My name is Theresa Pham and I am a practicing general dentist in San Diego, California. I am joining my friend, Beth Kulick, DDS in a mission trip to Honduras this year. We are fundraising for a humanitarian organization called ACTS: Americans, Caring, Teaching, Sharing. ACTS promotes peace and justice through community development. Their efforts have been largely focused on a rural mountain village in Honduras called El Rosario. The organization was started over 20 years ago and continues to be a purely volunteer organization. Working alongside the community, ACTS has helped bring latrines, cooking stoves, water systems and establish preventative health education to El Rosario.
The main focus however, has been on the medical clinic. ACTS sends teams of physicians, nurse practitioners, medical students, nurses and a few dentists to staff the local clinic about five times a year. Beth became involved with this wonderful organization during our last year of dental school. The head dentist selects a student every year, in order to expose young professionals to the great need found here.
I am currently planning my first trip for February 2011, and this will be Beth's fourth trip. For most people, the only dental care they have access to comes from us. Because of the political instablity in Honduras in 2009, Beth was unable to plan a trip for 2010. Consequently, there have been no dental volunteers since the last trip in February 2008.
Until 2005, the village did not have electricity, so the only treatment option was to pull, or extract, teeth. Extractions are performed without normal equipment such as water, suction, x-rays or powered equipment.
With your help and donations, we were able to perform the first dental fillings on the 2008 trip. A fellow dentist and renassaince man built one portable dental unit to bring to El Rosario. This gave us access to the typical tools that we use state side, like drills and suction. Also through donations, we were able to bring down a portable dental chair. This allowed us to work in a more ergonomic position. The other chairs consist of a field chair from World War II, and an office chair circa 1950. Bleach water serves as our sterilization and we bring down everything we need in our checked luggage. Even under such circumstances, these people prove to be among the best and most appreciative patients.
We continue to provide dental education, oral hygiene instruction as well as urgent care. By performing skits, toothbrush demonstrations and installing toothbrush holders in school, we are trying to focus on preventative care for the younger generation.
ACTS has seen their efforts paying off slowly. In 2008, many people walked over three hours for only a cleaning. ACTS, along with the local people, want to improve the quality of care in El Rosario, but we need your help. We have successfully started offering more services, but desparately need more equipment to keep up with the demand. We do not want to have to turn anyone away. It takes much longer to do a quality filling than extract a tooth. Ideally, we need more than one dental unit, so we can have have multiple units being utilized at once.
Now, that the clinic has electricity we want to consistently provide the following:
- X-rays (If we can purchase a portable x-ray machine)
- Simple fillings
- Cleanings
- Preventative sealants for children
- Faster, safer surgical extractions
For every trip, members take time from their jobs and pay their own way to help contribute to this wonderful cause. We want more people to have this opportunity, especially dental professionals. With more equipment and more people, we can have a positive impact on the epidemic of dental disease that I have seen first hand. Every donation of money or equipment goes directly to help these people.
Check out the ACTS website for more information on the group or to donate directly.
www.actshonduras.org
If you have any questions regarding any donations, please contact me at d2thfixr@yahoo.com. All donations are tax deductible under our non-profit Federal Tax ID number. If you prefer to write a check instead, please make checks payable to "ACTS" and mail them to the following address.
Dr. Theresa Pham
c/o Mr. Hart Silverwood, ACTS Treasurer
12 Granger Drive
Lee, NH 03824
Thank you for anything you can give,
Theresa Pham, D.D.S.
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