Clinic Day Three Dentistry and a Protest

We are back at Anse La Raye, the church where we were at on Monday.  This time I was the only dentist with Gloria and two other hygienists.  First, the leadership of Great Shape!, Inc. decided to sleep in and take the day off!  We all were stupified.  Turns out one of them had a birthday today, so they wanted to celebrate while their 34 volunteers were out working in the four clinics.

But, that forced/allowed us to run our clinic as we wanted.  That is why we had such a great day!  Our most productive day of the week with 39 patients seen, 22 cleanings and I pulled 32 teeth.  A good day, a great team.

Kinda boring pictures today.  This guy is about to have a tooth removed......

Oh, the protest.  I knew last night that we didn't have a curing light for today.  It is the blue light we use to harden our composite/plastic fillings.  Essential to our craft.  I asked last night and this morning for the light.  None appeared.  So, I stood at the entrance to Sandals and told the local lead that I wasn't getting on the bus until she brought me a curing light.  She disappeared and the curing light wasn't delivered.

I held everybody up because no light was brought to me from the storage.  Finally, after 20 minutes she showed up with the light and a rather unprofessional comment and then I got on the bus.  Later in the morning, when I was ready to use the light, it didn't work!  In conversation, discontent continues to grow.  But, we are all professionals and we will carry on.......

Another view of our clinic.  

Clinic Day Two and Eating C.R.A.P.

A different location for Gloria and me today.  Marchand School, only a 15-minute ride from Sandals.  A long story......very short, I did little work today.  Plenty of patients but the supplies and equipment were so sub-par, I was unable to work.

Half of our clinic.  During lunch break so no patients.  8 chairs and 8 fans, can't work without fans.

Our Oral Surgeon kept busy pulling teeth, I was the restorative dentist (fillings).  Bottom line, I waited over two hours for an essential piece of equipment to do fillings, once it arrived, and I started prepping teeth I quickly realized the material they had for me to fill the teeth was not creating a bond with the tooth and the fillings fell out immediately.  So, I was able to watch the wizardry of the Oral Surgeon taking teeth out very quickly, I learned some great techniques to use in the future.

Two things to look at here.  First, the electrical set up taped to a chalkboard.   You can see why we
routinely lose electricity in the afternoon.  Second the sign.  C.R.A.P. stands for, "don't eat Carbonated drinks, Refined sugar, Artificial foods, Processed foods.  I like that.   We sense the kids are reading this, but a good share of the adults are morbidly obese.

So, you ask, how is Sandals.  As I mentioned before, this Sandals is a 3-star.  Good, not great.  At $500 per night per couple, I would not recommend it.  Buffet breakfast is 3-star on a generous day.  The lunch they send out with us is 1-star and the same food for the last two days, but the dinners are 4+-start and very enjoyable.

Octopus for my appetizer.  Not a cross-section but the whole arm.  Not quite what I expected and pretty chewy. 

Dinner fare is an appetizer, main dish, and dessert plus free drinks.  They are really a highlight of our stay here.  Also, there are two sister Sandals resorts within shuttle distance, so you can go restaurant crawling if you want.

Glass outdoor fireplaces scattered about.  Nice to look at but not needed for warmth.

Clinic Day One and Squeaky-Door Crickets

St. Lucia is a beautiful island.  All volcanic, reminds us of Maui.

Breakfast at 7, left Sandals at 7:45 for an hour drive through rush hour traffic (!) to Anse La Raye.  The sleepy, small village we were at yesterday that was exploding with noise and very small costumes.  What a difference a day makes!

When we arrived, the street was full of people waiting to be seen.  We selected 30 or so, the rest will return tomorrow.  Two docs and three hygienists.  I did extractions while Dr. Boo (nickname) did fillings.  A few hiccups that will be corrected as we move on, but overall a successful day.  Below, a 5-second video of me in the foreground and Gloria in the back.  Very hot in the building with a fans blowing and me wearing my 'lucky' hat to keep the sweat from dripping off my head!

Oh, the crickets.  A cacophony of noise all night long.  Crickets by the millions, their high chirping sounds like squeaky hinges.....millions of them.  

Transit to St. Lucia, Orientation and Site Visit

Routine transit from California.  San Francisco to Miami, a three hour that evolved into a five-hour layover, then south to St. Lucia.  We will be working with 1000 Smiles, Great Shape, Inc. for the next week. They are a non-profit who has been working in Jamaica, St. Lucia and Grenada since 1988.

Saturday night was a meet and greet, 34 volunteers with 5 dentists. Great Shape also employees around 10 'locals' from the different Caribbean Islands.  Today was orientation.  After breakfast, we were briefed by Papa Joe concerning treatment protocols and after lunch, we visited the venues we will be working at.  Gloria and I will be working at three of the four venues.  The 'seaside' village tomorrow and Wednesday, the Federal Prison on Thursday and the city clinic on Tuesday and Friday.  We passed on the hotel clinic.

Our set up today was a bit sketchy.  Lots of supplies to organize and instruments to set up, but it is a Caribbean holiday so we had to battle chest-thumping Mardi Gras parades all afternoon.  We were told there were 4 'speaker trucks' and very-drunk revelers, which was true, but we quickly realized that they kept going around the block, over and over again.  The pictures below only portray the R rated scenes. The local police were monitoring so that the partyers kept their clothes on. (what little clothes they wore!)

Four of these trucks, the music was beyond deafening!

Everyone had a drink and frequently a cell phone in hand, (no pockets)

These fishnet stockings were crying out in pain!

As mentioned, this the the R rated version, the video was X rated.