Equipment donors help recovery
Dentist’s airplane hangar doubles as distribution facility
|
Posted March 22, 2006 |
By Stacie Crozier Brookhaven, Miss.—Dr. Don Doty's airplane hangar plus two other hangars at his local airport are without their usual residents.
Instead, the hangars are housing dental equipment and supplies donated by dentists and dental companies after Hurricane Katrina devastated hundreds of dental offices in the Gulf Coast.
| |
 |
| |
Equipment delivery: From left, Dr. David Lovett, Lubbock, Texas, Dr. Jack Rowley, Chalmette, La., and Libby Hewitt, Brookhaven, Miss., meet at Dr. Don Doty's airport hanger in January.
|
Dr. Doty, a general dentist in Brookhaven, and his office manager Libby Hewitt have helped coordinate receipt, storage and distribution of equipment for Gulf Coast dentists in need.
"I want to convey my thanks to all the donors—both companies and dentists—including many dentists who personally drove their donations down here," says Dr. Doty.
"I also want to express the thanks I've received from the dentists who received equipment. The hurricane was really devastating to their lives and their practices, but thanks to the generosity of others, they can get back on track," he said.
They have gathered more than $1 million worth of equipment and supplies and distributed equipment to more than 60 dentists in need.
Dr. David and Marcella Lovett had some dental office equipment to donate after he retired from private practice, so they packed up a trailer and drove it 1,000 miles to Dr. Doty's hangar. While they were delivering their donations, plus equipment they gathered from other Texas dentists, they had a chance to meet some of the dentists who lost their offices to the disaster.
"The dentists we met were nicest bunch of people and they couldn't believe we drove so far to deliver the equipment," said Mrs. Lovett, a past president of the Alliance of the Texas Dental Association. "It was well worth it."
Before Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Jack Rowley practiced in St. Bernard Parish, which he says now is devastated. Dr. Rowley lost his home, his office and most of his patient base.
Phone, gas and water service in his community are spotty at best and, until a post office opened recently, he was driving 70 miles to pick up his mail, but he plans to stay and reopen his practice.
"We're going to stick it out and hopefully we can be up and running by June," Dr. Rowley says. "I'm doing a lot of the restoration work myself and it's going slow. It's my job right now."
Although the equipment he received from Dr. Doty's hangar is in storage right now, he says he's grateful for the help.
"I appreciate the efforts of Dr. Doty and his staff and all the companies and dentists who were so generous," he says.
In addition to used equipment donated by many dentists, Dr. Doty and the ADA Foundation have secured equipment and supplies donated by Ace Surgical, Aseptico, Athena Champion, Beutlich Pharmaceuticals, Centrix, Colgate-Palmolive, Dentistry Canada Fund, Eastman Kodak, General Electric, Henry Schein, Hu-Friedy, Patterson Dental Supply, SciCan, Sunstar Butler, 3M ESPE and Young Innovations.
|
