Update from the October “Open” Trip
Sponsor Children Christmas Photos
For you sponsors who are in our Child Sponsorship Program, you can be looking forward to some pretty adorable Christmas cards that will arrive in your mailbox next month. Thanks to Bob Heimall and Lorraine Thoms , all the children in our schools had their photos taken for these cards that are being made. It was big job; full of fun and laughter.
This past month, Mission Emanuel hosted our annual “October Open Trip”, and as usual, it was a banner week! People from all over the country came with their gifts & talents and willingness to serve in the community of Cielo. So much was accomplished that this report can only skim the surface. Hopefully it will give you a good peek into the week.
This is a home lovingly built for one of our faithful employees at Mission Emanuel. Completed recently by the many groups that have come to serve her family with providing a much needed home for her and her 5 children.
NEW Gymnasium Construction
Right above the Dental Clinic, while all the dentistry was happening below, a construction crew was busy constructing the future gymnasium and Community Center on the “roof”. This will be an on going project, which will be a huge blessing to the community of Cielo once it is completed. Lots of sweat and concrete now, which will produce quality fellowship and hard played basket ball games in the future!
We were happy to have several dentists join us in hosting several days of clinic, both for adults and children. Dr. Mark Johnson (with assistant Susan above) and his wife, Heather, worked alongside our dentist Dr. Raquel Vasquez and the rest of our dental clinic team seeing high-need adult patients. In total, the team was able to treat 64 adults in the clinic during that time, most of whom do not receive any ongoing dental care currently.
After the adult clinic wrapped up, we hosted one of our partners Sharing Smiles, an independent division of the Florida Hospital Foundation. Their clinical team included: Dr. Roger Nofsinger, a general dentist, his dental hygienist Sarah Folan, Dr. John Bishop, a pediatric dentist, and his wife Pam Bishop, who is also his assistant. In total, the team cared for 69 children.
We are so grateful to Dr. Johnson and Heather, as well as the team from Sharing Smiles for their tremendous efforts in our dental clinic and the long-term vision they are helping us to establish for quality dental care in the community full-time.
Our existing dental clinic currently has capacity to serve children from our school exclusively, and Dr. Raquel works one day per week seeing patients from the school. As a result, the majority of children (who do not attend one of our schools) and adults in our community do not have access to dental care on a regular basis. Because we know that oral health is closely linked to overall health in both children and adults, expansion of our dental care and hygiene services is a key priority over the next year.
In our team of 16 we had 6 wheelchair seating specialists, 3 adult neuro physical therapists, 2 adult ortho physical therapists, 3 pediatric therapists, and 2 medical translators. We delivered 70 chairs in 4 1/2 days and gave 20 lectures to the currently licensed physical therapists and 4th year students. While delivering and modifying chairs, American PTs/techs worked alongside Dominican PTs/techs to leave the knowledge behind so they can continue this work throughout the year. We spent time meeting with the director of the physical therapy school at UCSD (Catholic University of Santo Domingo) and we will be partnering with them to assist in updating their curriculum and providing course materials and teacher training for the new courses added that will raise the entry level knowledge of physical therapist. This has a large impact because there are only 2 PT schools on the island and currently 280 PTs in the program.
Both dental and physical therapy are critical needs in Cielo and the surrounding communities that are currently being unmet. We want to reach Dominican children and their families by expanding the services that we are able to offer in these clinical areas. We are seeking funding to support a full-time dentist and a full-time physical therapist. The total cost of these two positions is $20,000 for the next year. Would you consider partnering with us to support the expansion of our dental and physical therapy services and benefit the overall health of children and adults in our community?
