In Gear | Rotary in Southern New Zealand In Gear - Issue 3 | Page 55

Dentist Michael Ramsay
Young professionals at work
Inside, Georgia’s partner, dentist Michael Ramsay, who
was a Dunedin Rotaractor before moving to Gisborne
last year to begin his career, was carrying out his own
mission: examining the oral health of all 30 children, as
well as staff, and treating those who needed it.
“Michael was amazing,” David says. “You’ve got to think,
2015 he finished his training, so in his first year of
practice to be going somewhere like Thailand and taking
on all those kids he couldn’t even communicate with – it
was just overwhelming to see how well he did.”
Georgia says, as well as replacing supplies and
conducting an audit of equipment and consumables,
Michael, who is now a member of the Rotary Club of
Gisborne, spent most of his time tending to the children.
“He did a lot of extractions, fillings and cleans. It’s so
difficult for these children to go and get dental or
hospital care, so often it’s overlooked.
“Michael did a little workshop at the end with the
children to make sure they all know how important it is
to brush their teeth.”
The team also included paramedic and
Dunedin NRG member Shannon Clarke,
who made a significant contribution,
too, Georgia says.
basic questionnaire was also developed that they can
now use to take down the important information for any
new children.”
Shannon also devised a health programme for the
centre, including scheduling a doctor to come in
on a regular basis to check the youngsters, dietary
information and injury management advice.
David says the medical expertise was invaluable.
“Discrepancies were also picked up – like, seeing from
their physical development, that the children were a
different age than what was on their records.
“Also, having the benefit of Asa helping with translation,
a lot more was discovered about the children than what
was documented.”
After seeing both Michael and Shannon in action, David
is keen to explore arranging for more New Zealand
students and young professionals from health-related
fields to volunteer in Thailand.
“The ideal for us would be to build on what Michael’s
done and offer graduating dental students at Otago the
opportunity to go to places like the Rescue Mission for
Children,” he says.
“And, it’s much the same for the work
Shannon did medically, we can build
on that now, too.”
“She used her skills to develop medical
records for each child, so they can then
be used by any other volunteer who
goes to the centre.
“Lots of the children were new to
the Rescue Mission and didn’t have
their details recorded, or some of
the information was a bit outdated,
so she went through and, with Asa
translating, interviewed each child. A
The health assessments also
revealed more formal processes
were needed, especially around
new children arriving at the centre
and ensuring they had medical
examinations as soon as possible, as
well as developing an immunisation
programme.
Paramedic Shannon Clarke
“So there are all these things that
fall under the overarching umbrella
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