South Pacific, Caribbean volunteers sought

San Diego鈥擳he USS Dubuque will be leaving on its Pacific Partnership 2009 humanitarian mission from San Diego June 1. Dental and other health care volunteers are sought.

The USNS Comfort left from Miami earlier this month for a Caribbean itinerary and is also seeking specific types of volunteers.

Volunteers on these ships are coordinated through the University of California San Diego Pre-Dental Society.

The USS Dubuque mission will travel throughout the South Pacific, including visits to the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Samoa. There will be rest stops in Cairns, Australia, and New Caledonia, said Dr. Irvin Silverstein, director of the UCSD Pre-Dental Society and the UCSD Student-Run Free Dental Clinic Project.

In addition to dentists, the Dubuque mission also seeks dental assistants; hygienists; physicians; pharmacists; and dental, medical and pharmacy students. The students provide support to the clinicians, including triage, dental assisting and general support duty.

Volunteers must pay their own travel expenses to a port of call; the Navy will provide food and housing, which will include setting up camps on islands in the South Pacific. In addition to providing treatment and health education, the ship will also be bringing in construction teams to work on many of the islands’ infrastructures, said Dr. Silverstein. Those interested should contact Dr. Silverstein at dsilverstein22@cox.net as soon as possible, as every volunteer has to undergo a credentialing process.

Earlier this month, the USNS Comfort hospital ship left on a health care mission to the Caribbean, Central and South America. Dr. Silverstein said that a few volunteer slots remain open but specific criteria have to be met for volunteering. Those interested in finding out more may contact him at the same e-mail address. The itinerary includes Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Panama, El Salvador and Nicaragua.