Report on the visit to Taveuni Island, Fiji, by the Volunteer Rotary Dental Team - 2nd- 18th August 2024
The 2024 team consisted of our Oral educator, Rachel Smith, (OHT), Diane Lawrence, (Administrator), Montanna Brown, (Dental Assistant, Melbourne) and Drs, Peter Langley, Mary Engelbrecht, me as team leader Gary Lawrence. It was Montanna’s first working trip to Taveuni, the rest were there in 2023 and this was my 7th visit to Taveuni.
The Rotary team on Taveuni consisted of President Joji (George) Qalovi, his wife Raijeli, (Rachel) Qalovi, Past Presidents Peter and Helene Brown, Secretary, Paul Purvis and wife Pamela Clark, along with the other members of the Taveuni Rotary Club.
Our team flew out from Wellington on Air Fiji (a first) to Nadi on Friday 2nd August. Overnighted at Nadi and had Montanna join us from an earlier flight from Melbourne, then continued to Matei airport on Taveuni on Saturday morning.
Welcomed by our Rotary hosts, Helene & Peter Brown, where we stayed for our time on Taveuni apart from the 4 nights in the south where we stayed at the Paradise Taveuni Resort. Our equipment stored on the island was waiting for us to unpack and collate with the materials and equipment we brought with us which we then had ready packed and stowed on the 2 x SUV (hired) and 4WD ute (loaned by rotary member, Anna Adamo) by the Monday morning. Loaned also was a generator and air compressor along with the new generator (for the autoclave we borrow) for the project we purchased in Fiji.
We treated the children at the Somosomo school on Monday and travelled to the South Taveuni School on Tuesday and were hosted by Terri and Alan at the Taveuni Paradise Resort. A luxury resort that provided us with free accommodation, 3x food daily for the six of us for 4 days. A fantastic, generous gesture to our cause and a first for our team. I would recommend this resort to anyone wanting to stay on the island. The accommodation, staff, restaurant, the grounds, setting and our hosts were just fantastic.
A massive thank you must go to Terri and Alan for their impeccable hospitality and goodwill shown to our team. The stay negated the 90 minute “commute” each way from our northern hosts that we have had to endure on all previous trips.
Whilst there, we spent 2 days at the large Taveuni South school which included older classes from Salialevu school bussed over from the eastern side, then a day each at Vuna followed by Navakawau school. Saturday morning was devoted to staff members at Paradise to maintain their dental fitness. Diving teams from Paradise which travel to the world-renowned reefs off Taveuni require good dental health to prevent issues with decompression when they rise from their dives.
Monday 12th morning saw us back at South Taveuni school to complete year 7 & 8’s and others with dental issues. Tuesday saw us at Taveuni Central School for the rest of the week. Such was the workload at each of the schools, we ran out of time to look at Holy Cross Primary School students, which has the largest roll on the island at approximately 650 children we believe.
The program saw us travel to each of the schools, set up in time to start between 8.30 and 9am each day. After school finished, we would treat the staff members and public if we had time, packing up and driving back to our hosts, one day taking 1 ½ hours’ drive, over very uneven gravel roads from the south to the north of the island.
Results
We treated 244 children and 50 adults. We provided 1202 separate items of care to the island population. Included were 392 fillings and 427 preventative fillings. We hope to have salvaged this number of teeth for the children, as if the decay is allowed to continue with the resulting toothache, the teeth can only be extracted.
We had to extract 25 deciduous teeth, (abscessed, as mostly these are left to naturally exfoliate by our team), 54 permanent teeth, (12 from the adults) plus other miscellaneous treatments.
In addition to these numbers, Rachel has estimated that she instructed 1509 students, teachers and parents on healthy eating, tooth cleaning and the causes of tooth decay. Colgate Fiji donated packs which included toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss and preventative notes about tooth decay and gum disease which were distributed to the children.
As mentioned, it had been 6 years since we visited a lot of these schools with the resulting workload required for each student being a lot greater than ever before. I have written to the Fiji health department in my exiting report to them, suggesting that they should look at other ways to treat the children at the schools with the resources they have available to them presently. It is early days, but I have not had a reply to my report. The Taveuni Dental Clinic did provide us with a therapist for 5 days during our stay. They received onsite tuition and helped in the provision of our services
toothpaste, floss and preventative notes about tooth decay and gum disease which were distributed to the children. As mentioned, it had been 6 years since we visited a lot of these schools with the resulting workload required for each student being a lot greater than ever before. I have written to the Fiji health department in my exiting report to them, suggesting that they should look at other ways to treat the children at the schools with the resources they have available to them presently. It is early days, but I have not had a reply to my report. The Taveuni Dental Clinic did provide us with a therapist for 5 days during our stay. They received onsite tuition and helped in the provision of our services.
