tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16158673249410916302024-03-05T11:04:52.287-08:00DDS4Kids in Vietnam - our 2013 dental outreach - 20 years this year, 24th trip to VN.Lanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02593637436869533050noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-13403318542494454742013-03-08T21:01:00.000-08:002013-03-27T21:10:48.308-07:00Day 14 - Friday March 8, 2013 Arriving Home - Mission Accomplished I touched down in Knoxville, TN in the late afternoon, gaining back a day
that I lost when I crossed the Dateline going West at the beginning of
the trip. Ken showed up at the airport with our girl Grace - 100 lbs.
Great Pyrenees therapy dog in the car, it was nice to be home in
gorgeous Spring-like weather after another incredible VN 2013 trip. I
am so grateful!<br />
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As soon as I got home, I changed into my farmer clothes and went to see my
baby goat. I rescued his parents last year and he came as a beautiful
surprise just 4 weeks before I left for VN. His mom and dad are Bonnie
and Clyde, so we named him Billy the Kid. I held him everyday since the
first day he was born on that freezing icy morning and did not want him
to forget me. He didn't. He jumped right into my lap and wanted to
curl up as usual, we just picked up where we left off and ALL IS WELL
WITH THE WORLD again!<br />
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Until VN 2014, farmer Lan signing off for now. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Knoxville, TN, USA35.9606384 -83.92073920000001435.5493509 -84.566186200000018 36.3719259 -83.27529220000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-4391707387336496912013-03-07T20:59:00.000-08:002013-03-27T21:23:32.608-07:00Day 13 - Thursday March 7, 2013 Team-Completion-Inventory-Wrap-up Day, TRAVELING BACK TO SAIGON & TO US<br />
After breakfast it took us a few hours to check out of Tien Giang
Hotel. We donated a large supply of medication as well as
children's clothing to Dr. Lien so she will continue to hand them out to
patients and families in need. Hung settled the expense with the hotel
and went over the paperwork with Ms. Hang the accountant of Tien Giang
Red Cross.<br />
<br />
Our team were all in good spirits this morning, we said goodbye to our
friends in Tien Giang and our convoy headed to Long An, to Hue's house
to unload our supplies there, to store until our return next year, and the
supplies of notebooks and pens and toothbrushes and toys that she and
Hung will need to take with them next month to perform the last dental
health education at Tan Thoi elementary school before the school is
over. Our yearly dental relief trip was over but our dental health
education program in Tien Giang is an on-going program during the school
year. And during the summer we also support many children so they can
come to Saigon for needed treatments at different hospitals.<br />
<br />
After Long An, we went North to Saigon, stopping at Hung's relatives
home in the 8th district for a farewell lunch before many of us head to the
airport for the return flights back to the US. A family meal, one last
party for DDS4Kids 2013 team.<br />
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By now you can tell how good we eat in VN, Vietnamese cuisine has
Chinese and French influence and I think that is what makes the cuisine
richly delicious. The vegetarian dishes here are root vegetable curry,
egg noodles stir fry with mixed vegetables, steamed fresh vegetable
plate (okra, squash, spinach), tofu sauce, roast pork veggie patties,
steamed bread, and fresh spring rolls.<br />
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For those of us who eat meat, we have treasure of the sea, one of
Shannon's favorite. We have roasted pork, roasted duck, french bread,
hot rolls, vinegrette salad with meat, fried rice, soup ... so much good
food sharing with good friends, it is overwhelming and it makes me feel
like the luckiest person on the planet!<br />
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And a surprise for Padraic and Lea who have birthdays on March 17 and March 23 - Happy Birthday!<br />
<br />
Padraic, Shannon, Paul, Robin, and Mickey went directly to the airport
this afternoon. Phuong went to meet with her friends and probably have more
food and celebration before she catches her flight tomorrow morning.
Trang went to a hotel and enjoyed a few more days in VN with her
relatives and friends. Van will spend another few weeks touring VN with
her friends, retirement and having time is nice. Lea and I went to
Hung's house to rest up, had one more bowl of pho (traditional beef
noodles in Hung and Nhu's noodle shop) before going to the airport for
our midnight flights back to the US. It was not hard to say goodbye, I
knew I will get to see everyone again, in VN or in the US, this kind of
trip makes friends for life.<br />
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If food is love, this bowl of noodles IS LOVE, it will keep me warm
until next time I get to hug Hung and Nhu and the rest of dear friends
in Vietnam again.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-26956406382288938402013-03-06T20:57:00.000-08:002013-03-27T21:27:21.352-07:00Celebration Dinner at completion of our VN 2013 Dental Relief in Tien Giang<br />
Tonight we had our celebration dinner with Tien Giang Red Cross. The
Red Cross staff keeps a record of the supplies we gave at each school,
and the number of children and adults we served during the dental relief
operation.<br />
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Tien Giang province comprises one city (<i>thành phố</i>), one town (<i>thị xã</i>), and eight districts (<i>huyện</i>):<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Thành phố <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%E1%BB%B9_Tho" title="Mỹ Tho">Mỹ Tho</a></li>
<li>Thị xã <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B2_C%C3%B4ng" title="Gò Công">Gò Công</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B2_C%C3%B4ng_%C4%90%C3%B4ng" title="Gò Công Đông">Gò Công Đông</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B2_C%C3%B4ng_T%C3%A2y" title="Gò Công Tây">Gò Công Tây</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BB%A3_G%E1%BA%A1o" title="Chợ Gạo">Chợ Gạo</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2u_Th%C3%A0nh_District,_Ti%E1%BB%81n_Giang" title="Châu Thành District, Tiền Giang">Châu Thành</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Phuoc_District" title="Tan Phuoc District">Tân Phước</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cai_L%E1%BA%ADy" title="Cai Lậy">Cai Lậy</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1i_B%C3%A8" title="Cái Bè">Cái Bè</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Phu_Dong_District" title="Tan Phu Dong District">Tân Phú Đông</a> </li>
</ol>
This year, our team has traveled to all 8 districts of Tien Giang. List of items we gifted: <br />
Toothbrushes 8,396<br />
Toothpaste 2.097<br />
Notebooks 2,456<br />
Pens 2,456<br />
Bath towels 1,320<br />
Family bar soap 1,342<br />
Dry milk 100 lbs.<br />
Blankets 20<br />
Cash $956.00<br />
The Red Cross computed an estimate of $17,000 US dollars in donated goods. <br />
This number does not include the contribution we made in dental
services, the estimate would be more than $30,000.00 US dollars if
calculated according to the cost of dental treatment in VN, but if we
calculate according to the fees of dental treatment in the US, even if
we go with the low fees of $100 per extraction of a permanent molar,
$50.00 for fluoride treatment, the total estimate of the dental services
we performed for 1250 children would be in the hundreds of thousands of
dollars.<br />
<br />
Total children and adults served: 8,461<br />
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The plaque given to us to commemorate our 10th anniversary for serving
children and families living in poverty in Tien Giang. It is hard to
believe that it was 1993 - 20 years ago when I went to VN looking for
ways to bring dental services to children living in rural villages, two
decades went by just like that! The first decade was quite different
than the second one. We can only hope that the third decade will keep
getting better.<br />
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So many reasons to celebrate!<br />
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I will always feel indebted to Dr. Lien and treasure our friendship with Tien Giang Red Cross!<br />
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<br />
12 of us are the core team of DDS4kids VN 2013, there are over 30 people
in our supportive team as you can see here, but the real team is much
bigger, the countless family members and friends and supporters and
past volunteers who directly and indirectly in all kind of ways
contributed to the success of our dental operation today. If you read
these lines, I hope you know we are grateful for your support and
friendship, and thousands and thousands of families living in deep
poverty wanted to thank you themselves if they could.<br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-52337265334857927032013-03-06T20:55:00.000-08:002013-03-27T21:29:35.034-07:00Day 12 - Wednesday March 6, 2013 Dental Health Education Community Service Day - CHO GAO District, TAN THUAN BINH Village <br />
We arrived at the Tan Thuan Binh Kindergarten to find a large group of
over 200 parents and their kids gathered in the tiny courtyard and they
had to stand from one corner of the yard to another, 180 degree span.
It was quite impossible to use the blackboard to show the dental
sketches to everyone. The sun heated up the open courtyard, the crowd
was noisy, and we just had to carry out the dental health education as
best as we could, it wasn't as well organized as the last community
dental health session in Nhi Binh last Sunday.<br />
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After some chaotic moments, a group of young kindergarten teachers were
able to organize each group of children so we could hand out the gifts.
