Gary Lawrence, Rotary Club of Kapiti provided an update on the Rotary Volunteer Project to Taveuni and his recent visit in August this year. This project has been in place for a number of years, Gary has been visiting Taveuni since 2010, either as a team member or more latterly as team lead. The last visit in August saw a team of three dentists (including Gary); a chair-side assistant; hygienist; and an assistant.
This was the first visit since the covid-related closure of Fiji and meant that there was a significant backlog of work. Some statistics provided include: 1500 children seen and spoken to; 800 fillings/extractions between some 244 children and 50 plus adults equating to $179K of work by the team over a couple of weeks.
The three goals for this Project as outlined by Gary include provision of first world dentistry to all primary school children on the Island, specifically urgent and much needed treatments; the second relates to having in place an ongoing preventative programme in the various schools and communities; and lastly having in place an overall programme that brings back a smile to the people of Taveuni that they and other Fijian peoples were so renowned for. This project is supported by Rotary Districts 9920 and 9940.
We thank Gary for giving his time to volunteering for this very worthy work that he and his team undertake in improving the dental health of these communities and placing service above self.