of my weekend volunteering in Grundy Virginia, about a 400 mile drive from my home in Arlington, where I yet again worked in dental triage at a free clinic, this one co-sponsored by Remote Area Medical (RAM) and Mission of Mercy (MOM). The latter is a project of the Virginia Dental Foundation of the Virginia Dental Association.
Enough intro. How about some photos?
Shot through my windshield with my cell phone, the above gives a sense of the narrow valley in which Grundy is set.
This is another view of the narrow valley in which Grundy sits.
It is shortly after Noon on Friday. School has been dismissed early. And people begin to line up:
The line grows:
Meanwhile, just for dental, volunteers have unloaded two trucks and then some and are starting to set up:
This is the line of people waiting to get in to dental triage - there are more out in the main lobby:
Once in triage, they are finally seen by a dentist, in this case Roger Woods, DDS, who normally practices pediatric dentistry:
Another picture from triage, with Roger on the left listening to a patient, and Bob Findley, DDS, who comes in from Indiana to volunteer at these events, on the right:
Many patients need to get xrays. All extractions require xrays. If we are referring for endodontics (root canals) we had to get an xray. Sometimes the xrays were to help the triage dentist make a judgment. This is a patient being prepared for a PA xray of specific teeth (we also were able to do panographic xrays of the entire mouth):
After triage, and sometimes after x-ray as well, patients are put on service lines. Directly in front of you is the line for oral surgery - more complicated extractions - which is indicated by the red band taped to the table. People on this line have an identical red band on their wrists - we use color coded wrist bands to ensure patients do not get placed on the wrong lines.
We have orange for simple extractions, green for restoration, and yellow for hygiene.
People may sit on these lines for several hours - remember, they have often stood on line for hours to register, than sat on line for several more hours to be triaged.
Then it is time for services. In this picture, taken midmorning on Sunday when we were slowing down, you have hygiene in the foreground and restorative (fillings) in the background. Sometimes we would reset a chair from one purpose to another to balance the backlog of patients waiting for service:
This is one view of extractions and oral surgery - note the red containers for medical waste:
this is another view of the same area (sorry for the fuzziness):
The woman on
the left is known simply as Sister Bernie - she runs the Health Wagon, a mobile medical van that travels around providing services throughout much of Appalachian Virginia. About a decade ago she persuaded Stan Brock to bring his Remote Area Medical missions to Wise Virginia.
As you walk out of the school, whether you have been a patient, or like me a volunteer, this is what is straight ahead of you, reminding you of the mountainous region in which you are:
Or, if you look to the right, as I did as I was leaving on Sunday, you see even more so the mountainous nature of the setting:
Oh and by the way, that big van in the final picture? It is a mobile denture lab, driven to these events by Dr. Michael Alouf, who will make several sets of dentures on site for those lucky enough to have won the lottery for free dentures.
Perhaps this will give you a sense of where I was, and in what I was participating. This weekend it meant I missed the big event in DC. In July it was a similar event, larger, in Wise, which is why I missed Netroots Nation.
I respect those who went to the events I missed.
I do not regret the choice I made.
I was where I belonged.
Peace.