wife, Carolina have returned to give back in many ways to the community in which he grow up including the funding of this local school to improve education in the community. Carolina joined us for the day while Pedro is busy playing ball in the U.S.

We saw approximately 200 patients, mostly children.

Doctors Hammond, Wells, Pekar, Dykes, and Hovden and their teams were joined today by Doctor Patricia Diaz who is the local dental organizer for our expeditions and works under the direction of Esperanza International with whom we partner. Esperanza does a great job in providing all of the on-the-ground support including transportation, lodging, and organization in each village where we go.
Dental student Dr. Martina joined us as well who will graduate from dental school here in October. We also had 5 local dental technicians who helped with hygiene all day.

Doctor Consuelo and two other local dentists also joined our team for the day and rolled up their sleeves right along with the rest of the team.

Abby Anderson and Tara Hovden, both age 12, helped the team by holding flashlights, helping with sterilization, and handing out hygiene kits to each of the patients.



To the right: Dominican dental student, Mateo, instructs the students on proper brushing techniques while they wait to see the hygienist and dentist.







Left: Dr. Roy Hammond and his assistants, daughters Amy and Angel wrap up a "big" case.







The group captures a moment with Consuela Martinez, benefactor of the "Hay poder en aprender" school before beginning the afternoon's work .

We look forward to sharing more with you as we move onto San Pedro where we will headquarter for the rest of the week and travel out to remote villages around the country.

September 4-12, 2009 - Dental Humanitarian Expedition to the Dominican Republic

We’re off to the Dominican Republic for a week of adventure doing dentistry in some of the most remote parts of the country. Make sure to log on each day as we share the people and events that will make this week so remarkable.

Crown Council dentists and team members on this week’s expedition include: Dr. Roy Hammond, Angel Webb, Amy Gerstner, Michelle Reeves, Annette Navarette, Catlin Stroud, Neil and Josee Wainwright, Trish White, Lance White, Sherri Ison, Katie Ison, Jan Kitzrow, Lindsay Schneider, Mackenzie Schneider, Dr. Ken Hovden, Taira Hovden, Dr. Dennis Wells, Tina Free, Tim Szymanski, Tumadir Muhammad, Dr. Charles Schneider, Dr. David Dykes, Crystal Duggar, Dr. Tom Pikar, Steve Anderson and Abby Anderson. In addition, we will be joined by Dominican dentists, team members and dental students who we will introduce to you throughout the week.

This will be the first expedition since the passing of Frances Hammond. We will miss her a great deal and admire and are so grateful to Dr. Roy Hammond for carrying on as he leads the group again this week as he and Frances have so capably done for the last three years of this project.

We look forward to sharing with you many of the great events this week. Stay tuned and log on often!