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Volume 1 Issue 5
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I
ssues and
P
eople
ICD Fellows Drs. Jack Cottrell and
Donna Brode participated in a mission
facilitated by Speroway, a charity that
provides medical and dental treatment
to inhabitants of Central America
and Haiti. The mission, which ran in
November 2013 and was based out of
San Salvador, was Speroway’s largest
mission to date and provided primary
health care, medication, food and
clothing to over 5700 individuals.
The Speroway team of about 50
dentists, doctors, assistants and nurses,
paramedics, pharmacists, translators
and other volunteers set up 5 clinics,
each in a different community. The
team of 7 dentists—captained by
Dr. Cottrell, a past president of CDA—
treated over 200 patients each day.
“We performed scaling—as periodon-
tal disease was the biggest problem
we encountered,” says Dr. Brode, an
ICD International Councillor. “We also
did oral hygiene, amalgams, composite
resins, extractions and limited endo-
dontics.” The team used composite
resin bridges to replace missing
teeth, with the goal of having
patients look good and feel good
about themselves.
The team worked straight from
dawn to dusk: “We don’t stop,” says
Dr. Cottrell. “To stop even for 20 minutes
means that there are people who are
not seen.”
Giving back
The ICD became affiliated with
Speroway when its members were
looking for ways to give back to
the global community. “We had
the educational component of the
College,” says Dr. Brode, “but some
members of the Canadian Section
were asking, ‘What can we do? What
kind of problems of access to care or
efforts in organized dentistry can we
address worldwide?’”
The ICD’s Canadian Section has a
registered charity, the William J.
Spence Foundation, which collects
donations to support Canadian
dentists who volunteer their services
in underdeveloped countries. Funding
is distributed between a number of
charitable organizations whose values
best fit those of the College, including
Speroway.
“Speroway is compassionate and that’s
the reason why I was first drawn to
this non-profit group,” says Dr. Cottrell.
“They act with integrity and love of
their fellow man.”
The volunteers donate more than
just their time and expertise to these
missions; they sponsor their own
transportation, accommodation and
meals. Team members must also
supply the equipment and materials
necessary to get the job done, and that
is where the ICD can help.
The field units used by the dental team,
which are essentially a dental office in a
box, have high- and low-speed suction
and handpieces, air-water syringes
and even a small compressor. They
were purchased with funding from the
William J. Spence Foundation. “That is
where the ICD has really been helpful
in supporting us, because these units
are expensive,” says Dr. Cottrell. “The
ICD has been extremely generous in
We don’t stop. To stop even for 20 minutes means that there are
people who are not seen.
With the support of the International College of Dentists (ICD), Canadian dentists formed
part of a humanitarian team that provided oral care to over 1000 individuals in some of
El Salvador’s poorest areas last fall. Individuals in these communities have little to no access
to basic necessities and many had never seen a dentist.
Making a difference at home and abroad
ICDHUMANITARIAN
MISSIONS