Weekend in paradise

We had big plans for our first day off and happily achieved them all!

My day started with a canoe around the lagoon followed by a lovely breakfast.

After a lazy morning we were off for 2 hours of relaxation at Lotus Spa where the lovely Ni-Van girls worked their magic on our tired shoulders, necks and arms...a week of multiple extractions had left the dentists physically strained! Staff at local shops have noticed our Rotary VTT t-shirts during the week and we have picked up loads of new patients for the clinic. The owner of the spa was really impressed with the work we have been doing and presented us with a voucher for another half hour massage to use next week. It's little things that make us realise how much our being here means to people.

Our bus driver Eddie and his mate Pascall picked us up and shipped us off to the Mele waterfalls about 15 minutes out of Vila. We walked 20 minutes uphill to the start of the waterfall then followed a track upstream to the base of the falls. The scenery was breathtaking and we jumped in for an amazing swim. A little fresh but perfectly invigorating.

Mele Cascades

Numbawan (Bislama for number one!) team

We then headed back to Mele township where we caught a little water taxi over to Hideaway Island. The sun was going down but we snuck in for a quick snorkel and even managed to post a few cards off in the underwater post box. To all of you awaiting these I think we might arrive home before they do! We were in time for the ever important happy hour and indulged in a Mango daiquiri before a beachside BBQ.

Alicia looking pretty in the sunset at Hideaway Island

The days have been long, the work hard but moments like these come but once in a lifetime and make us feel so lucky to be here.

Michelle

Life in the van

17-18th June 2015

Mum, Gloria, Richard, Bob, Neville and I went to the Seaside Community school on the 17th, with the van, while the girls were at the PCV clinic. Mum and I attended the school assembly and enjoyed the beautiful singing by the students. We then addressed the whole school, giving oral hygiene and dietary advice before the children went off to class. Mum then set up in a classroom, assisted by Bob, and did oral screening and recording for the junior class students, who would then come to the van to see Gloria and myself for their treatment. While Mum was able to screen all the children, we were unable to keep up with completing all treatment needed for the children, before the school day ended at 11.30am. The children were a bit apprehensive about visiting a dentist for the first time, understandably! But with their teacher's help, we were able to get through the treatment required for the children we did see. In the afternoon we saw the kindergarten students, who were more excited to see us (always a pleasant change to what we normally get!) for screening and as much treatment as time would allow. Despite language barriers, we were able to get the kids a bit more excited about brushing with our models, and the importance of a healthy diet. 

We attended our first Rotary meeting on the 17th, which happens on the lunch hour for the Rotarians in the club. We enjoyed a nice lunch with the club, listened in on various club activities and projects, and heard a presentation from a group from Victoria, Australia, who are in Vanuatu to organise a Cricket team for over 60 year olds. The club primarily consists of expats from all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, and Korea. Our own presentation was very well received, as we each gave our own stories of where we come from, our work histories and some background about Australian culture. Mum and Susan presented the President, and our accommodation host, Richard Purdie, with banners from the Elizabeth and Clare clubs, respectively, and were each presented with a banner for the Port Vila club. We distributed our brochures, cards and badges to our new alliances, and exchanged contact details, so we can keep them informed of our time in Vanuatu.

On the 18th, the van stayed close by to the clinic, due to it being a school public holiday, we saw a mix of adult and child patients in the van. Despite several hiccups with the van, equipment, chair etc, we have managed to get everything working, (more or less!) and patient flow went much more efficiently today. We saw a group of children in the afternoon, brought to us by Ruth, a friend we made at the Rotary meeting the day before. She was very keen to get as many of the children in her school seen by a dentist as she is aware treatment is much needed for them. We have discovered that wearing our VTT shirts around the Main Street in Port Vila, attracts the Ni-Vans we meet at the shops, supermarkets, cafes, and they are all very interested in coming to see us.

Gloria and me in the dental van

One of my most rewarding moments, was a patient I saw on Monday at the clinic, who was so grateful for whatever treatment she could get, and for it being free, that she must have said 'thank you' a hundred times! Then by chance, Alicia and I walked into a shop on our lunch break, and it happened to be the same store where she worked. She was so excited to see me again, she hugged me and had been telling all her co-workers about us, encouraging them to come too. I saw her again today for some further treatment, helping to restore her beautiful smile, she was so happy with the result she bought me a lovely dress and some earrings! I was so happy to have been able to make her so happy, and to have added another lovely friend to the list of people I hope to return to Vanuatu to meet again. 

