Newsletters

TO SMILES FOR THE PACIFIC.

21/4/15


To: Dr Leenu Maimanuku - HOD Oral Health, FNU
Dr Kantara Tiim- FNU
Professor Jayantha Weerasinghe -

Cc: Dean- Professor Rajet Ganeshwar- School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing, FNU


Ni Sa bula Dr Leenu, Dr Kantara, Professor Jayantha Weerasinghe and the FNU Team

Re: Katie and Angus Program and Professor Weerasinghe 5th and 6th April- Tanoa International, Nandi 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th - SFTP- TTC Lautoka Hospital

Thank-you and congratulations to both of you and the FNU Team for organizing such a fantastic 2 day event at Tanoa International Hotel, Nandi. We, Smiles for The Pacific and both Dr Katie Ayers and Mr Angus Coloqhoun we're elighted to be a part of this program. Thank-you for organizing and inviting the Dental Leaders from South Pacific countries, your FNU staff, MOH, and Private Practitioners. Thank-you also for investing FJ $20K towards the purchase of the nitrous oxide machine and accessories which was a vital item for Katie's program. Thank-you once again for extending the use of nitrous oxide machine in our TTC for the next 4 days.

It was indeed a pleasure to see so many of your post grad students, FNU staff and the Pacific Island Delegates engaged in Kaite and Angus treatment and teaching program at SFTP TTC.

This was a wonderful experience for SFTP, Katie and Angus to share their expertise with all our friends from Fiji and the South pacific.
We consider Katie and Angus program was a huge success and a win win for all of us, 

Please find attached some of the photos we took during the events.


Kind regards

Dr Jonathan Cole (SFTP CHAIR)
09-527-63-22 (Work)
09-57-026-95 (Work)

SMILES FOR THE PACIFIC NEWSLETTER JUNE 2015

Greetings from the team at SFTP as we forge through the NZ winter months.
It is an ideal time to visit our friends in Fiji as the weather is either perfect or sublime.

We need to bring you up to date with the happenings of the project at the Lautoka treatment and training centre over the last few months.

Dr Clarence Tam visited during February and was able to lecture to a large group of practitioners both in Lautoka and Suva. Clarence is a world class speaker and her content is exceptional with the ability to take it straight into the clinic on Monday morning and apply it to your restorative practice. She kindly left DVD copies of her lectures for practitioners to enjoy.

I had the pleasure of visiting during March and operated within the Lautoka clinic,seeing a large number of patients. The equipment works very well and I was able to fine tune the process and protocol,to ensure future practitioners are able to operate comfortably.

Dr s Katie Ayers (Paediodontist)and Angus Colquhoun (Oral and Maxillofacial Facial Surgeon) conducted a series of lectures during April with help from Dr Moopna ,both in Nadi and Lautoka. This again was very well attended and was conducted in association with Fiji National University Oral Health Unit,with whom we are forging a very close alliance. Some workshops utilising a brand new nitrous oxide unit were most successful and the future of children's dentistry is looking brighter in Fiji .
The Fiji Oral Health Workers Association also co hosted this conference and a large contingent of their members attended .

During early May Drs Jungin Park and Lorraine Lim had some time operating within the Lautoka clinic and brought a new skill set ,especially around oral surgery which was great fully appreciated by all and sundry both from a learning perspective and as recipients of such treatment.

As we look out towards the end of 2015 ,we have most months filled with teaching ,but there are several slots for practitioners to attend to patients in the clinic.
This is a great opportunity to step straight in to a fully equipped surgery for a few days with a fully trained chairside to help streamline the activity. You will find this experience most rewarding ,so please encourage your peers to consider this.

We have return visits from Dr Suresh Chandra ,Brisbane in June and also DrAbdul Aziz giving an Endodontics update during July,along with some work in the clinic.

During September Mrs Margot Distelzwey ,from our executive will be conducting lectures based around the role of chair side assisting with such components as infection control.
This is an area where local practitioners have requested further education.

October is an important date for Dr Brian Whitley and Mr Mike Williams,an oral and Maxillofacial technician who will be keynote speakers at the FOHWA conference.