Ten families with special needs children also received special gifts
prepared for them separately.<br />
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The memories we take home with us.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-561324454556581322013-03-05T20:53:00.000-08:002013-03-27T21:39:36.591-07:00Day 11 - Tuesday March 5, 2013 CLINIC DAY - GO CONG TAY District, LONG BINH Elementary School <br />
A little over an hour's drive from our hotel to Long Binh elementary
school, our last clinic day and we all look forward to everything going
smoothly. This school is organized and things are looking good at the
start.<br />
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Hung starts right away with the dental health education while we set up the clinic in one of the classroom.<br />
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All of the children we treat are given a glass of milk while waiting to
receive dental treatment. Many of these kids walk to school without
breakfast so we make sure they get a little nutrition before receiving
dental treatment. We go through 100 lbs. of dry whole milk (from
Holland) during our dental relief at 6 elementary schools. Many years
ago we noticed that the kids waiting in line were hungry and had to walk
home in the heat of the day, we bought sweet rolls to hand out, but
eating solid food before dental treatment provides a problem for us so
we looked into getting soy milk for the kids, a common drink that is
readily available everywhere in VN. But to get someone to cook a large
pot of fresh soy milk at each school we travel to was not possible, we
discovered dry whole milk from Holland that is much more nutritious than
the watered down soy milk, hence we embarked on this new road of
boiling water and make milk from the wholesome dry whole milk powder for
the kids and it has been a great success.<br />
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This little girl was hurt in the Typhoon #9, a piece of wood caused the
permanent injury to one eye. We gave her a big bag of gifts and Trang
gave her mother a gift of money as well. We will try to get her to the
eye hospital in Saigon this summer to see if there is a cosmetic
treatment to help the left eye. Typhoon # 9 made landfall in VN on
Sept. 27, 2009, it killed at least 163 people, 23 in the first hour of
landfall, 17 people missing, 616 were injured, total damage is estimated
at $785 million. Typhoon # 9 was part of the second most devastating
tropical cyclone Ketsana in the Pacific 2009 typhoon season, causing
$1.09 billion dollars of damage and 747 fatalities in the Philippines,
China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.<br />
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To have a badly decayed permanent molar removed in this area would cost
at least $5.00, many of the children need to have several removed,
something their parents will not be able to afford. In VN, when you
have a toothache, you buy <u>one pain pill,</u> whether an Aspirin or
Acetaminophen or Ibuprofen tablet, to help the pain, and that is it, and
if there is a dentist in one of the major cities, he would not take the
tooth out, permanent molars are not easy to remove and many dentists in
VN still are not comfortable doing these surgical procedures. It is
undeniably a great service we can provide for these children since we
know how to apply painless dentistry, we have the skills and the correct
instruments to do it safely in a few minutes.<br />
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This little first grader is adorable, the best singer in the school and
she even sang a few songs for our team. She has a crossed eye and will
benefit from a trip to the Eye Hospital this summer as well.<br />
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There is a good lesson learned in what happened the day before in Tan
Phu Dong where we had to cancel our clinic day. Today we are in the
village just across the Mekong River from the school yesterday, yet
everything goes exceptionally well, we are able to provide free dental
treatment to 311kids, hand out gifts to 1075 student population of the
school, and 174 gifts to teachers and parents with children under 5 who
came to the dental health education session, a beautifully productive
day without problem with any local official. Not only that, I find the
teachers at Long Binh elementary school caring and loving to their
pupils, going above and beyond the call of duty to assist our team,
rearranging their day and willing to help us so that we can see more
kids with our limited time, they are happy to welcome our team to their
school and grateful for our dental services. It is few and far
between when we come across a school like this one.<br />
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This school is on the
top of my list this year and wins the pick for a Five Year Dental Health
Education Program. It will start with the school year 2013 - 2014
until 2017-2018, DDS4Kids will provide all of the students (~1,075) at
Long Binh 2 dental health education sessions per school year and a new
toothbrush for every student each time. Dr. Hue, Hung, and the Tien Giang
Red Cross staff will carry out these sessions. Long Binh elementary
school is the 5th school that was chosen in the past 10 years in Tien
Giang. The previous schools reported the rate of decay among the
students dropped drastically from nearly 100% to 45% - 35% after 5
years, this is more than what I had hoped for, whatever improvement is
considered a great success. We will never know the real impact of our
dental health education program in rural VN, as with any education
effort, the impact could have ripple effect for years to come.<br />
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The "Durian Experience" evening. This is the time, Trang and Phuong
generously share with us their precious fruits, it is the first time for
Robin, Mickey, and Shannon to see and taste durian, I don't remember
what Shannon and Mickey said but Robin was beaming with pleasure. It
does taste sweet and creamy, it has been so long since I had fresh
durian so it was a special event for me too. It tasted better than I
had remembered! Paul and Padraic was down the street with Mr. Thanh and
Mr. Lien the Red Cross staff, fraternizing, sharing a few beers and
some food. Mr. Thanh is the vice director of the Tien Giang Red Cross,
he used to avoid "foreigners", I heard through the grapevines that he
doesn't like Americans because for years he stayed away from our team.
But in the past few years, he has waredm up to us and this year, he went
all out to take such good care of our team. I think he finally is
convinced of our commitment to help the children of Tien Giang, he saw
how hard we work to make everything go smoothly in difficult and
primitive conditions. It's a 180 degree turn around for Mr. Thanh and
this is a very good sign. This is one first among many "firsts" this
year, and having Padraic and Paul "bonded" with the Red Cross officials
will definitely strengthen the relationship between DDS4Kids and Tien
Giang Red Cross. The success of DDS4Kids in Tien Giang has a lot to do
with the solid friendship existed in the past 10 years, building on one
"bonding experience" at the time, year after year.<br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-69819085391126154622013-03-04T20:52:00.000-08:002013-03-27T20:52:15.362-07:00Day 10 - Monday March 4, 2013 CLINIC DAY - TAN PHU DONG District, TAN PHU Elementary SchoolTan Phu Dong district (comprises of 3 islands) is the poorest of 8
districts of Tien Giang. It takes nearly 2 hours to reach Tan Phu
Elementary school as we have to travel a long way by car and cross the
Mekong river by ferry. We are prepared, we brought a lot of toys with
us for the kids on this island.<br />
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As we enter the school yard, I can see that things are not going well.
The classrooms we supposed to set up are covered in dust, the floor has
numerous broken tiles, some are in piles, dust covered everything, the
Red Cross staff were trying to clean the mess. The principal is away,
only the second in command is available and he thought that we can set
up clinic in the abandoned classrooms in the old wing of the school.
Once I told him that we can't use the old rooms, a group of school
officials frantically search for another 2 suitable classrooms. We can
tell that school is in session and some classes must have to be
disrupted, teachers have to stop teaching, the kids have to move out,
tables and chairs have to be moved, it is truly an unprepared mess.
Then some fellows from the village Health Department show up to check
"our autoclave". We don't use autoclave and that didn't make them
happy, so to make the long story short, we opt not to set up clinic,
instead we will carry out dental health education for the students and
give them gifts we brought for them. We will just make lemonade out of
lemons today. <br />
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It is English lesson period in this classroom. The teacher invites
Robin and Mickey into the room and read some books with her students.
The kids were excited to meet "real English speaking" people, probably
first time in their lives!<br />
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Dental Health Education classes are given in the courtyard and gift station is set up under a shade tree.<br />
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It was P.E. class for these kids, they were playing catch and kick the
balls, Paul and Padraic played with them and notice that many of the
soccer balls were soft and needed more air. Paul and Robin brought with
them a very nice soccer ball and a nifty pump, they were waiting to
find the right school to give the ball and pump to.<br />
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They found the school! One memorable moment happens when Paul gives the
P.E. coach the pump and see his happy delighted expression on his face,
what joy - on both sides!<br />
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And there are more unforgettable moments that day.<br />
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This evening, Dr.Lien came to our hotel to give us her support, assuring
us that we just need to continue to do the same as we have been doing,
today was only a single incident that won't happen again. There is
always something unexpected in doing volunteer dentistry in remote
villages of developing countries and we will have to figure it out as we
go. I went to bed praying that tomorrow will be a better day.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-64102657836496877002013-03-03T20:49:00.000-08:002013-03-27T20:49:51.476-07:00Day 9 - Sunday March 3, 2013 Dental Health Education Community Service Day, CHAU THANH District, Nhi Binh Village Nhi Binh village was chosen by the Tien Giang Red Cross because this is
one of the poorest village in the province. Many families in this
community are afflicted with leprosy, and even though forced quarantine
or segregation of leprosy patients is unnecessary, many people are still
afraid of coming in contact with these villagers and would not buy the
local products grown or made from this area , so the economy here
suffers as the result of this stigma.<br />
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240 parents with their children gather in the courtyard of Nhi Binh
Kindergarten center to participate in the dental health education
session this morning. Every family will receive a gift bag of household
items and dental care package.<br />
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Van offers a gift to a father with a child is who sick in a hospital,
Lea to a mother with her special need child, our team gave gifts of
household goods and money to 10 families with a special need child at
this village.<br />
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Many times these community empowerment session can be very chaotic and
disorganized, but today it went as smooth as can be with a crowd of 240
parents and their children, thanks to the organizing skills of the local
Red Cross staff and the teachers at this kindergarten center.<br />
<br />
Now we can have the rest of the day off, a little break to enjoy the
sight and sound of the Mekong River. We went on a boat tour to see the
floating market of Cai Be, visited a few gift shops, and had lunch at an
ancient farm house.<br />
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Look at these smiles, so happy to have a break and enjoy being "tourists"!<br />
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Fresh harvest of bananas. Do you know that bananas are natives from
tropical Southeast Asia? There are over 1,000 varieties, I have
personally tasted over 14-15 different types, different shapes, colors,
textures, flavors, aromas, sweetness, starchiness ... if you love
bananas, VN is banana heaven! <br />
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By lunch time we reached the restored ancient farm house in Dong Hoa
Hiep commune by boat, one of our favorite stop for a beautiful lunch in
the garden, surrounded with fruit trees and tropical flowers. Mr.
