Armed with toothbrushes and a fierce determination to make a difference, professors and students from Fones School of Dental Hygiene at University of Bridgeport traveled this month to Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras, to provide oral health care to some of the poorest residents in the region.
Led by professors Leigh-Lynn Vitukinas and Sandra Stramoski, five dental hygiene students and two recent graduates from Fones spent a whirlwind week from May 30 to June 6, treating 200 patients and educating at least 500 more children and adults.
“I was surprised by how much of a need there is. I didn’t realize a community could be so forgotten,” said Vitukinas. “It was an exhausting week full of work and fun.”
This is the second summer Vitukinas and Stramoski have led the outreach trip to Roatan, a sun-drenched vacation spot where stunning natural habitat and resorts belie the harsh economic reality of island residents, many of whom live in poverty unseen by tourists.
The Fones group gave out free toothbrushes that were donated by schoolchildren in Richfield, Conn., and invited villagers to come for free dental screenings, cleanings, fluoride treatments, sealants, and other services that they provided at a local health center and at a makeshift dental clinic set up at in a social hall in the town of Flowers Bay .
The group paid for the trip by hosting fundraising raffles and a barbeque at Vitukinas’s house in Winsted, Conn., and by digging into their own wallets. Even so, competition to go on the trip was high; 23 students from Fones applied for the available slots. Participants were selected based on an application essay and their personal backgrounds.
It was a very international group. Several of our students were from third world countries, and they had a strong desire to give back,” said Stramoski. Others, like student Thatiane Faria, of Stamford, Conn., and Margarita Restrepo, a West Haven resident who graduated from Fones in May, both speak Spanish, and their fluency enabled the group to better communicate with patients.
“We went into several schools and gave presentations in English and in Spanish about nutrition and oral health care,” said Stramoski. “The ability to communicate in Spanish was important.”
Other students on the trip were Isaiah Campbell, of Bridgeport, Conn.; Latoya Walton, of Hamden, Conn.; Kangan Kaushal, of Wilmington, Del.; Catherine Dysert, of Holliston, Mass.; and alumna Margaret Horvay ’09, of Winsted, Conn.
“Our students were 100 percent receptive,” Vitukinas said. “They told us it was a life-changing experience for them and they do want to work in public health as a result of the experience.’ (source)
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