I spent two weeks of May in Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic. I was there for work...but you shouldn't feel too bad for me since I was staying here....
Despite the incredibly beautiful accommodations, we definitely worked hard! We saw hundreds of patients, and many, many dental patients as well. Click here if you want to know ALL the details about the number of patients we saw!
This is one of my favorite photo stories from the trip. Shawn (PA) was taking care of this sweet little girl, who had several bad cavities. She recommended that the little girl go see the dentist. The little girl had seen some dental patients earlier getting really bad teeth yanked. So, naturally, she was scared out of her wits. She was in tears when Shawn said "dentist," so Shawn tried to cheer her up by letting the girl listen to her heart beat with the stethoscope...
...and it totally did the trick! The little girl's face lit up, and she was soon calm enough to go see the dentist. Since her cavities were so bad and she was underweight, the dentist actually opted not to pull any teeth until she could see a specialist and make sure there weren't any other significant problems.
There were so many adorable kiddos who came to clinic. This was the best "cheese!" of the trip, by far! (Seriously - how cute is that!?!?!?)
After 5 days of clinic, we spent a day being tourists in Monte Cristi, a town where basically no tourists come. So, we had a private boat tour of the mangroves and coast, and then enjoyed an afternoon on an island with literally no one else in sight.
The views were breathtaking.
Monte Cristi is a beautiful place with significant needs. It was so reassuring to be there and see this newest Timmy program growing. The needs are great, but the local physician, nurse and community health workers are eager to provide quality care, and were thrilled to be partnering with us. It was really an awesome opportunity, and I can't wait to go back and visit!
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