We continue to push forward with our Ecuador Dental Health Initiative. We have another 5,000 toothbrushes ready to ship and are collecting sealant material and fluoride varnish for our program. The EDHI will expand into three new communities this year. Frank Hutchins will take fluoride varnish and toothbrushes with his college group and will initiate a new dental program in the Cotacachi area and other areas where they work in Imbabura. Joe Molinaro and Kay Roberts will initiate a similar program in Molino. If we get the solar panels up and running, we also plan to send sealant material and a new curing light. I am going to train Joe and Kay to place sealants. They will in turn train someone there to do the same. Joe Molinaro has a dream of improving the dental health of all the Oriente children, one village at a time. Joe, we all share that dream!

Magdalena Herdoiza-Estevez and Isabel Estevez will start their new dental initiative at the San Gerardo Community Project in March. I am providing them will fluoride varnish and toothbrushes. If we could add new volunteers into new communities each year, our dream of better dental health for Ecuador’s children could be achieved. Let’s look for NEW volunteers who would be willing to support a community project with visits and materials and/or financial support.

The Clark County Dental Health Initiative is now fully funded by the Clark County Community Foundation and well under way. Over 6,000 toothbrushes and fluoride toothpaste has been delivered to every child in the school system. On November 6, 2008, all the Clark County dentists and their staffs and other volunteers went to each of the individual grade schools and placed the new fluoride varnish with ACP. All 3,000 children from Head Start through the 5th grade received the treatment. We will return in April for the second application. We are doing a decayed, missing, filled study on the 6th graders. We will repeat the study each year to measure our success .

If you would like to adopt a community in Ecuador and provide them with fluoride varnish, sealant material/curing light and toothbrushes, please become a Kentucky/Ecuador Partner’s volunteer. The rewards are beyond measure. Please contact for more info: Ms. Kay Roberts