See a report of the event in the November Lavender Band
IMOM – Waterloo 2008
By Laurie Abbas, RDH
I want to tell you about an absolutely fantastic weekend that was shared by dental professionals, and volunteers from all walks of life. It is pretty amazing to think you can take over a building such as the Five Sullivan Brothers Center in Waterloo, IA, and turn it into a field dental clinic in the space of a day. That was exactly what happened Oct. 3, 2008.
I arrived about 9:00 and already there were vans unloading supplies, and semi’s unloading dental equipment, and an amazing group of kids from AmeriCorps putting together equipment. We had dental personnel volunteers and regular volunteers setting up tables, a skid loader moving supplies, service techs setting up the behind the scenes electrical necessities, water lines, etc. that would allow us to treat patients the next day. We also had an amazing group of IMOM volunteers from across the country that came in to help us put together our first IMOM event. There were volunteers organizing patient entrances and registration, areas where the patients health would be reviewed to make sure they were healthy enough to receive treatment, and the exit areas where post-op instructions would be given and information for follow-up treatment and possible resources for the patients. By the end of the day we were set up and ready to see patients the next day.Bright and early we were back and ready to start the day on Friday, but the patients had started much earlier than we did, and were waiting lined up around the block in very chilly temperatures to be let into the building. Our goal was to provide dental treatment to those who could not afford dental services; we wanted to be able to treat their most urgent need. It was a day of patience and waiting on the part of the patients. By Friday night we were so excited by the numbers of people we were able to help! Treatment ran from extractions, restorations, RCT, gross debridements, prophies, flippers, and even a denture was made. The kids had a special section to have their work done. Limited x-rays were available because of the generosity of equipment loaned to us. By that evening we were ready for a little down time, and the volunteers were served a great meal and had the chance to chat with old and new friends, and if their feet were willing, even dance to the music a band played for us.
On Saturday, October 5th, the patients again were waiting in the dark for us, and we started round two of seeing patients. Our final statistics were fantastic. We had over 900 volunteers that saw 1254 people over those two days. We provided $602,540 in care for people.
This was a weekend that was a year in planning. It really went together well, with the support of the City of Waterloo, the Five Sullivan Brothers Center management and staff, and countless volunteers from the area and across the state. That being said, we are working on our next IMOM event. It will be held Friday and Saturday, September 25-26, 2009 at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. Registrations will be starting in the second quarter of the year on the IMOM website (www.iowamom.org). We have a link to some of the candid pictures that were taken by a few hygienists on our website, as well as more information and pictures available on the IMOM website.
The final measurement of success was not in the dollar amount of services we provided for those patients, it was expression of gratitude of the people who were no longer in pain, those that had restorative needs met, that would allow them to go to job interviews and have a great smile to present to prospective employers, parents who were able to make sure their kids were able to receive dental treatment, things that we take for granted. The weekend could not have come to together without every single volunteer. We were so thankful to everyone who shared their time. Come and join us in September for our next adventure
