April 2017 Haiti Trip Recap

There simply aren't enough hours in the day while we're in Haiti.  We saw between 60-80+ patients each day, doing 2-5 procedures each.  It is a full time job to just keep the lines and crowds under control.  60 Percent of the patients we saw had never seen the dentist before and most are dealing with major oral healthy issues as a result.  While we were focused on fixing the immediate problems, we also had a few moments to help educate the locals on regular oral health habits that they can go back and teach their families.

This tip was special because we had a few different local Haitians join us.  We were honored to have Dr. Jean Louis work with us.  He is a professor at the dental school and a working physician as well.  We also had Dr. Etienne Guichard, a new Dental School Graduate!    Dr. Renol Clerge joined us toward the end.  He is a young Haitian dentist and faculty in the Oral Surgery Department at the dental school.  We were so blessed to have these locals who not only knew the language (BIG PLUS), but also knew dentistry.

Throughout the week, power was an issue, and even septic/sewer systems were down at times.  Our equipment was spotty at best, with our compressor needing to be "fixed" after each patient.  But, it made it through the week!

A sobering part of our trip was talking with a local leader, who works within the Underground Railroad in Haiti.  He identifies and jails groups involved in the child sex trafficking battle.

We also got to visit the orphanage in St. Roch and the farmland in St. Roch that will help feed the village there.

This dental trip was a lot of work.  We ran low on supplies and ran 14 hours days on average, but it was incredibly rewarding. The people, the culture...such a blessing!