March 15 Update
The big news of this week was the “Dental Day” sponsored by International Smile Power and Dr. Jeffrey Zent’s office, with medical care provided by Dr. Sigrid Barnickle Issaquah, and lab services through Quest Diagnotics. Steve Burk, who was one of the volunteer drivers on Saturday wrote that “The dental program was a huge success and a start to a growing relationship with more dentists throughout the region embracing the needs of our homeless.” Susan Evans from Smile Power wrote, “a guy from the WA State Dental Assn was there video taping interviews with those willing to chat on-camera. WSDA will be editing and putting together a video of the outreach that we can all have access to view. Haven’t had a chance to de-brief with the dental people yet but as a lay person, I found the day very heart wrenching. On one hand, the residents – many of whom haven’t seen a dentist in years and years, got the attention they needed. But I find it very heart breaking that in a country as wealthy as ours that the dentists would see patients that needed 5 to 14 teeth pulled! Can you imagine – 14 teeth pulled in one day?! We expect to see that in the very remote areas of Africa, South Am. or Jamaica but not here in our backyard. The doctor next door had seen 18 patients as of 4PM. I picked up some contact information from them on how to get the on-going medications that some of the residents need. I understand the drivers collected the resident’s prescription info.”
I didn’t get an actual count of how many residents were seen on Saturday, March 13. Earle Jones, in charge of transportation, estimated that there were 30 or more. Many thanks to Steve Burke, Earle, and Jake Lynch who drove in the morning, and to Jeanne Vogel, Faye Curnon, and Brad Board who joined Earle in the afternoon!
NEEDS: the usual stuff, plus sleeping bags.
Special request: Jake Lynch mentioned the medications/insurance process/DSHS stuff to his wife, Deb, who is about to complete her Masters in Public Health. She is keen to get involved. She is going to do some research Monday/Tuesday, and would appreciate guidance on how to find the answers. You can reach her via lynch.jake.a@gmail.com.
