Dr Roy Sarmidi (WA)
Mission: Nghi Thuan field trip 2016
“It was a very rewarding experience and one that I would treasure for many years to come.”
I decided to join the AVCF charity trip to Nghi Thuan village upon an invitation by Dr. Tai Nguyen. Although this wasn’t the first time I was involved in a mission trip, it was the first time I was involved in a mission trip outside my home country, Indonesia.
As part of the dental team, we examined and treat about 1000 patients over two and a half days. I was very impressed with the standard of care that was able to be provided to these underprivileged children. Unlike my previous involvement in a mission trip, this particular mission trip was extremely well organized and was conducted in a truly professional manner.
I would like thank especially my main dental assistant during the clinic days, Christine who certainly made communication to my patients possible as I could not speak a word of Vietnamese! I was also grateful to Kim and Cuong, both from the Saigon Dental Team who also assisted and translated during my time in the triage station. I would also like to commend all the dental students who helped in providing instruments, materials, and sterilisation of our instruments and equipments, because they made our jobs so much easier!
I was also thankful to Dr. Tam Nguyen for an opportunity to share my knowledge and experience in implant dentistry during a lecture presentation in Vinh city, and for Ms Thao Nguyen who organized our transport and stay during our week in Vietnam. Last but not least, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of the AVCF team members for making this trip such a memorable one.
It was a very rewarding experience and one that I would treasure for many years to come. I would certainly recommend to anyone who wished to experience to be involved in a charity trip to consider joining the AVCF, and I certainly hope I can be once again, part of the future AVCF dental team in the coming years.