This year, our team of 52 had a wonderful time in Manchester and St. Elizabeth. Our team consisted of 4 physicians, 3 nurse practitioners, 4 dentists, 2 dental hygienists, 2 pharmacists, 8 registered nurses, 5 nursing students, and 24 general helpers. About 2/3 of the participants had been on a team before and 1/3 were new. We stayed at Kendal Camp and Conference Center and were transported each day to different areas of the parish by Mr. Patrick MacDowell and his staff from Obsession Car Sales.
We held medical clinics in 19 different locations in the parishes and dental clinics in 10 locations. In the medical clinics, we saw 1,273 patients and dispensed 3,651 prescriptions. In the dental clinics, 310 patients were seen with 18 restorations, 364 extractions, and 107 cleanings done and sealants applied to 55 teeth.
In addition to the medical and dental clinics, our construction team installed 17 drip irrigation systems for subsistence farmers in partnership with Joseph and Alice Mulaa from Family Life Equipping Network, which is based in Mandeville, and Isratech, Inc. We also installed a railing on the gazebo our team built last year at Gift of Hope, a Mustard Seed facility in Spur Tree.
The Rotarians on our team continue to network with the Rotary Club in Mandeville in hopes of securing more funding for future projects in Jamaica. This year $2,000 was contributed by a Rotary Club in Pennsylvania for our construction projects.
We were assisted by MOH staff in getting our medications through customs and that process was quite smooth. Unfortunately, we had to pay more than J$12,500 in customs fees this year. This, of course, reduces the amount of money we have to spend on medications for the patients in the clinics and seems counter-productive.