Kiet's Southern antique home was chosen among 355 houses in Tien Giang
to be restored thanks the the Japanese & Vietnamese cooperation
program. It costs 1.5 million dollars to return this farm house to its
glory days. This house is 150 years old, there are 100 columns made
from precious wood, and all of the carving as well as wood furniture
were restored exactly as the original. Last year Mr. Kiet died of a
sudden heart attack at 52 years old, such shocking news for us, our team
comes here for the Sunday lunch for the past 9 years and be greeted by
Mr. Kiet and his wife (and his late mother), every year when we meet it
is like seeing old friends, and it was sad not to see the same faces
again. A consolation is that Mrs. Kiet is doing well, she has the
strength to carry on to raise their two children (the daughter is in the
first year of dental school, a 6 year program) and keeps the ancient
home open for business as usual. The food is delicious as always, every
dish is prepared with fresh ingredients harvested locally. <br />
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Looking at Trang and her smile, we all feel the same, and the food, absolutely finger licking good!<br />
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Paul and Robin's first time in Vietnam, and I think they fall in love
with the Vietnamese cuisine, they enjoy tasting everything and real easy
to please!<br />
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Mature jack fruits in the garden of the farm house<br />
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A rare sight, baby durian fruits. Durian is one of the unusual fruits
of tropical countries, it has become famous or more like unforgettable
by the very unique aroma that no fruit can compare. Trang and Phuong
bought a few durian fruits and are talking about "a durian experience"
one evening at dinner when they know the durians are ready, we can't
wait!<br />
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Mountain apples<br />
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Milk fruits, my favorite!<br />
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Red dragon fruits<br />
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Sunday night, another special night for our team as we go to Hung's
paternal grandparent's home in Long An for another dining experience.
Hung's 2 aunts prepare a beautiful feast to welcome us into their farm
home. The food is beautifully prepared, mostly vegetarian dishes, some
ingredients had to be prepared several days in advance, they probably
spend several days preparing this dinner for our team, and certainly put
a lot of love into it too because we feel it in every bite. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-69231562486472862472013-03-02T20:47:00.000-08:002013-03-27T20:48:00.144-07:00Day 8 - Saturday March 2, 2013 CLINIC DAY - TAN PHUOC District, TAN THANH A Elementary School In this area, when I asked the children what their parents do, almost
all of them said farming rice or other agricultural labor work.
Yesterday we were in Go Cong Dong where most children live in the
fishing village, their parents work on a fishing boat, in net making
factory, sorting shrimp, cleaning fish, processing the catch of the
day. Regardless of making a subsistence living off the land or sea,
these families live on less than $2 - 3/day, a price of a cup of
Starbuck coffee here in the US.<br />
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We treated 297 children, giving dental health education and dental gift
bag to all 896 students of this school, 145 gifts to the teachers and
families with children under 5. All of these work in a day and we still
have time for group photos with the kids, everyone still smiling, that
is the best part!<br />
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Hung is showing parents how to help with the nightly brushing for their kids during our dental education session.<br />
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Everyone in our team brought lots of toys and useful clothing items to
give the the kids. Making kids happy can be very addictive!<br />
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Photo of the "crew" after a good clinic day! Another terrific day in Vietnam!<br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-64018029603430485662013-03-01T20:45:00.000-08:002013-03-27T20:46:16.208-07:00Day 7 - Friday March 1, 2013 THIRD CLINIC DAY - GO CONG DONG District, KIENG PHUOC Elementary School <br />
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Our team and the local Red Cross helpers can rearrange a classroom into
our dental clinic in no time by the third day, this classroom is quite
small but we make it work just the same.<br />
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Padraic keeps the sterilization station nice and neat, this is a very
important station, we all depend on the instruments to be able to treat
the kids as efficient as possible. <br />
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Van also take care of the sterilization station, preparing the syringes,
but seeing Dr. Hue needs some light to work on the kids, Van gladly
takes on the assistant job as well, what a happy family!<br />
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This little girl is 11 years old in 5th grade. One permanent molar
needed to be removed, I had to give her a mandibular block, it's a big
shot for these little kids, but she didn't even flinch, more brave than
most adults I see in my private practice. She has 2 small cavities on
other permanent molars so I asked her if she can go home and bring her
mother or father to see us so we can give her parents the money for her
to go get the fillings done, there is a private dentist in the next
town. Then I find out that she lives in a fishing village, her mother
sorts shrimp and her father works on the fishing boat, they leave for
work before sunrise each day and the mother doesn't get home until
late.afternoon. She takes care of her 2 younger siblings, she rides the
bike to school, carries her 5 year old sister and drops her off at the
kindergarten school before getting to her elementary school, her 9 year
old sister also ride the bike to school with her at 7 am every morning.
At 10:30am break, she picks up her sister at kindergarten class and all
3 of them ride home on the two bikes. She heats up some rice and food
that her mother cooked the day before, all 3 kids eat lunch, take a nap,
and ride the bike back to school from 2 - 4:30pm. I don't know of any
little 11 years old kid that is this responsible, this helpful to her
family, this brave and sweet in my private practice in the US. One of
Robin's patient donated $100 to help some kids, well, that generous
donation goes to help many kids like this little girl so that they can
get to keep their teeth for a life time. There is no better gift than a
gift of good health.<br />
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If the parents are not home, we ask the children to bring a grandparent,
uncle or aunt or an adult cousin in the family so we can explain about
the dental fillings that the child needs to have done in the main city
of this district, we provide the money to cover the cost of the fillings
if the parent agrees to take the child to the dentist and bring back
the receipt to the school principle.These two grandmothers walk very
slow and with a limp, yet they walk to our clinic to accept the money
and will make sure that their grandchild will get the fillings done. We
are not set up to do fillings but we can give the children money to get
the dental fillings if there is a dentist in the next town.<br />
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Big blackboard, small blackboard, or no blackboard, out on the front
porch, under a tree, or inside a classroom, it doesn't matter, dental
health education session is held every afternoon and we can always make
it work.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-1032416188602883392013-02-28T20:44:00.000-08:002013-04-01T18:33:59.574-07:00Day 6 - Thursday, February 28, 2013 SECOND CLINIC DAY - CAI LAY District, THANH LOC Elementary SchoolAfter a first clinic day like yesterday, we are all charged up for
today. We reach Thanh Loc Elementary school after a long 1hr.20mn.
