Recent Reports

As of 11/8/10

KINIGI REPORT
September 2010
85 patients seen
71 simple extractions
18 basic cleanings
15 referrals
560 taught oral health education in the community and in schools

October 2010
82 patients seen
64 simple extractions
4 basic cleanings
14 referrals
250 people taught oral health education at the health center

MAYANGE REPORT
October 2010
18 basic cleaniings
120 children taught oral health education (1 class at secondary and 1 class at primary school)

Latest Report from Mayange Health Center

As of 9/27/10

MAYANGE REPORT
45 basic cleanings

Latest Report from Kinigi Health Center

As of 9/15/2010 (last 30 days)

KINIGI REPORT
85 Total patients seen
77 Simple extractions
2 Basic cleanings
182 Students have been educated on Oral Disease Prevention

Reports from Mayange and Kinigi Health Centers

As of 7/20/2010

MAYANGE REPORT
28 Simple extractions
320 Students in primary school at Mayange B Primary School have been educated on Oral Disease Prevention

KINIGI REPORT
74 Simple extractions
13 Basic cleanings

Recent Graduate Has Pulled 30 Teeth Already!

7/7/10
From one of our recent students who received his certification on June 25th - just two weeks ago!

"The job is very good after the training, so we have now thirty extractions and the populations are very happy"

Emmanuel SEKOMINE
KINIGI H.C

June, 2010 Pilot Project

We trained 2 nurses from Kinigi Health Center and 2 nurses from Mayange Health Center.  The following are reports sent back by the team during the training.

Due to some health problems, Dr. Reckmeyer was unable to go this June but here is a report from Marcus Gottlieb (“Griss”), one of the volunteers who went:


6/5/10

Dick, just wanted to touch base and say hi from Kigali. All is well and the trip really has been great so far, although we were not able to get a hold of the ambassador for this evening. Kept calling but no response. But that does not detract from the great time that Larry and I are having so far. Cecile has been wonderful and a real pleasure. The memorial was fabulous and very moving, we went to the Village of Hope and had a great time, the kids were incredibly adorable and I wanted to take one home with me. We went to Heaven last night and met Josh Ruxin and his wife. He seems like a very intelligent person, it was great to meet him. We had a fine meal. And today we went to see mama and of course that is Arlene Brown. The facility is amazing but she is even more incredible. What unbelievable will and determination she has. She has big plans for Urukundu and of course the kids were beyond cute. The country is beautiful and we love being here so far, so I wanted to reassure you that all is well and thank you again for all your hard work in putting the trip together. This cannot be emphasized enough. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I guess we will be Skyping tomorrow night so talk to you then. Take good care of yourself, Griss

6/7/10

Skype call with Larry

Larry is sick today but Marcus, John, and Jean Claude did a great job of teaching. It took them most of the morning to set up clinic and they did a lot of didactic in the afternoon. Re: to John and Jean Claude, Larry said “we couldn’t do it without these guys.” The nurses are 3 men and 1 woman and none speak English and the Mayange nurses just showed up today – it’s a long trip for them.

6/9/10

Dick, greetings from Musanze. The teaching is going well, we have started to pull some teeth and I really enjoy the teaching. John and Jean Claude have been unbelievably helpful and we certainly could not do this without them. I hope you are feeling well and again Larry and I cannot thank you enough for all your hard work in putting this trip together. Take good care of yourself and I will stay in touch. Griss

6/10/10

From one of our Rwandan dental therapists:

Hello Dr Rick,

We enjoyed the training and we thank you for your courage and organization we found in you and the other American dream Team Dr Larry and Dr Marcus.

Keep in touch and Love from Rwanda.

Kind regards,

Jean Claude RUKUNDO

6/12/10

From one of our students:

I am very happy for the training. There is very very good

Sekomine Emmanuel

6/12/10

I talked to Larry via Skype. He and Marcus “love their students” who are Emmanuel (the administrator) and Innocent from Kinigi. Emmanuel is very definite and asks probing questions. Of the two students from Mayange, one is especially self-confident. Larry and Marcus have been invited to Jean Claude’s house sometime this week. Jean Claude has a lot of good ideas including using the radio media to get the word out on prevention. Larry asked my help in sending Jean Claude some resource information. The training is in both the dental department and the room we reserved. The method of sterilization is new to them and is done in the room we reserved. John worked all day, skipped lunch, to help triage, etc. showing the spirit of teamwork. They met the new Peace Corps volunteer working with Bertin. Everyone has been great – Bertin, John, John Claude, Cecile, etc.