What we are finding is that most practitioners who go up , make such an impression that a new invitation is extended by local practitioners for a return visit .

We are at present upgrading our website which will make it more user friendly and have the latest trip reports plus photographs.

We are running a dinner in late October as a social event to acknowledge the wonderful help from all and sundry . More details will follow—watch this space.!

During November we will be conducting another free clinic day at Dr Moopnas surgery in Huntly NZ where the local folk benefit from a day of free dentistry under the banner of SFTP

Thankyou all for your support and we look forward with much expectation

DrJonathan Cole Chair SFTP JUNE 2015

Newsletter July 2014

Hi Folks. We are quite excited as enter the final countdown mode,towards the opening of SFTP Training and Treatment Center in Lautoka Hospital on September 1 2014.

We thank you for your support thus far and ask that you consider how you may continue that support which is going to be so crucial to our sustainability,allowing us to make this project a resounding success.

This might be by way of donation of small equipment or consumables,or by donation of funds to SFTP through our vehicle the Newton Wickham Auckland Dental Assn Trust.

It might be by way of donating your time and expertise up at the TTC which would be mighty. While this model has yet to be fully tested there is no doubt that you will get a warm welcome from the people of Fiji when you visit to treat some patients and share your expertise with them by way of lectures,small tutorials or one on one mentoring. Remember the mode and duration of delivery is your choice so get creative and design a package to take up there and share.

The reality is that we will be looking at staffing the center for 9 months of the year allowing the 3 months of December through February to be available to those really keen ones who don't mind the vagaries of the monsoon season. Hence we would LOVE you to start thinking about a time you maybe thinking of going up so we can start to coordinate the programme. Do not under estimate the value of what you have to offer. The oral health providers are hungry for more dental education.

During May 2014 Drs Aziz and Moopna visited and delivered some lectures, mostly around Endodontics which was very well received. This month I am teaming up with Dr Chandra from Brisbane to deliver some lectures both in Suva and Lautoka. This is proving a great way to prime our Fijian friends for the real deal and they know we mean business.

The refurbishment programme will be completed by the end of July and outfitting of the surgery during August. Todd Astridge from RA JENKS has kindly offered to come up during that time and install the Adec 200 kindly donated by Ivoclar Vivadent.

Due to the generosity of the NZDA,International College of Dentists, and Henry Schein Shalfoon we will be spending some funds ,purchasing some vitally needed small equipment and consumables during July.

However in order to make our dollar go further, we need help with capsule mixers,hardware for running dental programme,digital imaging ,scanning ,tissue management system.

Please use our website. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Donations ASB account 12 3030 0649656 00

Many thanks
Jonathan Cole Chair SFTP

Greetings

We are now more than a year into the gestation of the Smiles for the Pacific project and while the launch date cannot be set in stone we are confident that at this stage we will be up and running by mid 2014. As with all these projects, patience is a virtue and we have gotten use to running on "Fiji time" so as to continue to enjoy rather than worry about the rate of progress.

The excellent team we have together, are in "full steam ahead" mode, and each has their field of expertise which they are currently progressing with in oder to make this project happen!
As Coordinator of the SFTP group I am very grateful for their commitment.
We have on board Drs Mahendra Moopna, Yoshi Ediriweera, Prashant Kalyan, Abdul Aziz and clinical coordinator Margot Distelzway.

Please visit our website which is now up and running www.smilespacific.co.nz

You will be able to contact us through the site or directly on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We will continue to keep you up to date on progress via this website

We have recently had Dr Kalyan visit Fiji and we have made great progress with the implementation of the refurbishment project of our clinical area within Lautoka Hospital Oral Health Unit. We are very grateful for the generosity from the Fiji Ministry of Health in allowing us to utilize this space free of charge. Dr Kalyan also had meetings with potential alliance and sponsorship partners both in Nadi and Suva.