drive from our hotel in My Tho. We are pleased to see the students
lined up in the school playground, it shows that the school
administrative and teachers do care about the dental health of their
pupils, that is a very good sign.<br />
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Every school we go to has over a thousand student population, when the
principal, his office, and all of the teachers are prepared for our
arrival, we can be more efficient and able to serve more of the kids in a
day.<br />
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We use whatever school tables and chairs to set up the clinic and start right to work.<br />
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We set up a waiting area in the middle of our classroom-dental clinic
so the children can play with LEGO pieces, puzzles, and coloring books
while they are waiting for their turn, they get lost in play and not
worry about the dental treatment.<br />
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Lunch time usually happens after 1pm, our cook does an excellent job at
preparing a sumptuous vegetarian and a non-vegetarian feast to please
everyone. Friends who work hard together have a lot of fun eating
together!<br />
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When Dr. Hue is not giving dental health education and screening the
children in their classrooms or in the courtyard, she would jump in,
find a little space in our crowded make shift clinic, a space at a
table, pull up a little chair, make up an instant fluoride station and
get the kids taken care of, one after another. <br />
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Almost every child we see from kindergarten up to 5th grade have some
degree of dental decay, many suffered from dental pain. I develop these
dental health education sessions in an attempt to empower parents with
children under 5 with the knowledge of how easy and simple it is to
prevent decay, something every parent can do in their home each
evening. Dental treatment without dental health education is like going
two step backward for every step forward. Dental disease prevention
has to be an important aspect of a serious long term dental relief
program. We can't just taking badly decayed teeth out all day long
without sharing the knowledge of how to prevent this sad situation to
begin with.<br />
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Don't you love that cap? Don't think they know what FBI really means,
don't know where she obtains it, or how long she owns that cap in the
middle of rural Mekong Delta in VN!<br />
Another good day, we screened 680 kids, and treated 343, gifts of
toothbrush and school supplies provided to all 1,112 students at this
elementary school, and 147 gifts to teachers and villagers who attended
the dental health education session.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-20158801672460989082013-02-27T20:39:00.000-08:002013-03-27T20:42:17.338-07:00Day 5 - Wednesday, February 27, 2013 OUR FIRST CLINIC DAY - CAI BE District, MY LOI A Elementary SchoolBreakfast at 6 am (it is 6pm at home in the US) in the open air
courtyard, very good choices of beef noodles, pork noodles, eggs
prepared to order, rice and pork chops, crusty bread, butter and
jam,Vietnamese coffee, fruit juice, tea, milk, food is very good in VN
if you are not a picky-eater!<br />
<br />
7am we loaded supplies in our van, join the van of the Red Cross staff,
our box truck, form a convoy to head to district Cai Be at the far end
of the province, it took nearly an hour and a half to reach My Loi A
elementary school. The fifth graders dress in their best school uniform
gather in large groups waiting for our arrival. No classes for the day
so the students can be treated by our team.<br />
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It took 30 chaotic minutes to create our make shift clinic. Two side by
side classrooms were chosen for our use. One classroom is the actual
dental clinic, tables are set on both sides of the door in front of the
classroom, one side is where the kids will be screened and the teeth
need taken out or fluoride treatment will be marked before they go
inside the room, on the other side of the door is a table with home care
package where the kids will get their names checked, receive the gift
and leave after treatment. Inside the classroom we set up a
sterilization station against the back wall, 3 fluoride stations on one
side, 3 surgical stations on the other, up front by the blackboard is
the pharmacy station, in the middle of the classroom is the waiting area
lined with tables and chairs for our little patients, there are toys,
puzzles, coloring books for the kids to enjoy while they wait for their
turn. We use the student's tables and chairs to make up all of these
treatment stations. The classroom next door is used as an
office/supply/lunch/everything room for our team. <br />
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Lan at first station at the door of "our clinic", doing dental
education, obtaining consent, marking the teeth that need treatment.<br />
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Robin our hygienist doing scaling, fluoride treatment, sometimes
injection and extraction of broken deciduous teeth with the help of an
assistant Oanh.<br />
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Phuong and Dr. Hue doing fluoride treatment for a patient with the help of Lien, a local assistant.<br />
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Lea and her assistant Tho giving fluoride sealant to a little girl.<br />
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Paul and his assistant Tien at an extraction station.<br />
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Dr. Mikey watching Dr. Shannon administering local anesthesia to a brave patient, Tram is Dr. Shannon's assistant.<br />
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Trang is at "Pharmacy/Santa station" comforting kids after treatment,
giving post op. instruction, cleaning them up, giving them antibiotics
and anti-inflammatory medication as well as gifts of different toys.<br />
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Afternoon dental health education provided to parents with children
under 5 as part of our dental disease prevention and community
empowerment program at every village our team comes to serve.<br />
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Today we screened 628 students (234 received dental treatment of
fluoride or extraction, many times both, most children had multiple
extractions) all received a gift bag of toothbrush, school supplies, and
toys. We gave total of 1,017 toothbrushes for all the kids at this
school, 145 gift bags to the school teachers and villagers today. First
day of our dental outreach is usually the hardest day for the team
since we just came together from half way around the world and many are
new to our set up, yet today turns out to be a terrifically productive
and wonderfully satisfying day!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-57719636562430673592013-02-26T20:37:00.000-08:002013-03-27T20:38:14.296-07:00Day 4 - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 TRAVELING SOUTHWEST FROM SAIGON TO TIEN GIANG Our rental 3 ton truck showed up at Hung's house at 5 am to pick up all of the supplies, then the
truck and another rental van came to our hotel to pick up all of us and our
suitcases and more supplies we brought with us from the US. Today we headed South
to the Mekong Delta, stopping by Long An at Dr. Hue's house to pick up - yes -
more supplies and all our our stored equipment in many large boxes, had
to rent another truck to haul the rest of our load to our hotel in My
Tho. Met the local Red Cross to go over the logistic and our schedule
for the next 8 days. The team was taken on a boat tour on the Mekong River,
stopping by the island of Thoi Son to taste tropical fruits in the
orchard and coconut candy factory.<br />
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Our team on the bank of the mighty Mekong River, the world 12th longest
river, 7th longest in Asia, a trans-boundary river begins in the Tibetan
plateau, known as the "roof of the world" the highest plateau in the
world at almost 15,000 ft. snaking through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand,
Cambodia, and Vietnam. Here in the Mekong Delta the river has 9
tributaries (Nive Dragon River Delta) that empty into the South China
Sea. Recently it has been dubbed "biological treasure trove". Over
10,000 new species have been discovered in previously unexplored areas
of the Mekong Delta, including a species of rat thought to be extinct.
Tien Giang province is situated on the northern most part of the Mekong
Delta, including a couple of the 9 tributaries of the Mekong River.<br />
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<br />
Padraic and Dr. Shannon from Buffalo, New York celebrating their second
trip to VN with the Director of Tien Giang Red Cross Dr. Lang and vice
director Mr. Tam. It is really nice to be back to VN and see old Red
Cross friends again. We are treated to a feast as a
welcome dinner with all the Red Cross staff.<br />
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Dr. Lien the formidable lady I hug with my right arm in this photo, she
is the first Red Cross director in VN I met after 10 years of searching
for ways to bring dental care to people living in rural villages, it was
Dr. Lien who really believe in my effort and vision, she is the one who
truly knows and values the importance of good dental health, and she
took it upon herself to make it possible for our team to return years
after years to help the children of her province. Standing from left to
right Dr. Lang, the current Red Cross director, Dr. Paul from Maine,
Dr. Lien the retired Red Cross Director, Lan (me), Van from Houston,
sitting from left Dr. Hue from Long An, Dr. Mikey from New York City,
Robin from Main (Paul belongs to her as you can guess.)<br />
<br />
Below, Dr. Mickey, Robin, and Phuong, enjoy delicious vegetarian spread
(Paul, Trang and Van are also vegetarians on the team). The food is
absolutely out of this world, prepared with love by Ms Thuy, our cook
for the past 9 years. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0IBWC2VWsNz6pUFiC1P7uEDrcvpfJV-V9pN_tyfTLaT8z2_qCFQ0wW7uEC53f7mDTgvu0CQdWVqWNgB0MNB_AGXnU2ST_zNUvvoFLJEqRw3pFWow-eEa6GlZSHWjVmPjY72egALrf5Y/s1600/DSCN0078.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0IBWC2VWsNz6pUFiC1P7uEDrcvpfJV-V9pN_tyfTLaT8z2_qCFQ0wW7uEC53f7mDTgvu0CQdWVqWNgB0MNB_AGXnU2ST_zNUvvoFLJEqRw3pFWow-eEa6GlZSHWjVmPjY72egALrf5Y/s1600/DSCN0078.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Inventory of our supplies
before going to bed, get ready for the first clinic day tomorrow. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-1666401759597496152013-02-25T20:32:00.000-08:002013-03-28T04:33:53.462-07:00Day 3 - Monday, February 25, 2013 ARRIVING IN VIETNAM - TEAM MEMBERS MEET IN SAIGONGood Morning Vietnam!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglSD6IsFn-nsP_RQdJ3jSYL57A4UQIdfuTvd-3fhQPlis0E8hEOW5Yvh0t6GOXk4qQKPZjgWyvsIuXc0BKJi1P6wYAogr7LwRZrIaoMwazUIMQJA-lncCQHf5rIObVEsgC4I3OQ-rywcE/s1600/DSCN0056.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglSD6IsFn-nsP_RQdJ3jSYL57A4UQIdfuTvd-3fhQPlis0E8hEOW5Yvh0t6GOXk4qQKPZjgWyvsIuXc0BKJi1P6wYAogr7LwRZrIaoMwazUIMQJA-lncCQHf5rIObVEsgC4I3OQ-rywcE/s1600/DSCN0056.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Saigon, the Pearl of the Orient, viewed from my hotel room. Right below
the balcony is the Hospital Grall. Built by the French in 1867, it was
originally a Navy hospital, then it became an Army hospital. Dr. Grall came
on staff in 1905, 20 years later the hospital was named after him, hence
Hospital Grall as my parents and my generations growing up in VN knew it.
In 1958 the hospital became a public hospital with 560 beds. In 1978 it
changed again to become Children Hospital 2 and remains until present.
This hospital has been in operation for over 140 years, it is now being
renovated and upgraded with the funds from Oxford University and
Wellcome-Trust foundation from England. The trees lining the streets in
Saigon are mostly over a hundred year old tamarind trees. The tart
fruits are the main ingredients in many Asian dishes and drinks. If you
can see two church steeples in the upper middle of the photo, it's the
famous Notre Dame Catholic church of Saigon. The high rise buildings
are popping up all over the business district of Saigon in the last 15
years as the world is rediscovering the Pearl of the Orient again.<br />
<br />
Finally after months of emails and phone calls, we get to see each other
in Saigon. Dr. Shannon, Dr. Mickey & Padraic from New York, Dr.
