Meet our March Mission Team.....minus Kade, who unfortunately was sick at the time we took this photo at Chani outside of Copacabana. Jill and Dave Wagers brought their three kids Kade, Savannah and Delaney who did absolutely great. Jill is my current dentist, and we love to remind everyone that her husband Dave runs Idaho Candy Company! We were so glad that Dave´s brother Gary blue jacket in second row, was able to replace his passport and stay with us after being robbed in Puno. What would we have done without our always-smiling banker who kept our finances organized? We were also so grateful for the experience and input of John Kriz, our retired (?) dentist and Barbara King, physical therapist. Their contributions to the education of our Promotores de Buena Salud and their communities were appreciated.
Dental needs are huge here. We spent two days on Taquile Island assisting our friend Dra. Paola, who volunteers frequently in outlying communities.
We all had the opportunitiy to receive training in different areas and functioned very well as a team. Jill and John were both patient and good teachers!
You can tell lighting was not great....we had to use flashlights and headlamps. We maximized daylight hours, no late night clinics!
Dave and Jill proved that married couples can indeed work well as a team!
Not aerobics.....Barb doing one of her energizing and very helpful physical therapy instructional sessions with the Promotores de Buena Salud. Most of the people here live physically demanding lives, working hard in their fields and hauling huge loads on their backs.
Education and prevention is especially critical when working with the children. It is not uncommon to need 3 to 6 extraccions by the age of 6. We saw many mouths completely full of decayed teeth, some rotted to the gums.
Gary and Scott working on a 14 year old, applying some flouride in hopes of saving some of her remaining teeth. We left flouride with a promotore to apply monthly to certain children in need, but it is never a substitute for education and prevention.
We visited the small school in this community and were teaching toothbrushing with the use of blue tint. Healthcare and preventative care have not been part of their culture. There is interest....now we need followthrough,
In La Paz we spent a morning at the Methodist Instituto Americano, their huge Pre-K through 12th grade school of 3400 students. The Wagers family led an activity to set up penpals between Anser School in Boise and the Instituto Americano.
Good time was had by all!
Our friend Moises is the director of their bi-lingual program, and we appreciated his organizing our visit to the school. Needless to say, there was a lot of interest in these three blondies....the only in the entire school.
The three dentists...Paola, John, and Jill.
And our hope for continued education and prevention lies with these Promotores de Buena Salud!
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