August 28, 2007 - Earlier this month, a delegation of local dental professionals led by dentists Dr. Leute Lopa-Leota and Dr. Eileen Yandall traveled to the Manu’a Islands to offer free dental checkups for the residents there.
The service was made possible through the local Department of Health and federal funding from the School Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which falls under Medicaid.
“We would have stayed longer but we had limitations, including the bad weather conditions,” Dr. Lopa-Leota explained.
Other limitations included the lack of a vehicle for the Ta’u Dispensary to transport the travelers and their equipment from the airport to the clinic, which is quite a distance.
In addition, because the Ta’u Dispensary is currently undergoing major reconstruction work, the dental services were conducted in a Samoan fale belonging to one of the nurses stationed there.
“Besides those little bumps, everything went okay,”
Dr. Lopa-Leota remarked.
The traveling entourage conducted sessions on oral health education and performed fillings, examinations, and extractions.
Patients who didn’t get the chance to be seen have been listed as referrals.
The group spent three days in Ta’u with 56 patients and two days in Ofu where a total of 72 patients received services. The majority of the patients that were treated in Ofu were young children as the clinic was held inside the school campus.
Overall, during the visits, the patient composition included a mixture of males and females representing different age groups.
The traveling dental team is grateful to the government owned Segaula aircraft and its pilot, Captain Joseph Misaalefua, for making their trip possible.
In addition to Lopa-Leota and Yandall, others who were on the trip included dental assistants Angie Bird-Loa, Valoaga Fuamatu-Tunoa, and Elvina Timoteo-Malamala.
The group, which served the dental clinic at the LBJ Medical Center, has been transferred to the Department of Health and now travel as a DOH team, treating both children and adults.
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