More of our dental program

6/17/10

Woke up this morning at 4:45 am to make it to this morning’s walk/run with the women’s group…and at 5 am there were 16 women (some new) ready to hit the pavement. After we spent a few minutes stretching, we began what would be an hour long 2.5 mile walk/run with all of the ladies. After we returned home and crunched down some breakfast we headed out to Puerta, a small aldea about a 15 minutes drive to continue the dental treatment…like I wrote before the aldeas are much smaller and are often poorer regions then the main town of Punta. When we arrived in Puerta we were welcomed by all of the students, about 50 kids grades K-4. The school had 2 classrooms and students were grouped by their age. I was happy that the program here went very smoothly and we finished in about an hour and a half. Due to the extreme poverty in these areas, not many children are provided with proper dental information or materials...this has resulted in a lack of brushing as well as prominent tooth decay in the community. This program is so important because we not only provide them with the materials, but we are also teaching them proper brushing technique (through a very catchy song and group instruction) which will hopefully promote dental health in the communities. Here are some pictures from Puerta:

We then headed to Abelina where we saw much of the same thing…many of the children had bad tooth decay (which I am sure is very painful) and were eager to receive the fluoride treatment. They will be receiving the fluoride treatment regularly every 6 months thanks to Salud Juntos and the Health Promotoras Christina and Flor.

When we got back to Punta at 11:30 we got baliadas from the local comedora before heading out yet again to Coco…we had a community meeting regarding vegetable gardens and we had the first walk for the walking group out there. Both were very successful and we had about 14 women ready to walk/run...I did a lot today. O and I forgot to mention, the walking group in Punta wants to do another walk at 5 am tomorrow, so an early night for me I'm exhausted from the day…but I’m glad these groups are working out in the communities. Here is some pictures of us painting the clinic and the view from outside from a few days ago. Adios, Marcos.