Printable format	E-mail article:	Search news:

By Stacie Crozier

New Orleans —By the weekend of Feb. 4-5, everything was coming together at New Orleans' Audubon Zoo—hundreds of volunteers, pallets of supplies and truckloads of equipment—in preparation for a six and-a-half day medical and dental clinic to serve victims of last fall's devastating hurricanes.

On Feb. 4, like many volunteers, Dr. Bob Plage headed to New Orleans for the Remote Area Medical/Mission of Mercy medical/dental clinic from his home in Wilmington, N.C. He flew with colleague Dr. Keith Taylor of Chapel Hill, N.C., in Dr. Taylor's Cessna.

"We took off in some foul weather and fought a headwind all day trying to get there," Dr. Plage says. "Some 12 hours after leaving my home we arrived in New Orleans. I was not a happy camper at that point. I was glad to have a bed and slept like a log."

Ready to work: Dr. Charles Johnson, Richmond, Va., and his dental assistant Ignacia Turner pause for a photo while treating a patient during the MOM event in New Orleans. (Photo by Dr. Ted Sherwin)

Dr. Plage woke on Sunday and started the set-up process. "The heavy work of unloading trucks began by about 8 a.m. and lasted all day, setting up the chairs, lights, tables and supplies. Three of us set up a 10-chair hygiene clinic and that afternoon I became a diesel mechanic."

Dr. Plage says the diesel compressor that would power the dental clinic's equipment had run out of fuel and wouldn't start again. With the help of a zoo mechanic, he says, they bled air out of the line and got the dental clinic's power working again. The clinic had 73 chairs, and dedicated areas for triage, radiography, sterilization, endodontics, oral surgery, restorative work and hygiene.

"As I left the site Sunday night, I still wondered if anyone would show up the next day—you never really know until that day comes," he says.

"When I arrived on Monday morning, the patients were lined up by the hundreds if not thousands," Dr. Plage continues. "After two days of work and bouncing around in an airplane I was having my own pity party."

But a patient named Ella transformed his mood, a women from Baton Rouge who'd lost her home and most of her possessions during hurricane Katrina.

"She asked me several questions about my family and where I was from. She asked me their names. She said, 'Dr. Bob, I am going to pray for you and each of your children and your wife this week while you are away from home helping us here. God has sent you here to help us and that is the least I can do for you.' She brought tears to my eyes. She set me straight.

	Extending a hand: The ADA Foundation donated $50,000 to support the dental MOM project. (Photo courtesy of the Feintuch family)

"You may have watched a lot of television coverage from the Gulf Coast, but when you get tired of seeing it, you can turn it off," he adds. "When you're actually there, you can't tune it out anymore. It becomes a part of you."

By Wednesday, the weather turned unseasonably chilly, and patients waited and received treatment wrapped in blankets and dentists and other volunteers donned parkas, scarves, hats and other cold-weather outerwear in an attempt to fight off the cold, sticking their hands in their pockets to warm them when they weren't gripping chilly dental instruments. During the week, volunteers and patients battled rain and winds that scattered patient napkins and other paper goods and collapsed supply tents. But patients' gratitude and volunteers' enthusiasm remained high throughout the grueling program.

Between Feb. 6 and Feb. 12, some 425 volunteers from 38 states—including 239 dentists—helped provide nearly $2 million worth of dental care to nearly 4,000 individuals. The entire medical and dental health outreach drew about 10,000 patients, making it the largest event of its kind held in the United States.

MOM dental care organizers were able to purchase dental supplies thanks to a $50,000 grant from the ADA Foundation, and Ron and Pam Lamb of World Dental Relief donated three pallets of supplies to the cause. The Salvation Army provided hot chocolate and food for patients and volunteers and the American Red Cross donated some 4,000 blankets to help keep patients in line warm during the chilly days.

Keeping warm: A mother and child use a blanket to fight off unseasonably chilly weather as they await treatment at the MOM event in New Orleans. (Photo by Dr. Ted Sherwin)

Henry Schein, a partner with Virginia's MOM Project, took daily orders from organizers and shipped needed supplies overnight every night and preshipped 2,000 pounds of donated supplies via the 'Schein Cares' program.

Other partners in the dental program included Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry, the Virginia Department of Health, Dental Division who donated 3,000 brushes, floss and toothpaste, and many individuals who helped organize and run the dental clinic event.

"The wonderful feeling of teamwork and accomplishment set in every night when we left and yes, we did feel like we made a difference," says Dr. Plage. "I now have faces to remember when I think of Katrina. It is now very real for me. I will go back again if we have another MOM planned. They sure need us and, as I found out, we need them."

Dr. Plage's story is one of many that volunteers shared with the ADA News.