Success Stories
On The Road Again: A Tooth Taxi Update
by Mary Daly, Program Manager, Tooth Taxi
Update Number 26 | 7/6/09 | The Dalles
Early July was the perfect time for the Tooth Taxi to be treating students in The Dalles; warm gorge winds and sunshine every day it really felt like summer. The Tooth Taxi was parked at Dry Hollow elementary school, the school perched on a hill with a lovely garden. The Dalles known for its cherry orchards is the largest producer of sweet cherries in the world and this year cherries are yielding a bumper crop. The majority of the students that we saw last week were children of migrant workers – all with California addresses, their parents following the fruit harvest. Our site hosts, Wasco Co. Oregon Child Development Coalition (OCDC) delivered a 20 lb. box of bing, van and rainier cherries on our last day.
volunteer Sarah Raike (in yellow) accepting the cherries from Jen with OCDC
Dr. Andy Olsson & Happy Tooth Taxi Patient
The Tooth Taxi ran on the services of volunteer dentists last week. Dr. Andy Olsson who practices in The Dalles and Dr. Michael Murat from The Dalles both first time volunteers on the Tooth Taxi. Dr. Mike Goger a frequent Tooth Taxi volunteer grew up in The Dalles so he took the opportunity to join us for dentistry and to visit his old haunts. Dr. Tom Bachhuber of Milwaukie planned on volunteering with us Wednesday but was caught in the tanker oil spill on I-84 early in the morning and was diverted back to Portland. We look forward to having him join us in the future. Hannah Field on loan from ODS Dental Customer Service joined us to assist.
Dr. Michael Murat from The Dalles
Reporter Sam Craig from The Dalles Chronicle visited the Tooth Taxi. Sam told me what a difficult assignment this was for him with his dental phobia. He hasn’t been to the dentist in 1 ½ years and his dad hasn’t been in 10 years. As Dr. Murat invited him to get closer to watch, he became whiter and backed away from the scene, leaving the operatory for some fresh air. This will shed some light on his comments in the article he wrote (which as always we are not part of the proof process before press). Click on the link for the article:
http://www.thedalleschronicle.com
From the kids gallery:
A very eager student flagged down our volunteer Sarah: “Are you guys going to check me?” So we brought her in the Tooth Taxi for a screening and sent her home with paperwork. The next day she approaches Sarah again: “When are you coming to get me?”
As I escorted a young student out to the van she commented on the prospect of watching our Tom & Jerry cartoon: “I like when Tom gets hurt ‘cuz I like Jerry better.”
The Dalles stats:
- 187 students screened
- 15 students treated in the van
- $11,354 value of free dental services provided.
Summary
Tooth Taxi, September 2008- July 10, 2009
- 3710 students screened
- 359 students received oral hygiene education in the classroom
- 1286 students treated in the van
- $833,287 value of free dental services provided.
We also
screened kids last week at the Children’s Community Clinic on NE
Killingsworth. We will be back at the clinic the week of July 20th with the Tooth Taxi.
Next week on the road:
The Children’s Community Clinic in NE Portland.
Next weeks recap:
OCDC in Cornelius and Police Activities League (PAL)
in Gresham.
Regards, Mary
