What a pleasure it was to host Dr. Bud (Barton Oaks Dental) and Dr. Josh Tomasik (Tomasik Family Dental) and dental team from Austin, Texas for the 3rd time. This team has been coming to serve our school for several years long before we arrived and it was an honor to welcome our dear friends again. It was incredible! They saw over 250 kids/staff in their time with us. We are always amazed at their tireless efforts to serve and this trip was no exception. They worked long days in "less than ideal" settings to provide quality dental care to our MAK family.
Dr. Bud and Dr. Josh saw patients with their assistants Kim and Katherine, while Cindy cleaned teeth. Karen kept the various dental instruments cleaned and ready while Richard did everything from construction projects at the house to handing our prizes to kids who were brave dental patients. It was a great team who had fun serving together.
This time we joined efforts with local Dominican dentists in order to connect our kids to good dental care here in the DR. This will enable better care in between dental team visits. Our dentist friend Dr. Jhonny was gracious enough to create this relationship for which we are grateful.
Their week ended with a bang...or at least a fire. On the final afternoon as the dentists were on their last patients, an electrical fire broke out at the school. The fire extinguisher didn't work, so Doug and several other teachers and people in the community started picking up handfuls of dirt to throw on the fire until the fire department
arrived. Actually, the fire truck never arrived- it ran out of gas en route, so a few firemen hopped on a moto and arrived at the school. It was impressive to see how quickly the Makarios staff started problem solving. Within a short period of time our friend and co-worker Benjamin rounded up a generator and the team was able to finish their final patients. In case you are wondering, it is never boring in the DR.
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And that was just the beginning of their crazy exit! The team had an even more hair raising adventure on the way back to the States. As the team was on a flight from JFK to AUS that had a near miss with another plane on the runway at JFK. You may have read about this because it made the national news. Thankfully, they made it safely home, but not before a very long delay.
So, until next year, we say "see you later" to our friends. Bud, Karen, Josh, Cindy, Richard, Kim, and Katherine- we were so blessed by you personally and can't wait to see you next year!
Thanks for joining us on the journey! What a privilege!
Love,
The Beck's
