Doing Our Best to Do the Right Thing

 

The nineteenth TMOM was held in the Civic Center in Lubbock on November 13^th and 14^th. The local arrangements committee with the South Plains Dental Society worked for more than a year to arrange the facilities, breakfasts and lunches for volunteers as well as patients. Non-dental volunteers were recruited, facilities secured, and hotel arrangements were made. There are many behind-the-scene preparations that must be completed long before any patients are treated. Especially critical is the choreographing of patient flow and treatment when almost a thousand patients are cared for in two days.  

 

Volunteer dentists, hygienists, and assistants come from all parts of the state paying their own way for transportation, lodging, and food. Dental laboratories bring their equipment, their lab technicians, and materials to fabricate removable partial dentures to replace missing anterior teeth.  

 

While the great majority of the patients are most grateful for the care, and this is the best form of payment, there are a few that complain of waiting and demand services beyond the scope of treatment possible in a short time frame.  

 

I was looking at the website of the Lubbock newspaper, The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, and there was a nice article about the TMOM on the front page of their Saturday edition. At the end of the online edition, there is a blog for folks to express their thoughts and appreciation. Unfortunately, there were some that took the opportunity to express their political views. One blogger entered that, “…the rich do not care about the poor…” from there the conversations turned to predominately health care politics. One entry was even a shameless promotion to sell health insurance!  

 

A later entry who was a community non-dental volunteer stated that, “What most of you seem to be missing here is that a group of professional (read that highly trained at great expense) {his words} dental workers and other ordinary citizens got together to provide much needed service for those who would not or could not take advantage of programs already in place.”  He also noted that, “among those that did come, I found some who were skeptical of keeping their anonymity due to the registration process. Do they also shy away from other every-day, local services for the same reason?”  

 

The same gentleman, DerTexan, concluded by stating, “Remember that this is a story about a project that does not expedite an agenda other than dental health care. It does not seek a profit from residual business created during the event. It does not hand out leaflets touting the advantages or disadvantages of social medicine, change, or any other political debate. THEY CAME, THEY HELPED, THEY LEFT…I will be helping at the next event. Will you be there?”  

 

The world we live in is more complex than ever. As a volunteer in any endeavor, there will be some that will have an entitled viewpoint and others that may dampen the spirit of volunteerism by their words and actions. I urge you all to not be discouraged by this very small minority and focus on the mission.