The University of Wyoming had a blast on the 2nd of their three yearly trips. They camped out, for the first time, in their newly finished Clinic in Agua Salada. The brigade came down in full force with 20 members ranging from Spanish majors and social workers to doctors, nurses and a dentist. In addition, one of the leaders was a midwife, and they had an engineer, Spanish teacher and a handyman fire fighter on board.
Over a span of 5 workdays they saw over 400 patients for medical consults, dentistry and via home visits including one in-home birth. In addition, the brigade worked hard teaching English classes, visiting schools, meeting with the local midwives and teaming with the community to plan the logistics of their new clinic. With all this work they still had enough energy to visit the local waterfalls and play soccer with the local kids. The community was sad to see them go and was so grateful that they decided to throw the brigade a dance party on the last night. The brigade was an over the top success and we are so excited to see them back in November! Thanks to all the members for their inspiring work and amazing enthusiastic attitude, we are eagerly awaiting your return!
Dental Brigade: June 18th – June 27th
The Tepe’s dental brigade flew by with 4 work-filled workdays and a weekend full of meetings. Dr. Larry and Dr. Jan Tepe made their first of 2 visits this year bringing with them a dental surgeon and a father and daughter team of a dentist and his daughter who worked as both a translator and assistant. The days ranged from 20 – almost 50 patients in addition to visits to 5 different schools, meetings with three town mayors and Shoulder-to-Shoulder dentists at both clinic sites.
They spent their time in the Concepcion clinic working side by side with the head of the dentistry department, Dr. Idalia, seeing patients, doing minor surgeries and education the community about the importance of good dental hygiene.
Their dental education project that they have in 5 local schools received rave reviews after a quick visit and mouth check of all the students. Thanks to the hard work of the promoters, Shoulder-to-Shoulder dentists and schoolteachers, the Tepe’s were ecstatic and amazed at how clean kid’s teeth were.
In their absence over the next few months, their projects and contributions to the
dental programs will help to keep thousands of mouth healthy. Thanks to all for your hard work and dedication so such an important part of a healthy lifestyle!
University of Rochester: San Jose (May 6 – 19)
The University of Rochester kept busy on their 1stof 2 yearly visits to the small town of San Jose. They spent 10 days enjoying the amazing views and doing everything from sex-
education to pulling teeth. They were a well-equipped team of 11; 2 attendings, 1 dentist and one dental student, 5 medical residents, a photographer and a church representative who works on their local scholarship program.
The group worked around the clock seeing patients, both medical and dental, as well as holding various mini-lectures for the local midwives and scholarship students. In addition, the team group had a chance to show off their theater skills in their skits about money management for their loan program. The dentists kept busy with a constant line of patients as well as hiking to the surrounding schools to check-up on their fluoride program. The photographer captured everyday life in San Jose and quickly became the most popular team member among the local kids who were eager to pose for portraits. Thanks to everyone for all of your hard work and we are excited to see you in October!
“I grew as a person, as a physician, as a leader and as team member, thanks!”
“So welcoming and everyone, from the translators to the brigade volunteers. They were always there, willing, pleasant, answering my questions and sharing stories. Wonderfully friendly”
“Great opportunity to work and gain experience in Global health”
“Translators were excellent – Raul, Alex, Paulett and Ed, all extremely helpful. Kate and Maggie were superb!”
