Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

f DT page 2A How was the health infrastructure affected by the disaster in the area you are working in? Secondary and primary care services have definitely been affected most. To give you a number, none of the six dental clinics that existed in Minami Sanriku (coastal town in Miyagi Pre- fecture) actually survived the disaster. Currently, there are only two tempo- rary dental facilities to serve a popula- tion of approximately 10,000 people. What dental care-related projects are you currently running in Mina- mi Sanriku? Throughout Japan we are financially supporting the restoration of health services such as mobile and home- based medical care for people still liv- ing in temporary housing facilities. In regards to dental care specifically, we are building two dental clinics in Mina- mi Sanriku. It is the first infrastructure reconstruction project we have taken on during this transitional phase. This is a three-way partnership in which we are providing $200,000 for each structure and clinic interior ($400,000 for both facilities combined), and money from the Japanese gov- ernment is being used to provide the majority of the equipment and sup- plies. We selected the site for the clinic after consulting with the Minami San- riku City Council, which is in charge of the long-term reconstruction plan- ning. The Miyagi Dental Association is working with local dentists to staff and operate the new facilities. In terms of scale, we are running a smaller operation than many other organizations in the region but we are very targeted and help to get money down to the ground early. We do not know of any other organization focusing on oral health services at the moment, so we are filling a unique gap there. How important are oral health issues in the affected population? In the case of natural disasters, oral health often tends to be sidelined as a minor concern but over time, there is usually a slow but significant dete- rioration of oral health. If you take the demographics of the population in the area we are serving into consideration, which consists of many elderly people with dentures, it has indeed become very important. In addition, there was a lack of running water for almost six months, which had a visible impact on dental hygiene as a whole because people stopped performing daily pro- cedures like tooth brushing. How has coordination with the local authorities been? Unfortunately, Japan did not adopt the cluster system established by the United Nations after the devastating tsunami in 2004, which was intended to bring together relief organizations all active in the same sector, such as health or food distribution. Though the country has a very good mechanism at the macro-level, coordi- nation at the micro-level, e.g. in towns and villages, was rather ad hoc and not as well orchestrated as it could have been. The further we go now into the reconstruction phase, the more resource gaps are beginning to emerge. In contrast with other orga- nizations, which have tended to send money through intermediaries, we have decided to set up our opera- tional office in Sendai, where we are close to the communities we are serv- ing, and be part of the daily dialogue about what is happening and where the resource gaps really are. The issue of radiation was highly debated over the course of the disas- ter due to inconsistent information provided by authorities. How does it affect your work? Fortunately, our staff in Japan is work- ing outside the no-go zone. Our col- leagues there however carry radiation dosimeters and iodide tablets as an emergency precaution. There are also weekly sample checks on water and food, like milk, beef and vegetables conducted by local authorities. DENTAL TRIBUNE | November 2011 News 3A AD How long do you expect your help to be required? The clinics are expected to be opera- tional for at least two years — possibly as long as 10 years. As soon as they open, we expect an upswing of visits because the Japanese people place a high value on health care and are accustomed to seeing a doctor more than ten times a year. Each clinic will have the capacity to treat a maximum of 20 patients per day, although, realistically, we expect them to take care of approximately ten patients per day, depending on the staff available onsite. Our hope is that this project will help not only to ensure that survivors maintain good oral health, but also to keep them inside the community rath- er than relocating elsewhere, includ- ing the remaining dentists. DT Ella Gudwin, AmeriCares (Photo/Provided by AmeriCares)