Today was the trekking day - he said the “gorillas are cool – way cool” and that it was an easy hike. They saw the biggest silverback and the family had a 2 week old baby

6/15/10

From Larry:

Hi Dick and Jan:

I feel remiss about not being able to contact you sooner and more often. I think I finally solved the communication problem by purchasing a Rwandtel modem and some air time. I am therefore limited in the amount of data that I can send. I want to send you my daily diary but that would not be possible due to limitations of the modem.

Good news. Marcus and I are very happy with the students. Today I think they turned the corner and finally had the opportunity they needed to show us how well they can do. Emmanuel, Gaspard and Innocent are doing very well with extractions. Solange lacks confidence but today she actually extracted #4 and #15. That had to be a confidence builder for her and I think she will be OK. Worst case is that she has all of the knowledge and information with less manual skills and she can still reach and impact her community. They all have lots of great questions and we had 2 excellent discussions today about diagnosis, pathology and general dental questions.

Marcus and I want to commend you on everything that you have done to establish the program for RRD and for Rwanda. We are impressed with how well it was researched, the contacts that you made and the impression that you have left on the people that you worked with. Very impressive and a big thank you from us and from the people. The people are amazing. We could not ask for better. They are very nice and polite, respectful and curious. As patients they are truly stoic.

I have to leave now to go to Claude's home for dinner and to meet his friends.

Larry

6/17/10

From Larry:

We are happy to report that the students are exceeding our expectations and we are very happy with them. Today for example, we did several difficult molar extractions, discussed primary teeth, their eruption schedule, ectopic eruption, periodontitis, plaque, what a root canal treatment is, how to diagnose treatment for tramatized teeth, scaling and scaling instruments, plaque and calculus, etc. They are smart, motivated and learn fast with lots of great questions.

Everyone want to expand the program so we will come up with ideas for the future. Start thinking about fund raising as much money as possible for public radio broadcasts and the expense of sending dentists to Rwanda. We will be happy to brainstorm later.

Leaving for Akagera tomorrow.

6/17/10

From Marcus:

Dick, just wanted to drop you a line and let you know what a wonderful experience this has been for us so far. You really did an amazing job putting this together and the trip really has exceeded our expectations. One of the students even wrote us a nice email thanking us for training him. The students are great, eager and anxious to learn and I sincerely think all of them could go back to their communities and help their fellow Rwandans if they so desire. Jean Claude and John have been great, they really want the program to succeed and they have been indispensable to the success of Rural Rwanda Dental. We went to Claudes house the other night, met his family and some of his friends and his warmth and kindness was overwhelming. They also are wonderful dental techs, I have learned some techniques in removing roots after teeth crack, they are very very good. The people here have been wonderful, the Dancing Pots experience was unbelievable, almost brought tears to our eyes. The trekking was amazing. So my sincerest thanks for your hard work in making this such a memorable experience. I hope you are feeling well and Larry and I cannot thank you enough. Send our love to Jan, take care, Griss

6/22/10

From Marcus

Last week of class and everything has been great up to now. We cannot thank you enough for the incredible job you did in putting the trip together. We met Jean Paul from the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary project and he sends his greetings to you. We want to try and take Claude and John out to dinner with their wives sometime this week, they have been invaluable to us, and on Friday we will take the students out to lunch and give them their certificates. They have done very well, they are learning a lot and I feel that they will be able to carry on after we are gone. It will be important however, to make sure they have enough essential supplies which they cannot get here, such as anesthetic, needles, so they can continue to treat their people. We will be going one day to a couple of schools in the Kinigi area so we can show the students how to educate the young kids in oral hygiene prevention. I do not think we will hook up with Julie Ghrist, Claude is trying to get in touch with her. We will see. But it has been a tremendous experience for us, the people are warm, kind, respectful, appreciative, and a pleasure to be with. We hope you are well and taking good care of yourself, say hi to Jan, and again we really cannot thank you enough. Griss

6/26/10

From Marcus

Dick, at Kigali Airport, has been very memorable to say the least. It was wonderful, Griss

COD alum falls in love with Rwanda, returns to teach basic dental care

University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry

Spring, 2010 [ Download PDF version of this article ]

COD alum falls in love with Rwanda, returns to teach basic dental care

On an African safari in 2006, Dr. Richard T. Reckmeyer traveled through Tanzania and Kenya and set out to trek for gorillas in Rwanda. But even before he reached the gorillas, he says, he fell in love with the country, its leaders, and its people. 

