Global Matters the Newsletter of the Office of International Affairs Volume 15, January—February 2011
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Global Matters The newsletter of the Office of International Affairs Volume 15, January—February 2011 shipped 70,000 toothbrushes to Nepal, only to have Global Health Teethsavers, International: Customs hold them for nine months until a fee was Lecture Teach a Few to Teach Many paid for their release. For this reason, he prefers to purchase toothbrushes in the countries he services. The local cost is approximately eight cents per Series Dr. Jack Rudd toothbrush. founded Teeth- savers, Interna- In addition to pro- tional in May viding education 2000. Driven by on dental hygiene, the disparity of Dr. Rudd also dental health teaches local peo- care around the ple how to clean world, he made it teeth and fill cavi- 12:00 Noon CST his mission to provide dental health care to the un- ties. Teethsavers’ ACB 120 derprivileged in third world countries. Dr. Rudd’s mantra is: Teach greatest concern is the six year molar. Six year mo- a Few to Teach lars are used 100’s of times each day, doing 65- Many. Students in Zambia complete a one-year Wednesday January 19 70% of the work in chewing a meal. Ninety percent dental training at a cost of $2500 and fill a cavity for Jack Rudd, DDS of the funds spent on health care in third world $2. The cost of completing four years at Texas Den- Teethsavers countries is spent on HIV, Tuberculosis, and Ma- tal School is approximately $110,000, and the cost Wednesday laria. Little is left for dental health care. For example, of a filling in the U.S. is $75. Cavities are filled using February 2 there is one dentist to every 917,000 persons in the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART). Be- Kelly Bennett, MD Sierra Leone, while there is one dentist to every cause this treatment is virtually painless, no injec- TTUHSC Free Clinic 1,700 persons in the U.S. This disparity compelled tions are needed. Jo Frencken, DDS, PhD spent 14 Wednesday him to carry out his mission work in Sierra Leone. years in Africa developing this inexpensive filling February 16 material and treatment process. Twenty-eight per- Ambassador Nagy His tool chest cent of this material is fluoride, the only element Int. Affairs, TTU consists of a known to prevent tooth decay, which is released for Wednesday toothbrush and eight years. His students are instructed to refer com- March 2 water. He travels plex cases to a more skilled dentist at the nearest Tom McGovern, to primary hospital. Today, graduates from his school carry on EdD, Psychiatry schools located Dr. Rudd’s work in Nicaragua, Malawi, Zambia, Wednesday in remote villages Uganda, and Sierra Leone. Teethsavers is working March 16 of Nicaragua, toward securing for Teethsavers’ students who com- Mauricio Pinto, MD Malawi, Zambia, plete their dental training employment by their gov- Fam. Med., Odessa Uganda, and ernments. Wednesday Sierra Leone to April 6 instruct children how to care for their six year mo- Teethsavers has Doula staff UMC lars. This year, Teethsavers instructs children screened, pro- grades 1-4. Next year, they plan to treat children in vided instruction Wednesday grades 1-5 and add a grade each year. A six-year on how to prop- April 20 Meredith Aikman old child does not have the manual dexterity or mus- erly use a School of Nursing cle development to brush properly. Therefore, Dr. toothbrush, and Wednesday Rudd teaches the mothers how to properly brush treated tooth May 4 their children’s teeth. He states, “Mothers all over decay (68,309 Nicole Hines, RN the world want to learn something to give their child fillings) for Employee Health & a better life.” His simple instructions are: “Brush 8 205,243 children. Infection Control times back and forth, straight and flat.” Parents are This humanitarian organization has also trained encouraged to brush their children’s teeth once a most of their 37 volunteers to be dentists. Teethsav- El Paso—Room 235 (11:00 am MT) day to disorganize the plaque. This will prevent ers’ vision is to establish a dental school in Sierra Amarillo—Room 4720 tooth decay by disrupting the breeding ground for Leone, three in Africa, and one in Central America. Odessa—Room 2C91 sugar. If the mothers are not present, he teaches friends to properly brush each other’s teeth. To learn more about Teethsavers, International visit FREE LUNCH! their website at www.teethsavers.org. To view Dr. provided to the first 35 Teethsavers distributes approximately 1,200 Rudd’s presentation for the OIA Global Health Lec- attendees toothbrushes per week. Dr. Rudd told of the time he ture Series visit the OIA website. (Lubbock campus only) TTUHSC Global Matters | 2 VON and the Black Lion