R and R Day Two, Life in the "80's" and Final Post

Another day to scuba dive, except this time the visibility was very poor!  Maybe 10-15 feet.  But, my plan was to work on close-up pictures with my underwater camera and flash.  Except......focusing problems with the camera, all 85 photos turned out blurry.  Oh well, strong current to fight during the whole dive, so good exercise.   The photos below are from Gloria's camera.

Lion Fish

A very large lobster.  Our divemaster told us if we touched him he would
personally see to it that we were arrested.

Puffer Fish

Before and after the dive, more food.  (This has got to end when we get home).  A nice walk on the beach in the afternoon, then dinner at Mario's the Italian restaurant here at Halcyon Sandals.

Now the "80's"-----Everything here is in the '80s, the air, the ocean, the pools, the humidity, the clinics we worked in, the open-air restaurants, the rain, the hotel room if the AC isn't turned up, the day, the night. And, I think, it is the '80's year-round.  Seasons are nice!

So, an interesting trip.  I think we provided good dentistry for many people.  As they say, "watching sausage being made" isn't the most pleasant, same with how this program is put together.  But, it has worked for Great Shape! for many years, they continue to get volunteers to join them and their protocols are comfortable for them.  Few suggestions were made.  We wish them the best in the future.

R and R Day One

Dentistry is behind us, now for some rest and relaxation.  Two good dives today.  Visibility of around 40 feet and a nice variety of corals and fish.  Photos and a video below:

Finally, we celebrated our 44th anniversary!

Clinic Day Five and Farewell Dinner

We are back at Marchand School for our final clinic day.  Dr. Wang the Oral Surgeon doing all the extractions, (Gloria did three, secretly), I and Dr. John did fillings.  We had nine chairs going, four for the hygienist, three for Dr. Wang and one each for me and John.

Left to right, the principal of the school who triaged the patients, Kathy and Jodi who checked them out.

Lots of patients, we were told we saw over 625 patients for the week.  Not bad for 7 hygienists and 5 dentists.  Tonight was the 'cry and good-bye'.  A great team effort.  Great volunteers.  Great Shape moves on to Grenada for their next outreach.  We wish them luck.

This is Erica and Sydney, my two assistants.  They tag-teamed depending on the venue.
Both great gals.  They are seniors in college and pre-dent. 
They will be great dentists someday!

Clinic Day Four, Prison Dentist and Plumber

Today we went to the Federal Penitentiary to see our dental patients.  Lots of concrete and barbed wire. Security to get in was minimal, we had our bags checked, went through a TSA style metal detector that was unplugged and a brief patdown.

It is located on the top of a hill with a 360 degree view of the Atlantic Ocean.  Would have been a great location for a hotel.  We were told it holds 900 inmates with only 12 women. We had a short day, getting set up around 9:30 and only working till 2:00 since we had to breakdown the clinic for its transport back to Sandals.

We saw around 15 patients, Gloria did cleanings on half, I pulled teeth on the other half.  Pretty routine.  All the inmates were cordial, some friendly, others, not so much.  My assistant is a 21-year-old pre-dental college student.  I recommended she take her name tag off and keep her mask on, no need to encourage a conversation.  With a patient in the chair, if  I left my operatory to check on Gloria in hers, a guard would step in.

The least cooperative but the most friendly was the one female inmate I saw.  She needed a wisdom tooth out.  Not the easiest in the mouth.  She was a mess while I was giving her anesthetic grabbing my hand once and the syringe once.  THAT'S not allowed.  And I told her so.  She was very nervous and crying.  Once I got the tooth numbed and started to removed it, she, again raised her arm, but this time to grab my knee.  That's OK.  I got the tooth out, and she thanked me for my patience and shook my hand.......

This is Coco, our sterile tech.  I think that is a nickname.  The hair on his head is in four cocoa puffs.   A great guy.

During lunch, I needed to use the guard's bathroom.  When I was ready to flush, nothing happened.  I took the tank lid off and discovered the chain from the rubber flapper was disconnected from both the flapper and the arm attached to the lever.  So, I emptied the tank removed the flapper and chain, and using a maxillary anterior forcep, refashioned the chain to fit both the flapper and lever, Yay, the toilet worked again.  Figured it would be a lot easier than to call maintenance.