UPDATE DECEMBER 2020 - DERKSEN DENTAL CLINIC REOPENING

Under the guidance of Dr. Harold Gretzinger, we have spent the last few months upgrading and buying new equipment and PPE, learning new protocols and outfitting ourselves to be able to practice dentistry actually exceeding the standards currently being used in Canada and the US.

 Keeping our volunteers and patients safe is our top priority as we try to provide dental care to people in this very impoverished community. If you are going to be in Puerto Vallarta this season, please consider coming back to volunteer. You are needed now more than ever because many of our volunteers are not returning this year. The disadvantaged communities in Puerto Vallarta in which we work, have suffered a great deal under Covid-19. As the bottom fell out of the tourist sector, hunger became an even bigger threat than the virus. It has devastated many families who faced the double tragedies of hunger and the death of loved ones. This is one reason why we believe it is so important to get back to treating patients safely as soon as possible. We hope you feel the same way.

 We are now scheduling dental clinics for 6th January through April 2021 for half days on Wednesdays and Fridays, excluding public holidays. Full days and additional days are optional if we have the volunteer staff. We need dentist professionals, hygienists, assistants and interpreters. Please let me know your availability by emailing me at elizabeth@compassionetimpact.ca

 You can volunteer as many or as few times as you wish. Even if you are here for a short vacation, a half-day at the clinic will be much appreciated. If you have your own transportation we will give you directions. If you do not, we will pick you up at a meeting point and drop you off at the end of your shift.

 You may want to visit the Derksen Clinic to check out the new equipment or familiarize yourself with our practices. The extra-oral suction suctions 3,900 liter per minute, the air turnover machine does 15 air turnovers per hour in the clinic room (both through HEPA filters). When all the different suctions are accounted for, we turn over the room air more than 20 times an hour. Plus, we have a stronger intra-oral suction now. We are only seeing 1 patient per hour and are sanitizing the entire surfaces in the clinic after every patient.

To arrange a visit contact me at elizabeth@compassionetimpact.ca or Dr. Harold Gretzinger at hgretz@hotmail.ca

 BACKGROUND

"La Cosecha' is a Vineyard church and community centre being built in Colonia Progresso, Puerto Vallarta. Continuing our partnership with La Vina in 2017, CIDC undertook to fundraise and establish a dental/medical clinic inside La Cosecha (The Harvest) so that anyone in the surrounding impoverished neighbourhoods can access free care delivered by local and visiting dentists and doctors who volunteer their time. Two dentists in Puerto Vallarta helped design the treatment area and local doctors consulted on the medical clinic. The clinics opened in January 2018 and served over 200 patients between January and the end of March. CIDC thanks the Volunteer dentists, hygenists, nurses and doctors for their time, skill and care of the people in the community. Thank you also to generous donors who helped to achieve our funding goal of $40,000 for fixtures and equipment. There is still a lot of work to do!

YOU CAN HELP BY:

• Making a monthly pledge of $25.00, $50.00 or $100.00 to support the ongoing expenses of the clinic for dental and medical supplies, part-time staff and facility costs;
• If you are a dentist or doctor, consider volunteering at the clinics for a half-day or full day per week while you are in Puerto Vallarta.
• Donate office equipment and supplies. Please contact us directly for more information.

WHY THE CLINIC?

For those of us blessed to live in Canada, it is hard to imagine the poverty and struggle for daily food that many face in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Compassionet Impact Development Canada has been building houses and hope in the impoverished areas around Vallarta for eleven years. Our focus is always on housing but in 2017 we built and equipped a dental and medical clinic for the community in which we work.

Dental care is a luxury few can afford in these neighbourhoods. Oral health is generally very poor, often due to poor nutrition and the absence of preventative dental care. Almost every visit to a dentist is for an extraction and with no hope for repair, implants or prostheses. Children have no access to orthdontics so many young people grow up without pretty smiles or healthy teeth.

The two clinics are complete and the rest of the building construction focuses on classrooms on the second floor. The clinic area of about 240 square feet has two treatment rooms and a small waiting area. The dental clinic is fully equipped. Canadian and U.S. dentists and hygenists, doctors and nurses are volunteering to come and work making their vacations with purpose count Local doctors and dentists volunteer their time to make sure care is available when visitor volunteers have gone North. Additionally, the clinics are a place for public education in health and wellness, especially for maternal and baby health. 

CIDC facilitated ongoing legal, financial and operational support with the creation of a Mexican Civil Association (AC) with local community members taking leadership and responsibility.

La Cosecha Clinic is basic, accessible and free for those folks who cannot afford any dental or medical care and who badly need it.

PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY so we can build smiles and healthy bodies as well homes and hope!