Paul & wife Robin from Maine, Lea from San Francisco, Trang &
Phuong from Dallas, Van from Houston, Hung & his wife Nhu from
Saigon, Dr. Hue from Long An. 12 of us, the team of VN 2013.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi93yudJyvyTpQQm7KyGZvD2GEP6d_KqhGCvnWPurXYpIrMFI4Xqfuo7eYf5EDOu52baYnB3KUPNn0glzovE4VKgkxRBZPCjhjyjW2OoENtRPHIxfzSLuIu4F1Tffx5WSBP8cVrEGcyyKc/s1600/DSCN0061.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi93yudJyvyTpQQm7KyGZvD2GEP6d_KqhGCvnWPurXYpIrMFI4Xqfuo7eYf5EDOu52baYnB3KUPNn0glzovE4VKgkxRBZPCjhjyjW2OoENtRPHIxfzSLuIu4F1Tffx5WSBP8cVrEGcyyKc/s1600/DSCN0061.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
We purchased in advance thousands of toothbrushes, tubes of toothpaste,
notebooks, pens, bars of soap, bath towels along with large amount of
dental supplies that have to be delivered by large box trucks from
different companies. When the trucks arrive tonight we form a human
chain to unload the goods at Hung's house. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-15655927879362361062013-02-24T04:20:00.000-08:002013-03-28T18:10:54.756-07:00Day 1 & 2 - Saturday and Sunday, February 23 - 24, 2013 INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT TO VIETNAMThese 2 days blend together as I fly from Knoxville, Tennessee to
Saigon, Vietnam via Chicago and Seoul, Korea. I show up 2 hours before
departure, take a quick 1hr 30 min. flight to Chicago from Knoxville, then 4 hrs layover in Chicago, then a 13 hr. flight to Seoul, another 3 hrs 30 min. layover
in Seoul, then finally a 7 hour flight to Saigon. A day and a half, it may sound long, but
it is still the fastest way to travel 10 thousand miles half way around
the world. Knoxville was 47°F with misty rain when I left home. Chicago and
Seoul were blanketed in snow from the window of the airplanes. Saigon is 80°F at 11 pm. It is exactly 12 hours difference from home - upside down - midnight
in Vietnam is noon at home in Knoxville, TN.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615867324941091630.post-65401795818410659712013-02-20T20:18:00.001-08:002013-04-01T19:50:48.191-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<u><b>Day 1 & 2 - Saturday and Sunday, February 23 - 24, 2013 </b></u><br />
<u><b>INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT TO VIETNAM</b></u><br />
<br />
These 2 days blend together as I fly from Knoxville, Tennessee to Saigon, Vietnam via Chicago and Seoul, Korea. I show up 2 hours before departure, take a quick 1hr 30 min. flight to Chicago from Knoxville, then 4 hrs connection in Chicago, then 13 hr. flight to Seoul, another 3 hrs 30 min. connection in Seoul, then finally 7 hour flight to Saigon. A day and a half, it may sound long but it is still the fastest way to travel 10 thousand miles half way around the world. Knoxville was 47 F misty rain when I left home, Chicago and Seoul were blanketed in snow from the window of the airplanes, Saigon 80 F at 11 pm. It is exactly 12 hours difference, upside down, midnight in VN is noon at home in Knoxville, TN.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Day 3 - Monday, February 25, 2013 </u></b><br />
<b><u>ARIVING VIETNAM - TEAM MEMBERS MEET IN SAIGON </u></b><br />
<br />
Good Morning Vietnam!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglSD6IsFn-nsP_RQdJ3jSYL57A4UQIdfuTvd-3fhQPlis0E8hEOW5Yvh0t6GOXk4qQKPZjgWyvsIuXc0BKJi1P6wYAogr7LwRZrIaoMwazUIMQJA-lncCQHf5rIObVEsgC4I3OQ-rywcE/s1600/DSCN0056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglSD6IsFn-nsP_RQdJ3jSYL57A4UQIdfuTvd-3fhQPlis0E8hEOW5Yvh0t6GOXk4qQKPZjgWyvsIuXc0BKJi1P6wYAogr7LwRZrIaoMwazUIMQJA-lncCQHf5rIObVEsgC4I3OQ-rywcE/s1600/DSCN0056.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Saigon, the Pearl of the Orient, view from my hotel room. Right below
the balcony is the hospital Grall built by the French since 1867, was
originally Navy hospital, then it became Army hospital. Dr. Grall came
on staff in 1905, 20 years later the hospital was named after him, hence
Hospital Grall as my parents and my generation grew up in VN knew it.
In 1958 the hospital became a public hospital with 560 beds. In 1978 it
changed again to become Children Hospital 2 and remains until present.
This hospital has been in operation for over 140 years, it is now being
renovated and upgraded with the funds from Oxford University and
Wellcome-Trust foundation from England. The trees lined the streets in
Saigon are mostly over a hundred year old tamarind trees, the tart
fruits are the main ingredients in many Asian dishes and drinks. If you
can see two church steeples in the upper middle of the photo, it's the
famous Notre Dame Catholic church of Saigon. The high rise buildings
are popping up all over the business district of Saigon in the last 15
years as the world is rediscovering the Pearl of the Orient again.<br />
<br />
Finally after months of emails and phone calls, we get to see each other in Saigon. Dr. Shannon, Dr. Mickey & Padraic from New York, Dr. Paul & wife Robin from Maine, Lea from San Francisco, Trang & Phuong from Dallas, Van from Houston, Hung & his wife Nhu from Saigon, Dr. Hue from Long An. 12 of us, the team of VN 2013.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi93yudJyvyTpQQm7KyGZvD2GEP6d_KqhGCvnWPurXYpIrMFI4Xqfuo7eYf5EDOu52baYnB3KUPNn0glzovE4VKgkxRBZPCjhjyjW2OoENtRPHIxfzSLuIu4F1Tffx5WSBP8cVrEGcyyKc/s1600/DSCN0061.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi93yudJyvyTpQQm7KyGZvD2GEP6d_KqhGCvnWPurXYpIrMFI4Xqfuo7eYf5EDOu52baYnB3KUPNn0glzovE4VKgkxRBZPCjhjyjW2OoENtRPHIxfzSLuIu4F1Tffx5WSBP8cVrEGcyyKc/s1600/DSCN0061.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
We purchased in advance thousands of toothbrushes, tubes of toothpaste, notebooks, pens, bars of soap, bath towels along with large amount of dental supplies that have to be delivered by large box trucks from different companies. When the trucks arrive tonight we form a human chain to unload the goods at Hung's house. <br />
<br />
<b><u>Day 4 - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 </u></b><br />
<b><u>TRAVELING SOUTHWEST FROM SAIGON TO TIEN GIANG </u></b><br />
<br />
Our rental 3 ton truck showed up at Hung's house at 5 am to pick up all of the supplies, then the
truck and another rental van came to our hotel to pick up all of us and our
suitcases and more supplies we brought with us from the US. Today we headed South
to the Mekong Delta, stopping by Long An at Dr. Hue's house to pick up - yes -
more supplies and all our our stored equipment in many large boxes, had
to rent another truck to haul the rest of our load to our hotel in My
Tho. Met the local Red Cross to go over the logistic and our schedule
for the next 8 days. The team was taken on a boat tour on the Mekong River,
stopping by the island of Thoi Son to taste tropical fruits in the
orchard and coconut candy factory.<br />
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<br />
Our team on the bank of the mighty Mekong River, the world 12th longest river, 7th longest in Asia, a trans-boundary river begins in the Tibetan plateau, known as the "roof of the world" the highest plateau in the world at almost 15,000 ft. snaking through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Here in the Mekong Delta the river has 9 tributaries (Nive Dragon River Delta) that empty into the South China Sea. Recently it has been dubbed "biological treasure trove". Over 10,000 new species have been discovered in previously unexplored areas of the Mekong Delta, including a species of rat thought to be extinct. Tien Giang province is situated on the northern most part of the Mekong Delta, including a couple of the 9 tributaries of the Mekong River.<br />
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<br />
Padraic and Dr. Shannon from Buffalo, New York celebrating their second trip to VN with the Director of Tien Giang Red Cross Dr. Lang and vice director Mr. Tam. It is really nice to be back to VN and see old Red Cross friends again. We are treated to a feast as a
welcome dinner with all the Red Cross staff.<br />
<br />
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Dr. Lien the formidable lady I hug with my right arm in this photo, she is the first Red Cross director in VN I met after 10 years of searching for ways to bring dental care to people living in rural villages, it was Dr. Lien who really believe in my effort and vision, she is the one who truly knows and values the importance of good dental health, and she took it upon herself to make it possible for our team to return years after years to help the children of her province. Standing from left to right Dr. Lang, the current Red Cross director, Dr. Paul from Maine, Dr. Lien the retired Red Cross Director, Lan (me), Van from Houston, sitting from left Dr. Hue from Long An, Dr. Mikey from New York City, Robin from Main (Paul belongs to her as you can guess.)<br />
<br />
Below, Dr. Mickey, Robin, and Phuong, enjoy delicious vegetarian spread (Paul, Trang and Van are also vegetarians on the team). The food is absolutely out of this world, prepared with love by Ms Thuy, our cook for the past 9 years. <br />
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<br />
Inventory of our supplies
before going to bed, get ready for the first clinic day tomorrow. <br />
<br />
<b><u>Day 5 - Wednesday, February 27, 2013 </u></b><br />
<b><u>OUR FIRST CLINIC DAY - CAI BE District, MY LOI A Elementary School</u></b><br />
<br />
Breakfast at 6 am (it is 6pm at home in the US) in the open air courtyard, very good choices of beef noodles, pork noodles, eggs prepared to order, rice and pork chops, crusty bread, butter and jam,Vietnamese coffee, fruit juice, tea, milk, food is very good in VN if you are not a picky-eater!<br />
<br />
7am we loaded supplies in our van, join the van of the Red Cross staff, our box truck, form a convoy to head to district Cai Be at the far end of the province, it took nearly an hour and a half to reach My Loi A elementary school. The fifth graders dress in their best school uniform gather in large groups waiting for our arrival. No classes for the day so the students can be treated by our team.<br />
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It took 30 chaotic minutes to create our make shift clinic. Two side by side classrooms were chosen for our use. One classroom is the actual dental clinic, tables are set on both sides of the door in front of the classroom, one side is where the kids will be screened and the teeth need taken out or fluoride treatment will be marked before they go inside the room, on the other side of the door is a table with home care package where the kids will get their names checked, receive the gift and leave after treatment. Inside the classroom we set up a sterilization station against the back wall, 3 fluoride stations on one side, 3 surgical stations on the other, up front by the blackboard is the pharmacy station, in the middle of the classroom is the waiting area lined with tables and chairs for our little patients, there are toys, puzzles, coloring books for the kids to enjoy while they wait for their turn. We use the student's tables and chairs to make up all of these treatment stations. The classroom next door is used as an office/supply/lunch/everything room for our team. <br />
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Lan at first station at the door of "our clinic", doing dental education, obtaining consent, marking the teeth that need treatment.<br />
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Robin our hygienist doing scaling, fluoride treatment, sometimes injection and extraction of broken deciduous teeth with the help of an assistant Oanh.<br />
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Phuong and Dr. Hue doing fluoride treatment for a patient with the help of Lien, a local assistant.<br />
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Lea and her assistant Tho giving fluoride sealant to a little girl.<br />
