Service

• Academy Sponsored

• Other Organizations

Organizers David Sheets, Creed Haymond, Gary Crawford, Bob Hamblin, Bob Rogers and Stan Miller lead humanitarian dental service trips to Central America . Most work has been done in Honduras but there have also been trips in Nicaragua and Guatemala during these twice yearly these service trips Each trip involves 50 to 65 volunteers including general dentists, dental specialists, hygienists, dental students, pre-dental students, doctors, nurses and family members.

The primary objective is to provide high quality comprehensive dental services for young men and women preparing to serve LDS missions.Thousands of people have received treatment because of this program, including full-time missionaries and pre-missionaries, while simultaneously providing thousands of hours of hands-on training to the Honduran university dental faculty and students. Other humanitarian service rendered on these trips has included such things as hearing clinics, orphanage projects, and subs-for-Santa.

The joy of service and the Spirit felt, as expressed in the testimony meetings at the end of each trip, is taken home and savored as a life changing experience. The facts attest to the effective organization and the significance of the service rendered.

Several 40 foot shipping containers of mostly dental equipment and supplies, computers, missionary clothing and wheelchairs have been delivered. Four dental school clinics and several off-site residency clinics have been remodeled and fully equipped with more than 100 dental chairs being donated in Honduras . The most recent accomplishment is the construction and outfitting of the first ever maxillo-facial operating suite at Hospital Esquela in Tegucigalpa .

Each participant is responsible for paying his/her own expenses, typically $1,750 to $2,200 per person, including airfare, hotel, meals and transportation which includes a little vacation at the end of each trip to places such as the Copan ruins, the Caribbean island of Roatan that boasts world class SCUBA diving, the Pacific beach resort of Montelimar and Lake Atitlan.

Trips are typically conducted each year in May, and again in the autumn or winter.

Those interested in going on future expeditions should contact David Sheets, (801) 836-0971, dsheets@beprepared.com