The mobile dental van is back!

Well, we had to cancel our visit to Porter last week since the dental van broke down on the way. But I did get to stop at Livesay's Peach Barn on my way by in a rental car. Good stuff! The good news is that the winnebago is repaired and ready to go again.


We had a great time in Tulsa at the Klothes 4 Kids event at John 3:16 Mission. The weather cooperated by cooling off a bunch. We had an outstanding group of volunteers!

Thank God for Checotah

Driving between McAlester and Muskogee in a driving rain, I heard a pop, then the mobile dental van started to slow. I'm all, what the heck is going on. I was already past all of the Eufaula exits. Checotah was next, but still a painful 9 mile drive on the shoulder with flashers warning away speeding semi-trucks. So far I haven't been able to find a wrecker service able to tow this thing, so I checked into America's Best Value Inn at the truck stop and I'm waiting for daylight. I'll let you know if it is...you know...America's Best. For now I'm thankful the winnebago made it to a truck stop, and that the truck stop had a hotel nearby.

Back to School

Back to school events are everywhere! All we are missing is the cool, crisp weather of fall. But even in this heat, kids are getting the things they need from caring people all over the state. The Mobile Dental Van participated in the back-to-school event at New Heights Church in Owasso on Wednesday. Dental care, eye exams, backpacks full of school supplies, haircuts... you name it, you could get it there before heading off to the first day of school.

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=8800615

We are also heading to Tulsa on Saturday for the K4K (Klothes 4 Kids) event at John 3:16 Mission. We were there two years ago and were impressed by their organization and quality of aid given. Hopefully the heat will be kind. If you're in the area, come on over and help us hand out toothbrushes.

http://www.john316mission.org/

Best BBQ in Tahelquah

After working hard all morning in Tahelquah, six of us went to lunch at the best BBQ in town, Fish's BBQ (105 E. Ballentine) is a little tin shed, formerly a garage I think, at the end of a gravel parking lot. You almost think you've come to the wrong place. But GO IN! It's amazing food. I ordered the Badwich- a sandwich piled with fried bologna, brisket, and a hot link. I kid you not. It's amazing. Add curly fries and you have an amazing, artery clogging, delicious meal. You have to go.

Fraction of conversation at lunch:

Tangy: Can we (the dental staff at Wilma P. Mankiller Indian Health Clinic) take your boat out on the lake with you sometime?
Dr. Looney: Sure, as long as it's not Saturday or daylight!

Migrant/Seasonal Head Start

Dr. Robert Reyes, Dr. Heather Cox, Dr. Joshua Looney, Dr. Bryan Bratton, Sarah Marshall RDH, Ha-Le Tran RDH, Cindy Pierce RDH, Amy Armstrong, Christin Hitt...just to name a few who invested in the Migrant/Seasonal Head Start Program. I don't know about you all, but I had a rockin' good time, despite the 100 degree heat index. The staff from the Texas Migrant Council were amazingly organized, dedicated and hard working. And of course, the children were beautiful. They are why we do this after all.

Great Salt Plains State Park

Marsha Price, Lead Dental Assistant who traveled with us to Cherokee, took these photos at the Great Salt Plains State Park. Thought I'd share.

Cherokee

Karen Hawkins about Cherokee: "You can watch a dog run away for four days from here."

Karen is the former Mayor of Cherokee and Chairwoman of the Great Salt Plains Health Center Board. She and husband Lon also own and run the Cherokee Inn and neighboring restaurant, Cherokee Station. We had a delicious meal at the Cherokee Station, including prime rib, which Karen and Lon raised. What else does this woman do! Oh, her father, Dr. Cole, was a dentist in OKC for many years.

The mobile dental van was in town for Friday and Saturday and we made quite a show, I think, with our big smiling winnebago, and staff and volunteers wandering around town with our logoed shirts and scrubs.

First Old Man: I feel old and tire today.

Second Old Man: Not me, I feel just like a baby.

First Old Man: How can you say that?!

Second Old Man: I don't have any hair or teeth, and I just peed my pants.

A little joke told to us by one of Cherokee's friendly senior citizens while we enjoyed our breakfast at Ms. Dottie's Diner.

Of course, there were the usual heart-breaking dental cases. One woman ran out of gas in Alva on her way to her appointment. An oil field worker picked her and her husband up off the side of the road and brought them to Cherokee. We did what we could for her, but she has a serious bone infection and needs to see an oral surgeon. Unlikely to happen since she has no money for gas to get home, or the pain pills prescribed to ease her suffering, much less for a trip to the oral surgeon. The same friendly saviour offered to take them back to their stranded car. People are just that nice in the Cherokee Strip.

Many other adults with rampant decay who haven't set foot in a dentist's office for decades. One 40-something man thought his last visit to the dentist was probably in 7th or 8th grade. Dr. Baguidy, a public health dentist working on the van for both days, likened the dental conditions of the patients to a third world country. I assured her I see the same all over the state, not just in this county.