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Paul and his assistant Tien at an extraction station.<br />
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Dr. Mikey watching Dr. Shannon administering local anesthesia to a brave patient, Tram is Dr. Shannon's assistant.<br />
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Trang is at "Pharmacy/Santa station" comforting kids after treatment, giving post op. instruction, cleaning them up, giving them antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication as well as gifts of different toys.<br />
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Afternoon dental health education provided to parents with children under 5 as part of our dental disease prevention and community empowerment program at every village our team comes to serve.<br />
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Today we screened 628 students (234 received dental treatment of fluoride or extraction, many times both, most children had multiple extractions) all received a gift bag of toothbrush, school supplies, and toys. We gave total of 1,017 toothbrushes for all the kids at this school, 145 gift bags to the school teachers and villagers today. First day of our dental outreach is usually the hardest day for the team since we just came together from half way around the world and many are new to our set up, yet today turns out to be a terrifically productive and wonderfully satisfying day!<br />
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<b> <u>Day 6 - Thursday, February 28, 2013</u></b><br />
<b><u>SECOND CLINIC DAY - CAI LAY District, THANH LOC Elementary School </u></b><br />
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After a first clinic day like yesterday, we are all charged up for today. We reach Thanh Loc Elementary school after a long 1hr.20mn. drive from our hotel in My Tho. We are pleased to see the students lined up in the school playground, it shows that the school administrative and teachers do care about the dental health of their pupils, that is a very good sign.<br />
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Every school we go to has over a thousand student population, when the principal, his office, and all of the teachers are prepared for our arrival, we can be more efficient and able to serve more of the kids in a day.<br />
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We use whatever school tables and chairs to set up the clinic and start right to work.<br />
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We set up a waiting area in the middle of our classroom-dental clinic so the children can play with LEGO pieces, puzzles, and coloring books while they are waiting for their turn, they get lost in play and not worry about the dental treatment.<br />
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Lunch time usually happens after 1pm, our cook does an excellent job at preparing a sumptuous vegetarian and a non-vegetarian feast to please everyone. Friends who work hard together have a lot of fun eating together!<br />
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When Dr. Hue is not giving dental health education and screening the children in their classrooms or in the courtyard, she would jump in, find a little space in our crowded make shift clinic, a space at a table, pull up a little chair, make up an instant fluoride station and get the kids taken care of, one after another. <br />
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Almost every child we see from kindergarten up to 5th grade have some degree of dental decay, many suffered from dental pain. I develop these dental health education sessions in an attempt to empower parents with children under 5 with the knowledge of how easy and simple it is to prevent decay, something every parent can do in their home each evening. Dental treatment without dental health education is like going two step backward for every step forward. Dental disease prevention has to be an important aspect of a serious long term dental relief program. We can't just taking badly decayed teeth out all day long without sharing the knowledge of how to prevent this sad situation to begin with.<br />
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Don't you love that cap? Don't think they know what FBI really means, don't know where she obtains it, or how long she owns that cap in the middle of rural Mekong Delta in VN!<br />
Another good day, we screened 680 kids, and treated 343, gifts of toothbrush and school supplies provided to all 1,112 students at this elementary school, and 147 gifts to teachers and villagers who attended the dental health education session.<br />
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<b><u>Day 7 - Friday March 1, 2013</u></b><br />
<b><u>THIRD CLINIC DAY - GO CONG DONG District, KIENG PHUOC Elementary School </u></b><br />
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Our team and the local Red Cross helpers can rearrange a classroom into our dental clinic in no time by the third day, this classroom is quite small but we make it work just the same.<br />
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Padraic keeps the sterilization station nice and neat, this is a very important station, we all depend on the instruments to be able to treat the kids as efficient as possible. <br />
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Van also take care of the sterilization station, preparing the syringes, but seeing Dr. Hue needs some light to work on the kids, Van gladly takes on the assistant job as well, what a happy family!<br />
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This little girl is 11 years old in 5th grade. One permanent molar needed to be removed, I had to give her a mandibular block, it's a big shot for these little kids, but she didn't even flinch, more brave than most adults I see in my private practice. She has 2 small cavities on other permanent molars so I asked her if she can go home and bring her mother or father to see us so we can give her parents the money for her to go get the fillings done, there is a private dentist in the next town. Then I find out that she lives in a fishing village, her mother sorts shrimp and her father works on the fishing boat, they leave for work before sunrise each day and the mother doesn't get home until late.afternoon. She takes care of her 2 younger siblings, she rides the bike to school, carries her 5 year old sister and drops her off at the kindergarten school before getting to her elementary school, her 9 year old sister also ride the bike to school with her at 7 am every morning. At 10:30am break, she picks up her sister at kindergarten class and all 3 of them ride home on the two bikes. She heats up some rice and food that her mother cooked the day before, all 3 kids eat lunch, take a nap, and ride the bike back to school from 2 - 4:30pm. I don't know of any little 11 years old kid that is this responsible, this helpful to her family, this brave and sweet in my private practice in the US. One of Robin's patient donated $100 to help some kids, well, that generous donation goes to help many kids like this little girl so that they can get to keep their teeth for a life time. There is no better gift than a gift of good health.<br />
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If the parents are not home, we ask the children to bring a grandparent, uncle or aunt or an adult cousin in the family so we can explain about the dental fillings that the child needs to have done in the main city of this district, we provide the money to cover the cost of the fillings if the parent agrees to take the child to the dentist and bring back the receipt to the school principle.These two grandmothers walk very slow and with a limp, yet they walk to our clinic to accept the money and will make sure that their grandchild will get the fillings done. We are not set up to do fillings but we can give the children money to get the dental fillings if there is a dentist in the next town.<br />
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Big blackboard, small blackboard, or no blackboard, out on the front porch, under a tree, or inside a classroom, it doesn't matter, dental health education session is held every afternoon and we can always make it work.<br />
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<b><u>Day 8 - Saturday March 2, 2013</u></b><br />
<b><u>CLINIC DAY - TAN PHUOC District, TAN THANH A Elementary School </u></b><br />
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In this area, when I asked the children what their parents do, almost all of them said farming rice or other agricultural labor work. Yesterday we were in Go Cong Dong where most children live in the fishing village, their parents work on a fishing boat, in net making factory, sorting shrimp, cleaning fish, processing the catch of the day. Regardless of making a subsistence living off the land or sea, these families live on less than $2 - 3/day, a price of a cup of Starbuck coffee here in the US.<br />
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We treated 297 children, giving dental health education and dental gift bag to all 896 students of this school, 145 gifts to the teachers and families with children under 5. All of these work in a day and we still have time for group photos with the kids, everyone still smiling, that is the best part!<br />
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Hung is showing parents how to help with the nightly brushing for their kids during our dental education session.<br />
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Everyone in our team brought lots of toys and useful clothing items to give the the kids. Making kids happy can be very addictive!<br />
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Photo of the "crew" after a good clinic day! Another terrific day in Vietnam!<br />
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<b><u>Day 9 - Sunday March 3, 2013</u></b><br />
<b><u>Dental Health Education Community Service Day, CHAU THANH District, Nhi Binh Village </u></b><br />
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Nhi Binh village was chosen by the Tien Giang Red Cross because this is one of the poorest village in the province. Many families in this community are afflicted with leprosy, and even though forced quarantine or segregation of leprosy patients is unnecessary, many people are still afraid of coming in contact with these villagers and would not buy the local products grown or made from this area , so the economy here suffers as the result of this stigma.<br />
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240 parents with their children gather in the courtyard of Nhi Binh Kindergarten center to participate in the dental health education session this morning. Every family will receive a gift bag of household items and dental care package.<br />
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Van offers a gift to a father with a child is who sick in a hospital, Lea to a mother with her special need child, our team gave gifts of household goods and money to 10 families with a special need child at this village.<br />
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Many times these community empowerment session can be very chaotic and disorganized, but today it went as smooth as can be with a crowd of 240 parents and their children, thanks to the organizing skills of the local Red Cross staff and the teachers at this kindergarten center.<br />
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Now we can have the rest of the day off, a little break to enjoy the sight and sound of the Mekong River. We went on a boat tour to see the floating market of Cai Be, visited a few gift shops, and had lunch at an ancient farm house.<br />
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Look at these smiles, so happy to have a break and enjoy being "tourists"!<br />