Project are working on a Available The Black Lion Project database designed specifically for the Black Lion from the Part 2 Hospital to assess the practices and outcomes of the Black Lion NICU and to identify opportunities for OIA Library by Phillip L. Platt, RNC, NNP-BC improvement. By identifying their own outcomes, TTUHSC Amarillo they will be able to implement changes to bring The following re- about measurable improvements. The Human Sub- sources are avail- This article is a continuation of the article featured in jects Committees from both the University of Ver- able for check-out: Global Matters, Volume 14. mont and Addis Ababa University have approved the database. A computerized version will be avail- Book The United able soon. Nations re- Oracle Bones: A Jour- leased a Prioritizing the needs of the Black Lion Hospital can ney Through Time in report on the be overwhelming. The time needed to accomplish China even the simplest change would, on occasion, be by Peter Hessler Millennium Develop- extensive. More than once, the task required to A century ago, outsiders ment Goals improve the current state seemed complicated and saw China as a place (MDG), in riddled with problems where nothing ever June 2010. changes. Today the To date, the country has become one Eight goals of the most dynamic re- were strate- volunteers gions on earth. In Ora- gically developed in 2000 in an effort to help im- have con- cles Bones, Peter Hessler prove the lives of hundreds of millions of people sisted of explores the human side around the world. Of the eight MDG’s, one in par- registered of China’s transformation, ticular stands out, Goal 4, Reduce Child Mortality. nurses, neo- viewing modern-day Although Ethiopia has seen reductions of more than natal nurse China and its growing 100 per 1,000 live births, Sub-Saharan Africa still practitioners links to the Western world and neona- through the lives of a accounts for fifty percent of all childhood deaths (8.8 handful of ordinary peo- million per year) under five years of age. An accel- tologists. ple. In a narrative that erated movement towards improvement has to oc- Soon, volun- gracefully moves between cur in order for the goals to be met by 2015. Ver- teers form other disciplines will participate, address- the ancient and the pre- mont Oxford Network, a world leader in Quality Im- ing issues with a multidisciplinary approach. Each sent, the East and the provement in the neonatal period, reached out to time I was in Ethiopia, I met many volunteers from West, Hessler captures Ethiopia to help them identify areas for potential around the world who were giving of themselves to the soul of a country that improvement. Much attention has been placed on the betterment of humanity. I also met medical stu- is undergoing a momen- dents from the U.S. and Canada who were in Ethio- tous change before our infection control, especially hand washing. This eyes. area has been encouraged with subsequent follow- pia to complete an academic elective. The opportu- nities available to those who desire a wide range of up teams. exposure to various diseases and pathology are Movie astonishing. A personal example of my own was Our last visit King: Man of Peace in a focused on seeing more genetic anomalies in one month than I Time of War installing had experienced in ten years of practice. I would oxygen tub- strongly encourage healthcare providers of all disci- This film is a fascinating ing and out- plines to seek out learning experiences abroad. An and revealing look at the important consideration concerning Ethiopia is the life of Dr. Martin Luther let manifolds King Jr. filtered through to allow for fact that English is a primary language taught at the the prism of three major individual high school and college levels. conflicts: the struggle flow meters. between black and white The previ- This past America, divisiveness ous set-up July, after I within the civil rights connected one oxygen cylinder and flow meter to completed movement itself, and an multiple stop clocks to supply small tubing to the my volunteer undeclared war in Viet- assignment, nam. King: Man of Peace patients. This set-up did not allow regulation for the in a Time of War is a proper amount of flow to each patient. The more I spent four remarkably relevant sa- patients connected to one flow meter, the less flow days touring lute to a man who re- supplied. We built a system that allowed one tank to the Northern mains an inspiration and supply up to five individual flow meters through oxy- historical a force for social change gen manifolds mounted on the walls. Limited re- route of over 40 years after his sources and supplies in Ethiopia called for compli- Ethiopia. The history of Ethiopia dates back to the untimely death.