He first noticed the impeccably clean roads. A guide told him that plasticshad been outlawed and that one day a month citizens, including the country’s president, pick up roadside trash. He said he also noticed the hopefulness of the people, especially the women and children, despite widespread poverty and the horror of genocide. 

Since that first visit, Reckmeyer, a retired Phoenix, AZ, dentist and a 1979 graduate of the UNMC College of Dentistry, has returned to Rwanda four times. He is planning a fifth trip in June when he hopes to conduct a three-week program to teach nurses and community health workers how to deliver basic dental services. 

“Because the entire health infrastructure was destroyed during the 1994 genocide, when 1 million people were killed in 100 days, the supply is scarce and the demand is astronomical for rural oral health care,” Reckmeyer said. “You get to the age when you want to give back,” he said, “and it can be here in the United States, or it can be in Rwanda.” 

Reckmeyer’s goal is to teach nurses in community health centers to perform simple extractions, complete basic cleanings, and train community health workers to teach prevention. He plans to work with public schools and Home Based Management Care, which is provided by the government. 

The first training will be offered at the Ruhengeri Hospital in the Musanze District of the Northern Province. It will cover health histories, oral examinations, dental anatomy of baby and permanent teeth, sterilization, prevention, cleaning techniques with oral hygiene instruction, injections, and simple extractions. His five-year goal is to have all 750 nurses trained in all 375 districts.

Reckmeyer, who retired in 2001 because of disability after three rotator cuff surgeries in one year, outlined his plan in October to students, faculty, and administrators at the College of Dentistry. He said he needs help from volunteer dentists, hygienists, and students, as well as donations of money, instruments, and supplies. He could use scalers, curettes, elevators, and forceps. Reckmeyer based his training course on the Kenya Medical Mission conducted for six years in rural Kenya by two Phoenix dentists and their wives—Dr. Jerry Denning, and his wife, Mikell, a hygienist, and Dr. Wilson Lathrop and his wife, Bonnie. To develop his course, Reckmeyer, who also has a MBA and has taught at community colleges, met with faculty, administration, and students at Kigali Health Institute—the only dental education facility in Rwanda— and other government and health officials.

The ratio of oral health care providers to the population in Rwanda was 155 providers to 10.5 million people, as of March 2009, and most of the providers worked in urban areas, Reckmeyer said. In two districts he surveyed, between 92 percent and 95 percent of the oral health care needs amounted to simple extractions and basic cleanings. Simple extractions were the second most common service provided in community health centers in a third district surveyed. 

To volunteer or donate money or supplies, contact Reckmeyer at (623) 979-7555 or richard.reckmeyer@cox.net. Learn more at his Web site at http://www.rrdental.org.

Article About Us

Oral Health Care Project in the Works for Rwanda
California Dental Association - November, 2009
[ Download PDF version of this article ]

A dentist in Arizona is looking for adventurous and caring dental professionals for an outreach project in Rwanda. Having completed a feasibility study on a successful model in Kenya, Richard T. Reckmeyer, DDS, MBA, would like to take the project west to help meet the demand for oral health care in Rwanda.

Reckmeyer met with Kigali Health Institute faculty, students and administrators. (The school is Rwanda’s only dental facility.) He also met with other governmental officials and administrators of nearly a dozen community health centers in Musanze District as part of his feasibility study. The results were eye-opening. Following the 1994 genocide, in which 1 million people were killed in 100 days, oral health care is in high demand but scarce.

Some of the statistics, according to a press release:

• The ratio of oral health care providers to the total population of Rwanda is 155/10.5 million.

• Simple extractions are the second most common service (second to lower respiratory disease) in the community health centers in Gakenke District, Northern Province, Rwanda.

• For 987 patients, 95.5 percent of the oral health care needs in Nyabihu District, Northern Province, Rwanda, are simple extractions and basic cleanings.

Dental professionals and students interested in a life-changing experience can contact Richard T. Reckmeyer, DDS, MBA, by clicking here.

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Visit our new website at http://www.rrdental.org for more information on what we do and how YOU can get involved and truly make a difference in the lives of others.