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Fresh harvest of bananas. Do you know that bananas are natives from tropical Southeast Asia? There are over 1,000 varieties, I have personally tasted over 14-15 different types, different shapes, colors, textures, flavors, aromas, sweetness, starchiness ... if you love bananas, VN is banana heaven! <br />
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By lunch time we reached the restored ancient farm house in Dong Hoa Hiep commune by boat, one of our favorite stop for a beautiful lunch in the garden, surrounded with fruit trees and tropical flowers. Mr. Kiet's Southern antique home was chosen among 355 houses in Tien Giang to be restored thanks the the Japanese & Vietnamese cooperation program. It costs 1.5 million dollars to return this farm house to its glory days. This house is 150 years old, there are 100 columns made from precious wood, and all of the carving as well as wood furniture were restored exactly as the original. Last year Mr. Kiet died of a sudden heart attack at 52 years old, such shocking news for us, our team comes here for the Sunday lunch for the past 9 years and be greeted by Mr. Kiet and his wife (and his late mother), every year when we meet it is like seeing old friends, and it was sad not to see the same faces again. A consolation is that Mrs. Kiet is doing well, she has the strength to carry on to raise their two children (the daughter is in the first year of dental school, a 6 year program) and keeps the ancient home open for business as usual. The food is delicious as always, every dish is prepared with fresh ingredients harvested locally. <br />
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Looking at Trang and her smile, we all feel the same, and the food, absolutely finger licking good!<br />
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Paul and Robin's first time in Vietnam, and I think they fall in love with the Vietnamese cuisine, they enjoy tasting everything and real easy to please!<br />
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Mature jack fruits in the garden of the farm house<br />
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A rare sight, baby durian fruits. Durian is one of the unusual fruits of tropical countries, it has become famous or more like unforgettable by the very unique aroma that no fruit can compare. Trang and Phuong bought a few durian fruits and are talking about "a durian experience" one evening at dinner when they know the durians are ready, we can't wait!<br />
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Mountain apples<br />
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Milk fruits, my favorite!<br />
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Red dragon fruits<br />
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Sunday night, another special night for our team as we go to Hung's paternal grandparent's home in Long An for another dining experience. Hung's 2 aunts prepare a beautiful feast to welcome us into their farm home. The food is beautifully prepared, mostly vegetarian dishes, some ingredients had to be prepared several days in advance, they probably spend several days preparing this dinner for our team, and certainly put a lot of love into it too because we feel it in every bite. <br />
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<b><u>Day 10 - Monday March 4, 2013</u></b><br />
<b><u>CLINIC DAY - TAN PHU DONG District, TAN PHU Elementary School </u></b><br />
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Tan Phu Dong district (comprises of 3 islands) is the poorest of 8 districts of Tien Giang. It takes nearly 2 hours to reach Tan Phu Elementary school as we have to travel a long way by car and cross the Mekong river by ferry. We are prepared, we brought a lot of toys with us for the kids on this island.<br />
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As we enter the school yard, I can see that things are not going well. The classrooms we supposed to set up are covered in dust, the floor has numerous broken tiles, some are in piles, dust covered everything, the Red Cross staff were trying to clean the mess. The principal is away, only the second in command is available and he thought that we can set up clinic in the abandoned classrooms in the old wing of the school. Once I told him that we can't use the old rooms, a group of school officials frantically search for another 2 suitable classrooms. We can tell that school is in session and some classes must have to be disrupted, teachers have to stop teaching, the kids have to move out, tables and chairs have to be moved, it is truly an unprepared mess. Then some fellows from the village Health Department show up to check "our autoclave". We don't use autoclave and that didn't make them happy, so to make the long story short, we opt not to set up clinic, instead we will carry out dental health education for the students and give them gifts we brought for them. We will just make lemonade out of lemons today. <br />
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It is English lesson period in this classroom. The teacher invites Robin and Mickey into the room and read some books with her students. The kids were excited to meet "real English speaking" people, probably first time in their lives!<br />
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Dental Health Education classes are given in the courtyard and gift station is set up under a shade tree.<br />
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It was P.E. class for these kids, they were playing catch and kick the balls, Paul and Padraic played with them and notice that many of the soccer balls were soft and needed more air. Paul and Robin brought with them a very nice soccer ball and a nifty pump, they were waiting to find the right school to give the ball and pump to.<br />
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They found the school! One memorable moment happens when Paul gives the P.E. coach the pump and see his happy delighted expression on his face, what joy - on both sides!<br />
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And there are more unforgettable moments that day.<br />
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This evening, Dr.Lien came to our hotel to give us her support, assuring us that we just need to continue to do the same as we have been doing, today was only a single incident that won't happen again. There is always something unexpected in doing volunteer dentistry in remote villages of developing countries and we will have to figure it out as we go. I went to bed praying that tomorrow will be a better day.<br />
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<b><u>Day 11 - Tuesday March 5, 2013</u></b><br />
<b><u>CLINIC DAY - GO CONG TAY District, LONG BINH Elementary School </u></b><br />
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A little over an hour drive from our hotel to Long Binh elementary school, our last clinic day and we all look forward to everything going smoothly. This school is organized and things are looking good at the start.<br />
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Hung starts right away with the dental health education while we set up the clinic in one of the classroom.<br />
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All of the children we treat are given a glass of milk while waiting to receive dental treatment. Many of these kids walk to school without breakfast so we make sure they get a little nutrition before receiving dental treatment. We go through 100lbs. of dry whole milk (from Holland) during our dental relief at 6 elementary schools. Many years ago we noticed that the kids waiting in line were hungry and had to walk home in the heat of the day, we bought sweet rolls to hand out, but eating solid food before dental treatment provides a problem for us so we looked into getting soy milk for the kids, a common drink that is readily available everywhere in VN. But to get someone to cook a large pot of fresh soy milk at each school we travel to was not possible, we discovered dry whole milk from Holland that is much more nutritious than the watered down soy milk, hence we embarked on this new road of boiling water and make milk from the wholesome dry whole milk powder for the kids and it has been a great success.<br />
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This little girl was hurt in the Typhoon #9, a piece of wood caused the permanent injury to one eye. We give her a big bag of gift and Trang gave her mother a gift of money as well. We will try to get her to the eye hospital in Saigon this summer to see if there is a cosmetic treatment to help the left eye. The typhoon # 9 made landfall in VN on Sept. 27, 2009, it killed at least 163 people, 23 in the first hour of landfall, 17 people missing, 616 were injured, total damage is estimate at $785 million. Typhoon # 9 was part of the second most devastating tropical cyclone Ketsana in the Pacific 2009 typhoon season, causing $1.09 billion dollars of damage and 747 fatalities in the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.<br />
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To have a badly decayed permanent molar removed in this area would cost at least $5.00, many of the children need to have several removed, something their parents will not be able to afford. In VN, when you have a toothache, you buy <u>one pain pill,</u> whether an Aspirin or Acetaminophen or Ibuprofen tablet, to help the pain, and that is it, and if there is a dentist in one of the major cities, he would not take the tooth out, permanent molars are not easy to remove and many dentists in VN still are not comfortable doing these surgical procedures. It is undeniable a great service we can provide for these children since we know how to apply painless dentistry, we have the skills and the correct instruments to do it safely in a few minutes.<br />
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This little first grader is adorable, the best singer in the school and she even sang a few songs for our team. She has a crossed eye and will benefit from a trip to the Eye Hospital this summer as well.<br />
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There is a good lesson learned in what happened the day before in Tan Phu Dong where we had to cancel our clinic day. Today we are in the village just across the Mekong River from the school yesterday, yet everything goes exceptionally well, we are able to provide free dental treatment to 311kids, hand out gifts to 1075 student population of the school, and 174 gifts to teachers and parents with children under 5 who came to the dental health education session, a beautifully productive day without problem with any local official. Not only that, I find the teachers at Long Binh elementary school caring and loving to their pupils, go above and beyond the call of duty to assist our team, rearranging their day and willing to help us so that we can see more kids with our limited time, they are happy to welcome our team to their school and grateful for our dental services, it is far and few in between when we come across a school like this one. This school is on top of my list this year and wins the pick for a Five Year Dental Health Education Program. It will start with the school year 2013 - 2014 until 2017-2018, DDS4Kids will provide all of the students (~1,075) at Long Binh 2 dental health education sessions per school year and a new toothbrush for every student each time. Dr. Hue, Hung, and Tien Giang Red Cross staff will carry out these sessions. Long Binh elementary school is the 5th school that was chosen in the past 10 years in Tien Giang. The previous schools reported the rate of decay among the students dropped drastically from nearly 100% to 45% - 35% after 5 years, this is more than what I had hoped for, whatever improvement is considered a great success. We will never know the real impact of our dental health education program in rural VN, as with any education effort, the impact could have ripple effect for years to come.<br />
