Yeovil Dental Nurse Makes A Difference In Kenya
A dental nurse from Yeovil is making a difference to people’s lives in Kenya after being called up by the 243 Field Reserves. Anna Cole spends most of her time working as a dental nurse at a Yeovil dental clinic, but is currently deployed at a field hospital in Kenya after joining the military reserves three years ago.
At the time, Anna was interested in joining the forces, but did not want to commit full-time and the medics provided her with a more flexible solution. This is the first time in three years that she has been called up and she is currently working with 33 Field Hospital in Kenya.
As part of her field work, Anna is helping to provide community dental services and outreach care in the Kanyoni region of Kenya, as people don’t have access to dentists. She is working alongside medics who are also providing primary health care.
Anna is seeing a wide range of patients on a daily basis and said that the experience is a completely different scenario to her day to day job at home in Yeovil. In the UK, children are taught to care for their teeth and gums from an early age and they have access to dental treatment on their doorstep, but in Kenya the situation couldn’t be more different. Most people have never seen a dentist before and they grow up without the education or awareness of oral health issues. Many of the people Anna has seen so far have been using twigs instead of toothbrushes.
The team has been handing out toothbrushes and toothpaste, which were provided by Population Services Kenya.
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