Agnetha

Every day is busy but this was REALLY busy!

Feeling awesome!

Stats for Friday: Viv, Michelle and Agnetha with Gloria the local dental assistant achieved an amazing 73 patient exams, 5 fillings and 24 extractions!! Susan, Bob (the Ni-Van dental assistant) and I tackled 2 endodontic preparations (the first stage of root canal), 3 fillings and 53 extractions!! What a day for us!! Today felt like we really made a difference.

Bob sterilising 

Susan working her magic hands 

Bob and I!

Alicia

(added note from Susan): we did a lot of extractions in the morning (20) and I joked that we should aim for 50. When we counted from our records at the end of the day I was so surprised that we actually took out 53 teeth! Wow, I don't think I will ever work that hard again in my life. Richard, a Ni-Van optician who set up the dental and eye clinic asked me what my previous record was - I think it was around 15! We're having a great day of relaxation now, more on that later. Thanks for reading!

Susan

Visiting the school

Today we had our first day of visiting a school. We took the dental van just around the corner to Vila Central, a primary school. Gloria (dental assistant from New Zealand who will has committed her life to volunteering here for the next few years with her wonderful husband Neville - godsends!) and I were in the dental van performing treatment after our team leader Viv and Bob (our Ni-Van) dental assistant/therapist) screened the students and assessed their need for further treatment. Agnetha, Alicia and Michelle treated adults and other children at the clinic today and we will all rotate this way for the next two weeks.

The dental van was a first dental visit for almost all our patients. In each school all kinder and Year 1 students (4-6 years old) are being screened by us. In Australia we try to encourage children to have their first dental visit a few years earlier so they are familiar with the dentist, hopefully haven't experienced any disease so can focus on preventing decay and if there is any evidence of disease there is still an opportunity for early intervention.

Viv conducted 80 examinations today! Incredible! In addition every patient had a fluoride treatment of duraphat varnish by Viv, Bob or I. The fluoride treatment will help to prevent decay by strengthening their enamel, or in cases that already had decay (most) it will help remineralise early decays. If a child was assessed to need treatment (the majority) they would line up at the dental van. 30 children came through the van today, around half of those were just for fluoride treatments which are very quick and the other half were for restorative treatment (fillings - all in glass ionomer cement and without local anaesthesia, which is much quicker working in a little child's mouth) or extractions. The children cope very well without local anaesthetic for restorations but still don't like it much when they have it for an extraction! The children really are just the same as Aussie kids in so many other ways also. A little girl said to me 'you gonna stick me?!' and I tried not to laugh because it sounded so funny. The children have quite good English, as Bislama is based 95% on English and 5% French. I'm trying to pick up some Bislama and today I used a lot of 'bigfela openem' which roughly (hopefully) translates to 'open your mouth wide'.

Unfortunately we identified many children with grossly decayed teeth that needed treatment that wasn't able to be completed today but we are looking to try get these children into the clinic another time in the next two weeks. Another difficulty is completing so much treatment on such a young child, as they become fearful and upset in such a new environment. In Australia many of these children would meet the criteria to have all their treatment performed under a general anaesthetic but unfortunately that isn't an option here.

I think we are all feeling a bit tired and overwhelmed after a big few days but are also feeling really energised knowing that we are contributing to making an improvement. It does feel a little like our small bit of treatment is just a drop in the ocean of what needs to be done but it's encouraging to think of the positive aspects that could come from it - like knowing that even if we don't get all the treatment that these children need done that we have hopefully identified an area of need so that volunteers and resources might be dedicated further to these school children.

Gloria kindly took these photos (we couldn't unlock the door after lunchtime so the teacher put a child through the window to open it for us!):

In case you think we're working too hard here is our view from dinner:

Tata
Susan

First day in the clinic

Today was the team's first day in the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu Dental Clinic and Rotary-donated dental van. Off to an early start by "Island time", we arrived at the clinic at 8:30am, greeted at the surgery by Gloria (dental assistant), Debra (operations), Jessie (receptionist), Richard (operations manager) and Bob (Ni-van dental assistant). 