The NZ Dental Industry is coming to the fore,in helping us secure the appropriate equipment required to successfully set up the surgery in Lautoka.
This is occurring via donations or a reduced purchase price of the items required. Certainly we would not have a show of succeeding if it was not for their generosity. So far, we have some commitment from Henry Schien Shalfoon, Ivoclar Vivadent and Gunz,and are in discussions with other companies.
We are aware and depending on the corporate community spirit of the dental industry in this regard.

We are also very appreciative of the help being given by Todd at R A Jenks who is very innovative in the way we achieve our goal.
NSK have been extremely supportive and generous right from the first day and we celebrate their degree of involvement.

Colgate palmolive have a big presence in Fiji and we have exchanged some good dialogue thus far and intend the alliance to be far reaching.

However we have along way to go ,and it is clear that the industry is coming off difficult times with the recent global financial crisis and the purse strings are pretty tight at present .
This project NEEDS to happen and we truly want it to be a collaborative effort of the whole industry so that we can all feel justifiably proud.

The reaction from Dentists and oral health professionals has been outstanding .
We already have a database of over 50 Dentists and Specialists who have shown a willingness to donate their time and expertise in Fiji.
We have a good group of specialists including oral and maxillo facial ,endodonists, paediodontists and periodontists. They are all fully aware that all costs incurred during their travel are their responsibility but this has in no way deterred from their propensity to volunteer. This illustrates the wonderful spirit of giving that pervades the dental fraternity .
As a group they have a wealth of experience and all are willing to pass that on via lectures ,tutorials or one on one mentoring.

Smiles for the Pacific intend to navigate through uncharted waters,and this makes it a truly exciting venture. There have and continue to be a group of organisations that volunteer their dental time and expertise in the pacific islands and elsewhere. These include Marine Reach, Mercy ships, Rotary International, Smile High, One to One Cambodia tooth angel and Butterfly trust in Vanuatu. We salute them and enjoy our common alliance ,and of course learn from them.

Smiles for the Pacific intend to achieve dual goals. We intend to expose the folk of Western Fiji to dental treatment techniques not normally avaliable to them ,including oral and maxillofacial treatment.
Secondly we are able to include all local oral health professionals in this journey and allow them to enhance their practicing skills and repotoire at no expense to them. This is an opportunity that should not and will not be missed.
We would hope that by extending their education dentally ,they in turn maybe able to empower other oral health facilitators to spread the message with an overall improvement in oral health.

It is clear that we will need to target young people with this message if we are to get the paradigm shift in oral health patterns that we need. Some of the adult population are just not hearing these health messages and that I understand is why diabetes is such a problem right across Fiji.

This invitation will be extended to all oral health professionals in the pacific basin,and I have already undertaken a scoping mission to Tonga and met will some of the local dentists. We hope to send a contingent up to Nuku 'alofa very soon.

The Fiji Ministry of Health has generously agreed to provide and pay for a full time local dental coordinator who will facilitate the process and ensure that visiting team members are fully employed during their time there in either treatment or a lecturing role.

So I hope you can see that we are well on the way and our destination is just over the next brow of the hill ,although there is still a lot of work to do .

Funding is the perennial problem and with this project that is no exception . We are exhausting all avenues and making reasonable progress but the required figures are large and we will have to become more inventive as time goes by,utilizing all the skills of our "number 8 wire" mentality that we excell at!
Some of the larger potential funding agencies require pre certification before you can apply and this is a minefield for those unaccustomed to such ventures. However we persist and know that it is well worth the effort.
We certainly do not know about every potential agency ,soil you're aware of one that may be useful to us ,please be good enough to drop us a line

Smiles for the Pacific have established some great alliances and we are especially indebted to the mentoring from Dr Joan Lal, chief dental officer of Western Fiji.

Although we will be based in Lautoka ,we have not forgotten about Suva and theFiji National University with their dental unit ,and we continue to touch base with them,so that the project remains mutually beneficial.

Finally the Newton Wickham Auckland Dental Association Trust ,who are the parent behind Smiles for the Pacific would like to gratefully acknowledge Friends of Fiji Health,who instigated our interest in this arena . By inviting and facilitating the pathway thus far ,we are well on the way to a successful and sustainable project.

Bula Vinaka. Dr Jonathan Cole. Chair SFTP.