Dental Outreaches in Bolivia

This summer, Hospitals of Hope volunteers did a number of dental outreaches in the communities around the hospital. Here's a report from one of the volunteers:

As I was getting ready for dental clinic this morning, Iris told me that we might not be able to have the outreach as our trufi driver (Manuel) was not able to get to us due to the road blockade. [Road blockades are common in Bolivia.] Then half an hour later, we got word that we had patients waiting for us already in Comunidad Oachaca Grande. Monica, a local missionary, volunteered to come to pick us up in groups so we could still have the dental clinic, as patients were already waiting for us to show up. That is exactly what God had in mind as He knew we needed all the volunteers to do the dental clinic. We had planned to have a small dental team go to Comunidad Oachaca Grande, with the rest going to an orphanage to minister through hair cutting and seed planting. The hair cutting and seed planting will have to wait until God opens that door.

We arrived at about 11 am after driving through fields and nowhere. The place where we set up clinic is an actual medical/dental room with a manual dental chair. We set up another 5 stations for the volunteers to do cleanings and fluoride treatment in that small room. When the second team showed up later, they set up clinic in an unfinished room. So we had about 15 chairs going at one time. We did mainly cleaning and fluoride (as all team members are experts at that by now), and extractions when the patients request or agree to the extractions. Almost 90% of the patients we see needed extractions, but most do not want the extractions as their teeth do not hurt them anymore, but the infection is still there.

During lunch time, Jonathan shared the gospel with the patients. Tomas, our house dad, was there to interpret (again God's plan) because he could not go to work due to the road blockade. It is amazing to see how the day unfolds as we commit our days to our Lord. Since this was a last minute change of plan, we were not prepared to pack lunch, so all we had to bring was bread to make PBJ. Again God had better plans, and while we worked in the dental clinic, Monica cooked a delicious Bolivian meal for us. We saw probably about 70 - 80 patients today. We ended our day @ 6.30 pm and Monica drove us back to the guest house. We experienced the perimeter of the road blockade, but were able to turn around and get back to the hospital - Praise God!

After dinner, we had a campfire and everyone shared their experiences, and it was good to hear how each one has grown in the Lord, or learned something about themselves and about living together as a family in such a short time. God's love really binds everyone together.