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The "Durian Experience" evening. This is the time, Trang and Phuong generously share with us their precious fruits, it is the first time for Robin, Mickey, and Shannon to see and taste durian, I don't remember what Shannon and Mickey said but Robin was beaming with pleasure. It does taste sweet and creamy, it has been so long since I had fresh durian so it was a special event for me too. It tastes better than I had remembered! Paul and Padraic was down the street with Mr. Thanh and Mr. Lien the Red Cross staff, fraternizing, sharing a few beers and some food. Mr. Thanh is the vice director of the Tien Giang Red Cross, he used to avoid "foreigners", I heard through the grapevines that he doesn't like Americans because for years he stayed away from our team. But in the past few years, he has warm up to us and this year, he went all out to take such good care of our team. I think he finally is convinced of our commitment to help the children of Tien Giang, he saw how hard we work to make everything go smoothly in difficult and primitive conditions. It's a 180 degree turn around for Mr. Thanh and this is a very good sign. This is one first among many "firsts" this year, and having Padraic and Paul "bonded" with the Red Cross officials will definitely strengthen the relationship between DDS4Kids and Tien Giang Red Cross. The success of DDS4Kids in Tien Giang has a lot to do with the solid friendship existed in the past 10 years, building on one "bonding experience" at the time, year after year.<br />
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<b><u>Day 12 - Wednesday March 6, 2013</u></b><br />
<b><u>Dental Health Education Community Service Day - CHO GAO District, TAN THUAN BINH Village </u></b><br />
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We arrived to the Tan Thuan Binh Kindergarten to find a large group of over 200 parents and their kids gathered in the tiny courtyard and they had to stand from one corner of the yard to another, 180 degree span. It was quite impossible to use the blackboard to show the dental sketches to everyone. The sun heated up the open courtyard, the crowd was noisy, and we just had to carry out the dental health education as best as we could, it wasn't as well organized as the last community dental health session in Nhi Binh last Sunday.<br />
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After some chaotic moments, a group of young kindergarten teachers were able to organize each group of children so we could hand out the gifts. Ten families with special need children also received special gifts prepared for them separately.<br />
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The memories we take home with us.<br />
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<u><b>Celebration Dinner at completion of our VN 2013 Dental Relief in Tien Giang</b></u><br />
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Tonight we have our celebration dinner with Tien Giang Red Cross. The Red Cross staff keeps a record of the supplies we gave at each school, and the number of children and adults we served during the dental relief operation.<br />
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Tien Giang province comprises one city (<i>thành phố</i>), one town (<i>thị xã</i>), and eight districts (<i>huyện</i>):<br />
<ol>
<li>Thành phố <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%E1%BB%B9_Tho" title="Mỹ Tho">Mỹ Tho</a></li>
<li>Thị xã <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B2_C%C3%B4ng" title="Gò Công">Gò Công</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B2_C%C3%B4ng_%C4%90%C3%B4ng" title="Gò Công Đông">Gò Công Đông</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B2_C%C3%B4ng_T%C3%A2y" title="Gò Công Tây">Gò Công Tây</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BB%A3_G%E1%BA%A1o" title="Chợ Gạo">Chợ Gạo</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2u_Th%C3%A0nh_District,_Ti%E1%BB%81n_Giang" title="Châu Thành District, Tiền Giang">Châu Thành</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Phuoc_District" title="Tan Phuoc District">Tân Phước</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cai_L%E1%BA%ADy" title="Cai Lậy">Cai Lậy</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1i_B%C3%A8" title="Cái Bè">Cái Bè</a></li>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Phu_Dong_District" title="Tan Phu Dong District">Tân Phú Đông</a> </li>
</ol>
This year, our team has traveled to all 8 districts of Tien Giang. List of items we gifted: <br />
Toothbrushes 8,396<br />
Toothpaste 2.097<br />
Notebooks 2,456<br />
Pens 2,456<br />
Bath towels 1,320<br />
Family bar soap 1,342<br />
Dry milk 100 lbs.<br />
Blankets 20<br />
Cash $956.00<br />
The Red Cross computed an estimate of $17,000 US dollars in the donated goods. <br />
This number does not include the contribution we made in dental services, the estimate would be more than $30,000.00 US dollars if calculated according to the cost of dental treatment in VN, but if we calculate according to the fees of dental treatment in the US, even if we go with the low fees of $100 per extraction of a permanent molar, $50.00 for fluoride treatment, the total estimate of the dental services we performed for 1250 children would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.<br />
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Total children and adults served: 8,461<br />
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The plaque given to us to commemorate our 10th anniversary for serving children and families living in poverty in Tien Giang. It is hard to believe that it was 1993 - 20 years ago when I went to VN looking for ways to bring dental services to children living in rural villages, two decades went by just like that! The first decade was quite different than the second one. We can only hope that the third decade will keep getting better.<br />
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So many reasons to celebrate!<br />
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I will always feel indebted to Dr. Lien and treasure our friendship with Tien Giang Red Cross!<br />
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12 of us are the core team of DDS4kids VN 2013, there are over 30 people in our supportive team as you can see here, but the real team is much bigger, the countless of family members and friends and supporters and past volunteers who directly and indirectly in all kind of ways contributed to the success of our dental operation today. If you read these lines, I hope you know we are grateful for your support and friendship, and thousands and thousands of families living in deep poverty wanted to thank you themselves if they could.<br />
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<b><u>Day 13 - Thursday March 7, 2013</u></b><br />
<b><u>Team-Completion-Inventory-Wrap-up Day, TRAVELING BACK TO SAIGON & TO US </u></b><br />
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After breakfast it took us a few hours to check out of Tien Giang Hotel. We donated large amount of supplies of medication as well as children clothing with Dr. Lien so she will continue to hand them out to patients and families in need. Hung settled the expense with the hotel and went over the paperwork with Ms. Hang the accountant of Tien Giang Red Cross.<br />
Our team were all in good spirit this morning, we said goodbye to our friends in Tien Giang and our convoy headed to Long An, to Hue's house to unload our supplies there, store until our return next year, and the supplies of notebooks and pens and toothbrushes and toys that she and Hung will need to take with them next month to perform the last dental health education at Tan Thoi elementary school before the school is over. Our yearly dental relief trip was over but our dental health education program in Tien Giang is an on-going program during the school year. And during the summer we also support many children so they can come to Saigon for needed treatments at different hospitals.<br />
After Long An, we went North to Saigon, stopping at Hung's relatives home in 8th district for a farewell lunch before many of us head to the airport for the return flights back to the US. A family meal, one last party for DDS4Kids 2013 team.<br />
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By now you can tell how good we eat in VN, Vietnamese cuisine has Chinese and French influence and I think that is what makes the cuisine richly delicious. The vegetarian dishes here are root vegetable curry, egg noodles stir fry with mixed vegetables, steamed fresh vegetable plate (okra, squash, spinach), tofu sauce, roast pork veggie patties, steamed bread, and fresh spring rolls.<br />
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For those of us who eat meat, we have treasure of the sea, one of Shannon's favorite. We have roasted pork, roasted duck, french bread, hot rolls, vinegrette salad with meat, fried rice, soup ... so much good food sharing with good friends, it is overwhelming and it makes me feel like the luckiest person on the planet!<br />
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And a surprise for Padraic and Lea who has a birthday on March 17 and March 23 - Happy Birthday!<br />
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Padraic, Shannon, Paul, Robin, and Mickey went directly to the airport this afternoon. Phuong went to meet with her friends and probably more food and celebration before she catches her flight tomorrow morning. Trang went to a hotel and enjoyed a few more days in VN with her relatives and friends. Van will spend another few weeks touring VN with her friends, retirement and having time is nice. Lea and I went to Hung's house to rest up, had one more bowl of pho (traditional beef noodles in Hung and Nhu's noodle shop) before going to the airport for our midnight flights back to the US. It was not hard to say goodbye, I knew I will get to see everyone again, in VN or in the US, this kind of trip makes friends for life.<br />
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If food is love, this bowl of noodles IS LOVE, it will keep me warm until next time I get to hug Hung and Nhu and the rest of dear friends in Vietnam again.<br />
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<b><u>Day 14 - Friday March 8, 2013</u></b><br />
<b><u>Arriving Home - Mission Accomplished </u></b><br />
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I touched down in Knoxville, TN in the late afternoon, gained back a day that I lost when I crossed the Dateline going West at the beginning of the trip. Ken showed up at the airport with our girl Grace - 100 lbs. Great Pyrenees therapy dog in the car, it was nice to be home in gorgeous Spring like weather after another incredible VN 2013 trip. I am so grateful!<br />
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As soon as I got home, I changed into my farmer clothes and went to see my baby goat. I rescued his parents last year and he came as a beautiful surprise just 4 weeks before I left for VN. His mom and dad are Bonnie and Clyde, so we named him Billy the Kid. I held him everyday since the first day he was born on that freezing icy morning and did not want him to forget me. He didn't. He jumped right into my laps and wanted to curl up as usual, we just picked up where we left off and ALL IS WELL WITH THE WORLD again!<br />
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Until VN 2014, farmer Lan signs off for now. <br />
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Lanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02593637436869533050noreply@blogger.com0