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Four Students Provide Dental Care for Honduran Orphans
As Part of University of New Haven Program
West Haven, Conn., August 28, 2007—Forty orphaned children were among the Honduran islanders recently treated by four dental hygiene students from the University of New Haven (UNH). Jessica Reder, ’07, Janet Dexter, ’08, Alyssa Natalino ’08, and Marvalene Brooks ’08 provided dental education and care to during a summer global service-learning internship in Roatan, Honduras, which is one of the highly underserved Bay Islands, located just north of the mainland of Honduras.
During their four days in Roatan, the group treated over 65 islanders, including the orphaned children, at La Clinica Esperanza, performing dental hygiene exams, fluoride treatments and prophylaxis. They also provided oral-hygiene and nutritional education to approximately 600 private and public school-aged children and dental screenings in daycare facilities. Prior to departing to Roatan, the team collected clothing and sporting equipment, more than $600 in dental supplies and monetary donations of $ 3075.
La Clinica Esperanza has become a main hub for medicinal care to the island of Roatan. The clinic relies heavily on volunteers to provide service, and monetary donations in order to meet the overwhelming medical and dental needs of the islanders. With the commitment of volunteers such as the UNH team, and generosity of community leaders and donors, La Clinica Esperanza has become a two-story medical facility and is acquiring funding to complete a pediatric intensive care unit.
A leader in experiential learning, the University of New Haven provides its students with a unique combination of solid liberal arts and real-world, hands-on professional training. A private University founded in 1920, UNH has a full-time undergraduate enrollment of more than 2,400 students—with 70 percent residing on its 80-acre main campus—and a graduate school enrollment that exceeds 1,700. The University offers more than 80 undergraduate degrees and more than 25 graduate degrees through its four colleges, in fields such as sports management, nutrition and dietetics, forensic science, music and sound recording, engineering, computer science, fire science and criminal justice. University of New Haven students study abroad through a variety of distinctive programs.
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