Dental Missions Update
Update from Dr. Jay McCarl, Carla, Josie and Lisa
Our dental team joined up with International Medical Relief, a charitable organization out of Denver. We were there for 8 days, a sprint to provide dental services to Ukrainian refugees in a convention center in Warsaw, Poland.
The Ukrainian people, mostly women and children were very stoic, kind of depressed, but maintaining a certain dignity and gratitude. Despite 3-4 thousand people on cots in a Polish convention center, trying to use communal bath rooms, showers and limited laundry facilities , they kept the place clean and were very well behaved.
Our team started a dental clinic from scratch inside an upgraded steel shipping container that had been converted with a couple windows and electricity. It’s was a pretty tight space, with no X-rays or modern dental equipment, but we made it fairly cozy. Because I had a well trained staff of 3 with me, they worked really hard and they got a pretty efficient system up and running. While we had some set backs due to the language barrier and relative chaos of a place like that, we probably treated around 20 people per day, with all kinds of issues, but mostly extracting painful, abscessed teeth. Despite giving post operative instructions in Ukrainian, there was little follow up as some of the people left that very day on buses, trains and planes to various other countries.
Here a short story of one of the Ukrainian “guests” in the shelter, who ended up helping us a tremendous amount!
Alaina’s Story- As we began working in our dental trailer in Poland to treat Ukrainian refugees, language communication was a real problem, even with Google translator on our phones. Then Alaina showed up.
A 23 year old native of the Donbas region of east Ukraine, she has a degree in linguistics, speaking Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The complexities of her family’s plight came out over time. She came to the shelter with her fiancé’s grandmother. Her mother stayed in Donbas with her great grandmother, as she was unable to travel. Alaina’s dog had to stay with her mother, (though there are various pets in the shelter.) Her father remained in Kiev. Her younger brother is 16 , and pondering his next step.
Alaina has a fiancé in California with a green card. Her goal is to gain emigration to the US, though even with President Biden’s plan to bring 100,000 Ukrainians, it takes a long time. The fact that she speaks English is in her favor.
She tells us that her mother and great grandmother still have electricity in Donbas, but no hot water, and running water is limited to about 3 hours every 2 days, per a rationing announcement from the authorities. (And several areas have no running water.) They have also been told that all television and radio may be cut off soon.
She has a wonderfully gentle way with each patient, largely speaking Russian, explaining what we will do for them and gaining their consent. She kneels down to speak to children, in order to be a calming presence. We all wait to begin until Alaina gets the patient to say, “Da.” (“Yes”, in Russian.)
She shows up cheerfully each day, admittedly glad to have a purpose, as the boredom of the shelter would be terrible. She has earned the respect, and friendship, of our dental team. We’ve exchanged emails, as we are interested in keeping tabs on her journey. She is a remarkably resilient young woman.
(Her name has been changed for privacy in this story, and these photos have been recently approved and released by the Polish authorities, as they are very protective of the Ukrainian refugees.)
On the last day of the trip, as we finished up, I put on a Batman costume and wandered around to wave to the kids in the convention center. You would think I was Mickey Mouse at Disney World! The kids were very excited, waving, posing for pictures, and giving hugs.
Our goal was to lighten the burden for some of these refugees on their perilous and uncertain journey. We accomplished that goal, and the MACC’s considerable contribution made you a very big part of our team effort! Thanks again for your amazing generosity!
Post Script- July 2022- As about 2 months have passed since we returned to the U.S., I am saddened to report that the war in Ukraine has not wound down, and the plight of these people has not gone away. Our American attention span has moved on to the next news cycle crisis. While our resources have limits, our prayers do not. Please offer up prayers for these good people and their families, that their hearts and their homes would be healed, and that peace would arrive in Ukraine.