PAP 2

What a difference a day makes! Our children today have lots of decay and the percentage requiring treatment is as high as 40% in certain communities. If you've been following this blog, you'd be right in assuming that many of the school children that we are seeing today don't have access to oral healthcare education. 

It's 11:30 am and so far 74 patients have required extraction of multiple teeth. 

My partner in the exam station is Dr. Robert Renner, who is the founder of KIDS. And year after year, I am amazed at his stamina. He examines every child, some 800 so far.  If they need extractions or minor restorations they come to me and I make a treatment plan for them. It's so much fun to dust off my high school French and have a short conversation with them about their pain. I so wish that I could contact my high school French teacher and tell her "See, I was paying attention!"

Upstairs, our team of doctors is working diligently to restore and extract teeth. They are in an air conditioned room, a first for a KIDS trip, unaware of the number of patients building up in the waiting area due to today's greater need. 

In the bleachers of the gym, a another group waits to be screened. 

Though we assemble for breakfast at 5 am, and board our vans at 6 am, we can not escape the gridlock of PAP. There are no traffic lights and only 2 main thoroughfares thru the city. The big intersections have police officers directing traffic. But here a lane is allowed to cross for 10 to 15 minutes, while the perpendicular traffic sits idle. This would not fly at home. 

Sadly, there is a serious back story to our trip. Kim and Jeff live in the North Bay outside San Francisco. Though the fire has not taken their home, their property and Jeff's family business are at risk. Some of their friends have lost homes. Yesterday, the winds diminished and changed to a favorable direction, however, today they are blowing in the wrong direction. We're all hoping that the any good that we are doing here will somehow help them with the fickle nature of the weather and limit the spread of this fire. 

It's now 1 pm and we're beginning to wrap up. One child became light headed after her dental work. We came to find out that she had not eaten in days. Sadly, this is a fact of life here. The communities are so poor that many families eat only one meal every second or third day. 

Tomorrow will be our last day in this venue. Then we'll venture out to the yet poorer sections of this city.