DPP Preperation Trip – 2005
26-31 May
One of the most difficult aspects of running the Dental Project Peru volunteer trips to the Apurimac region is communicating with the Health Posts in the field. Therefore, this year, I decided to take this stressful factor out of the equation! In May 2005, Clark and I together with our driver Fabian undertook a 6 day trip to the Apurimac to visit the Health Posts. The idea was to visit each of the 15 Health Posts we will be working with this year and talk to and co-ordinate the visits with the personnel there. This was quite an undertaking as the region is very large with a relatively unforgiving road structure!
We left Cusco on the 26th of May and drove to Cotabambas where we would usually stop for the night. But from there we drove directly to Nahuinlla, which was another 3 hours! There we had our first meeting which would be the standard for the 14 other meetings to follow.
We spoke with all the personnel present at the Health Post. We introduced ourselves and explained what the project was about and where we were from. We outlined our schedule and explained that we would spend two full days in each health post. I gave a printed notice to the head of the centre which stated clearly the dates we would attend in the Health Post. Also, we would be providing dental examinations, extractions and restorations. We would undertake a Dental Education program with the population and be giving toothbrushes to each patient. This entire service would be free. On the notice, I also asked for assistance from teachers, parents, health promoters and all the staff in the health posts.
During the meeting I also took note of the facilities in the health post in order to plan where we, the volunteer team, would sleep, eat and what toilet facilities were available.
The meeting lasted no longer than 40 minutes. The personnel were excited about the future visit and agreed, with enthusiasm, to communicate the news to all the communities they were responsible for as well as all the schools in the area.
From Nahuinlla we then drove another 40 minutes to Sorcco and repeated the meeting with the personnel there. After this second meeting we were exhausted. Clark and Fabian shared the driving to Coyllurqui where we slept the night.
The five days that followed had a similar schedule. We would get up very early and start the journey to the next Health Post. We visited all 15 villages:
- Nahuinlla - Asaccasi - Huanccasca
- Sorcco - Choqueca - Llac-hua
- Vilcaro - Tambulla - Curca
- Pfaco - Ccocha - Pisaccasa
- Chaccaro - Patan - Occacchua
Although this was a tiring and lengthy process, I felt it was extremely valuable. It gave the personnel in the Health Posts the opportunity to prepare for our 2 day visit, communicate with the communities and therefore take full advantage of the service we are offering. We covered almost 1300 kilometres in the 6 days and by the time we returned to Cusco I felt certain we had done everything possible to ensure adequate preparation for this year’s volunteer trips.