The first job of the day was to unload the 50kg of donated dental materials into the PCV Clinic. Donations from dental companies, surgeries and Rotary consisted of much needed gloves, filling materials, bonds, masks, mirrors, gauze just to name a few! 

After sorting out who was working in the clinic or the van, we were off to a shaky start but finally found our groove by lunch. Susan, Viv, Gloria and Bob were to start the day in the mobile van visiting the local schools, however due to technical issues the van served as a third treatment room. 

Susan and Bob in the Dental Van

The dental clinic consists of two dental chairs, Michelle occupied room 1 with Agnetha and I in room 2. Michelle's treatment consisted of oral hygiene instruction, applying fluoride, cleaning teeth with scalers and diet instruction. After seeing today's patients, Michelle noted that patients had a very good standard of oral care, however due to lack of dental resources gum issues (periodontal disease) was quite a common issue. 

Michelle and Bob in room 1

Agnetha in room 2

My first time manually developing x-rays!

Next door saw Agnetha and I tackling a lot of extractions and fillings with adult patients. After sorting through foreign cupboards and finding our feet, Agnetha and I tackled up to 4 fillings and 1 extraction per patient within an hour appointment! Today marked my first day of manually processing x-rays with developer and fixer as in my day to day routine as a dental assistant in Alice Springs our radiographs are digitally processed! As they say you learn new things everyday! 

Off to dinner after our first day's work!

After finishing the day at 4:30pm, the team already felt a great sense of achievement and were looking forward to the coming week.

Alicia 

Starting out in Vanuatu

We woke this morning feeling refreshed and ready to go after a beautiful 8 hours sleep listening to the raindrops on our thatched roofs. Sounds dreamy, and it is rather!

Breakfast was overlooking the lagoon and we were greeted with fresh local fruit, homemade bread and croissants just out of the oven and local coffee from Tanna Island. The coffee plantations on the island have been decimated by the recent devastating cyclone so may be a precious commodity in the months to come.

Our obliging and patient host Richard drove us into town where I luckily got to travel first class, in the boot! A fun start to the day! 

We picked up water and a few other essential supplies at the supermarket roaming around the aisles bumping into locals doing their weekly shop.

We had the maximum security jail pointed out to us which consisted of a reasonably low barbed wire fence, a concrete building and a series of shipping containers, and yes it does house true maximum security prisoners. Interesting.

After meandering our way through a few streets and up a few steps taking in the stunning seascape we met up with Gloria and Neville at the dental clinic where we had our first glance at our work base for the next 2 weeks, familiarizing ourselves with the equipment and materials.

The mobile dental van where will split our time between was parked on-site. The clinic and van were packed and ready for action and it is clear see how much work has gone on behind the scenes by a passionate and dedicated team, most of who volunteer their time to the project.

We have a list of patients pages long waiting for treatment and packed appointment book.

Luckily we have 3 great dentists, a very able, dynamic assistant and myself ready to get our teeth stuck into the challenge...no pun intended!

Michelle 

Farewell dinner and arrival to Vanuatu!

On Friday evening the Rotary Club of Elizabeth hosted our team, and our family and friends for a Farewell Dinner. We modelled our uniforms for the first time and gave our presentation to the club, that we will be giving while in Vanuatu, detailing our personal stories, including where we come from, where we work, our families and discussion about Australia's wildlife, culture, history, wineries and agriculture. Our presentation was well received by the VTT committee, the Elizabeth Club and a few of our family members, friends and workmates. We enjoyed a lovely meal with the club before heading home for some last minute packing and preparations.

Our flight was at 6am Saturday morning, to Vanuatu via Brisbane. We had our own bags plus two extra bags to check in filled with our dental supplies. We arrived in Port Vila at approximately 2.30pm, to gusty winds and rain causing our plane to circle the island several times before it could safely land. We were greeted upon arrival by Richard Purdie, Rotarian and owner of Vila Chaumieres, our accommodation for the next two weeks, and Bruce, also a Rotarian expat from Australia. We were taken to our accommodation for some R & R before meeting Richard Tatwin, a Rotarian youth worker studying ophthalmology, and Gloria and Neville Jones, missionaries from New Zealand now living in Vanuatu, who help run the clinic. We enjoyed our first meal at the accommodation on the lagoon, and then turned in early for a much needed good night's sleep!

Agnetha

View from the plane of Port Vila 

Welcome to Vanuatu!

Flying over Vanuatu on arrival from Australia