Observations
Unfortunately, the western diet of heavily laden sugary foods has seriously infiltrated the island population, leaving a trail of dental disasters that are obvious now and can only be headed in the wrong direction. The huge proliferation of village corner dairies and canteens that have emerged over the last 8 years is impressive for the wrong reasons. The economy of Fiji, especially the tourism sector suffered severely during and after the Covid 19 pandemic.
Expenditures
| Airfares from NZ/Aust-Nadi-Taveuni return | $ 9,749.70 |
| Accommodation in Nadi, in and out with meals | $ 1,391.41 |
| Purchases of Dental Materials | $11,088.46 |
| Food, meals petrol/diesel | $ 2,840.00 |
| Purchase of a Generator | $ 2,677.11 |
| ROZOPS, Insurance for the team | $ 2,165.55 |
| Maintenance on Dental Units (Deltech) | $ 993.60 |
| Total expenditure | $30,905.83 |
Hire of 4wd SUV paid for by the Taveuni Rotary Club
Supply of 4wd utility donated by Taveuni Rotarian Anna Adamo
Accommodation in Matei was donated by Rotarians Helene & Peter Brown as well as their neighbour.
Accommodation in South Taveuni was donated By Terry & Alan from Paradise Taveuni Resort.
Supply of 4wd utility donated by Taveuni Rotarian Anna Adamo
Accommodation in Matei was donated by Rotarians Helene & Peter Brown as well as their neighbour.
Accommodation in South Taveuni was donated By Terry & Alan from Paradise Taveuni Resort.
Conclusion
A project like this cannot occur without a lot of planning and with the goodwill and hard work by many individuals, Rotary clubs and Rotary Districts.
Our project, treating the school children on Taveuni Island, could not proceed without the sterling effort of the Taveuni Rotary club members. In particular, PP’s
Helene and Peter Brown, who went passed everyone’s expectations to provide the accommodation, meals, transport, co-ordination with the stored equipment and liaising with the head teachers from all of the schools and made our stay in Matei so enjoyable and friendly in their beautiful home.
Secretary Paul Purvis has been working away behind the scenes and has written several articles about our team, one which will go worldwide later this year.
President Joji who escorted some of our team to schools and picked up and delivered items for our project and his wife, Rachel Qalovi who was of great help at the schools with coordinating the classes and teachers as well as settling the younger children and translating and entering the rolls onto the computer.
To Terri and Alan, already mentioned earlier, who laid out the red carpet for our team and provided such a haven and pampered us for 5 days at their Paradise, a huge, huge thank you.
A big thank you is also extended to Rotarian Anna Adamo, for providing her ute to us free of charge for our team to travel throughout the island, laden with our equipment, for two weeks.
Sponsors
Our team could not provide our services to the children of Taveuni without financial backing. This was achieved predominantly through Rotary in NZ.
Exception to this was the generous grant from the NZ Dental Association of $5,000 for volunteer dental aid in the Pacific.
The dental health packs donated by Colgate Fiji is a large boost for Rachel when she is imparting preventative messages to the children.
We would like to acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Abi Estelle from Tauranga for her donation to our cause.
On behalf of our team, I also wish to thank the following Rotary based clubs and districts for their financial contributions to our project.
- The Remuera Rotary Club Trust for their $6,000 contribution
- The Rotary Club of Kapiti for their $9,000 contribution
- The Rotary Club of Taveuni for their $2,200 contribution
- The Eastern Hutt Rotary Club for their $1,000 contribution
- District 9920 for their District Grant of $7,000 contribution
- District 9940 for their District Grant of $5,000 contribution
To our team this year, I want to thank them for volunteering their time, especially away from their family and friends and their workplaces. I also wish to thank them for working in different and sometimes difficult conditions in the schools throughout the Island and who were able to work through some adversities to complete another successful tour to Taveuni Island.
Dr Gary Lawrence
Dental Surgeon
Member of the Kapiti Rotary Club, District 9940
Dental Surgeon
Member of the Kapiti Rotary Club, District 9940