2006 Day One

The team was greeted with clear skies for the first morning in Guatemala. After leisurely breakfasts and gathering supplies, the team climbed into a tourist bus that carried them up the gravel road to El Hato.

Since beginning the dental project in El Hato three years ago the clinic has been set up in the village’s school. Last year two additional buildings were under construction to double the school’s size; this year those buildings are finished – wired with electricity, painted and even decorated with murals. Children gathered in the courtyard as the team tore into setting up a clinic.

It took over two hours to unpack supplies – everything from the patient chairs to suction tubes to gauze. By the time the first patients came in after noon there were four stations: three dentists who focused primarily on extractions and fillings and one hygienist to provide preventative cleanings.

Once the first patients took their seats the chairs hardly stayed empty. As soon as one patient was done another was ushered in to fill the space. The courtyard filled with women and children either waiting their turn or just there to check out the excitement.

Across the courtyard from the dental clinic, in the small room that serves as the principal’s office, Dr. Jan Paquette set up a make-shift medical clinic. A health record, containing height, weight, temperature, blood pressure and pulse was created for each of the 13 patients that came into the clinic, and a copy given to the patient in hopes of providing some history for future treatment.

Most of the medical patients came with complaints of coughs, low-grade fevers and other mild illnesses. The clinic did see a man with pneumonia and a woman with a urinary tract infection, easily treated with free samples of medication.

Working well past the designated departure time, the dental team saw over thirty patients ranging in age from 5 to 56 years. Twenty of those patients were asked to return the next day to receive either extensive treatment after just a brief exam or for more work that couldn’t be finished in one day.

Yet with this third year the impact of the project began to show itself. Dr. Allan Methven and Dr. Bob MacIlveen both noted that they did far more fillings on the first day of this trip than on the first day of the previous trips – a sign that the serious dental health problems, mostly treated with extractions, are diminishing.

The clinics were finally closed down as the sun started to set behind the surrounding mountains. The mood in the bus was light, albeit tired, as the team members rode back into the city.