Volunteers treat thousands of patients each year in Belize

Centralia, Ill.鈥擜 trip to the Caribbean typically signals an escape from the office and the daily routine.

For Dr. J. Franklin Whipps, a visit to Ambergris Caye, near the world-famous Belize Barrier Reef, means working Monday through Friday with a team of volunteers to deliver much-needed dental and medical care to area residents.

Annually, nearly 100 volunteers join Dr. Whipps, who practices orthodontics in Centralia, on one of three week-long visits as part of the Belize Mission Project in the Central American country also known as British Honduras. While independent since 1981, Belize remains a part of the British Commonwealth, and its official language is English.

Launched nearly two decades ago, the BMP attracts participants nationwide, including general dentists, hygienists and lab technicians, as well as oral surgeons, orthodontists, pediatric dentists and periodontists.

In addition to family practice physicians, the project recently added an audiologist who fit both adults and children with first-time hearing aids, and an occupational therapist who taught local nurses how to handle stroke victims. Volunteers represent all ages and backgrounds, and 70 percent of BMP participants return each year.

First dubbed “The Fishin’ Mission,” a venture that combined dental/medical mission work and professional fishing, the BMP has been devoted since 1992 to treating those who cannot afford medical care, reports Dr. Whipps. Project volunteers focus primarily on providing preventive and restorative dentistry. Thousands of toothbrushes are distributed and oral hygiene instructions are given to the children on a regular basis.

“Halloween is celebrated quite intensely in Belize. The kids put on their costumes in the middle of the day and parade through town, getting treats. I found a strategic position and passed out toothbrushes to hundreds of kids as they marched past,” he recalls.

Over the BMP’s three week-long visits in 2008, a total of 2,941 patients were treated. Dental care included restorations (1,396), extractions (1,005), partials (84) and preventive procedures (717); and more than 800 patients received medical or audiological treatments. Dr. Whipps estimates that “many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of treatment have been given away over the years.”

Volunteer dentists and physicians bring their own instruments and supplies, providing the project with a stocked pharmacy worth up to $40,000. In 2006, the BMP coordinated a major donation of $400,000-$500,000 worth of medical equipment and supplies to support a new clinic in the town of San Pedro on the island of Ambergris Caye. In 2008, the clinic received a second container, again worth about $500,000, which also included an X-ray machine, one of the area’s first.

Beyond delivering treatments and collecting donations, the project offers another important outcome, says Dr. Whipps: “There’s a lot personally to be gained from doing something for other people.” To ensure meaningful results for the project, Dr. Whipps lists three defining goals that he established in the project’s early years:

• “introduce volunteers to mission work in underdeveloped countries by making the experience as nonthreatening, safe and comfortable as possible”;
• “practice dentistry and medicine in a Christian manner”;
• “give project participants the opportunity for introspection.”

The BMP is nondenominational, he emphasizes, but volunteers are expected to act professionally and “treat people in a loving and caring way.” Volunteers do gather for morning devotions and some attend local churches, but the project’s purpose is “not to evangelize, per se,” says Dr. Whipps.

Over the years, many participants have come to the BMP searching for fulfillment or to recharge their spirit, he explains. “I know from my own experience that while one goal is to give of yourself, you end up receiving much, much more than you give.”

Dr. Alfred P. Mavilio, who joined the project in 2001 and has since completed five trips, says the rewards of volunteering are “endless and addictive, providing the desire to return yearly. Additionally, I enjoy the privilege of meeting and working with a unique group from all regions of the country. The opportunity to participate is one of the most fulfilling experiences of my 50-year professional career.”

After completing his first Belize mission trip in fall 2008, Dr. Randy G. Fussell says that the opportunity to provide restorative dentistry in remote settings was “an inspiration.” He recalls replacing one young man’s fractured incisor with a composite restoration. “His mother was so grateful for our being there, and I was grateful for the opportunity to make a small difference for him. I look forward to participating again.”

Volunteers pay their own way, and the cost of a week-long trip is about $2,000 per person. The typical schedule assembles volunteers on a Friday at the Houston airport. The group then flies to Belize City and on to the island of Ambergris Caye, which has a population of about 20,000. Saturday is a free day, and on Sunday, volunteers start unpacking and teaching new participants how to use the equipment. Monday through Friday, the volunteers conduct clinics at 15 different sites in the country, including remote jungle locations. The group heads home on Saturday.

“The sites may involve working in schools, vacant buildings, churches or health clinics,” Dr. Whipps explains. “Approximately 20 Belizeans help us on a regular basis to organize clinics and assist in getting patients transported to these sites. We do continually look for new places to go and are constantly pushing the limits of our logistics. We prefer to take the treatments to where people are.”

He advises participating dentists and physicians to use procedures that don’t require additional treatment and medicine, which are not readily available. All types of patients, young and old, are treated at clinic sites. “We try to discourage those who have the ability to pay” from using clinic services, though he says that most residents understand the project’s purpose and “want us to treat those who are less fortunate.” The Belizeans, he says, are “very appreciative of the help they receive and, on occasion, go out of their way to say thank you with acts of kindness.”

He recalls working with other dentists at a school whose principal repeatedly asked when the volunteers would be taking lunch. “My response was always the same: We were going to keep working right on through the day,” he recalls. “But after about the fourth time, I finally figured out that the people in the town, even with their limited means, wanted to show their gratitude by inviting each of us to a different home for a very big meal.”

Looking ahead, Dr. Whipps plans to continue the project, with the hope that in three to five years, the training is expanded “so other people can continue BMP and start other projects, as well. I would like to see our model put to work in other countries. There are many needs for dental care around the world that dentists can help to address.”

Personally, he says that his years with the BMP have “given me satisfaction that I am at least trying in a small way to live as I should.”

He says that his wife Bonnie and their two children, Christopher and Courtney, have often joined him on many trips, which has “enriched our family life.” As for any “fishin’ ” opportunities during his many trips, Dr. Whipps says, “My fishing is usually limited to no more than three or four hours on any given trip鈥攁nd that’s the same for most of the people who go.”

Three fall trips for the Belize Mission Project are scheduled for Sept. 25-Oct. 3; Oct. 16-24; and Oct. 30-Nov. 7. To apply for an upcoming trip, donate or learn more about the project, visit www.belizemissionproject.com; or contact Dr. Whipps at 1-618-532-1821; e-mail: fwhipps@charter.net.

To learn more about international volunteering and potential opportunities, visit聽www.ada.org or contact the Division of Global Affairs, 1-312-440-2726.聽