Believe me, each of the members of the Dental team asked themselves the same question numerous times over the week they were in Haiti. By the end of the week the team of Peggy Toth, Dianna Blau, Dr. Jon Magnusson, Will Lemke and myself had seen 175 patients each needing between one and six extractions. Assume two extractions were the average and that's over 350 teeth, or about 175 extractions per dentist in a week. In Wisconsin dollars that would be $70,000 worth of services. In one week each dentist extracted the equivalent of a years work here. By Friday all of the team was exhausted and our backs were stiff and our arms were like rubber and we had a five hour flight to fold ourselves into the next day.
The simple answer is that in Haiti there is no one who can do it- no one. If you have been given a talent or unique training to help and there are people with absolutely no one else to turn to, and you turn your back, you have to take a serious look at your reasons for living. This is NOT to say everyone, or every dentist should go to Haiti. In my life a number of events unfolded that made this happen at this appointed time. The Doctors and Assistants were available and able to pay their way and were willing to pass up a pay check; the Rotary Club of Lake Country paid for the supplies totally $8,000+ dollars, and Dr. Schumann had established a relationship with the locals in Haiti that could be trusted. Every dollar went direct from the local Rotary to the people in need.
As members of the Wisconsin Dental Association both Dr. John Magnusson and I are continuing members of Donated Dental Services. We do many "pro bono" or free services every year right here in Wisconsin for those in need and no one to help them. Your dentist is probably a member too.
Donated Dental Services (DDS) is a program directed at those people who are unable to afford needed dental care because of a limited income which is clearly linked to a permanent disability, chronic illness or advanced age (65 and over). All the information pertaining to the applicant's need is based on a completed application and a phone interview done by the referral coordinator. Dentists have agreed to volunteer their services to 1-2 patients a year. Each volunteer dentist decides for him/herself whether to formally accept a person based on meeting the person and assessing his or her dental needs. The referral coordinator is available to help the volunteers with such matters as a referral to a specialist, and securing donated laboratory services should a patient need services with lab related needs.
Four-hundred and seventy-three members of the Wisconsin Dental Association (WDA) donated more than $3 million in services to more than 1,200 disabled, senior, poor, and uninsured state residents between April 1998 and December 2006 through Donated Dental Services (DDS), a partner program between the WDA and the State of Wisconsin. The program is affiliated with the Wisconsin Dental Foundation.
My son, Will, has stayed on in Haiti for 3 more weeks to coordinate the dental clinics and videotape the work that is being done by the vision team, the vet team and the other dental teams. Although Will grew up in our home I never really showed him the magnitude of relief dentists provide to patients in pain. Now he sees it in person and the unexpected bonus of this trip is that my son and I have grown closer as he sees dentistry as the valued profession it is. As much as someone wants to help, they can whether here in Wisconsin or in Haiti or wherever God puts you. We can all grow where we are planted, sometimes we just don't trust to let it happen.
Dental Team and Ken
Grant, Will and John