Help for Haiti
For the past two years, Dr. David Snodgrass of Snodgrass King Pediatric Dental Associates has been working with his Patterson team to build a medical and dental facility in Haiti. Patterson Today caught up with the doctor after a recent, highly rewarding trip.
Patterson Today: When did you first visit Haiti and what inspired you to go?
Dr. Snodgrass: A missionary came and spoke in our church. Two weeks later my wife Melody and I were in Haiti checking out an orphanage in the city of Quanaminthe called Danita’s Children. We’ve been down there three or four times since 2008.
PT: Describe your experiences with the orphanage and subsequent visits.
DS: Danita’s Children is a rescue orphanage and what attracted me is that it’s also a church for 500 Haitian families. There’s also a school – it’s state-of-the-art with 12 classrooms, and more than 550 of Haiti’s children in that city attend school every day. On two separate occasions I’ve gone there and pulled teeth. We saw 850 adults and children and pulled teeth on more than 600 of them.
PT: Who is Margarette?
DS: When I was at the orphanage the first time, I met a little girl. I noticed that she had eye problems. I am blind in my left eye, from a traumatic injury in dental school, so I had to struggle for everything I have. When I see kids with eye problems, it brings home what I went through.
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I contacted Dr. Ming Wang, a world-renowned ophthalmologic surgeon, to inquire about Margarette’s situation. He agreed to help in any way that he could and we made arrangements to bring Margarette to the United States for examination and possible eye surgery. When she came to Nashville and had a corneal transplant in her right eye, she stayed in our home with us. We fell in love. She’s such a kind and happy child. That was more than a year ago. We got the adoption process underway. After the [January 12] earthquake hit, we were able to expedite her adoption and bring her home!
PT: What project(s) are you currently working on in Haiti?
DS: I designed a dental clinic based at the orphanage where we will have dental chairs that medical doctors use for operations when dentists aren’t there. I can take a dental team down there of hygienists and assistants, and other doctors can go there. We can take kids out of classrooms, can do sealants and fillings. We’ll have a base from where we can provide toothbrushes and toothpaste. My staff can go and teach the students how to take care of teeth.
Snodgrass King purchased all new dental equipment and Patterson made arrangements to ship it all to Haiti. Patterson also found some dentists to donate used, good dental equipment. Once it arrives, Patterson technicians will go and install it. We’re also shipping medical supplies.
PT: Did the earthquake in Port au Prince on January 12 affect the orphanage/clinic?
DS: Quanaminthe is in the northeastern part of the country, so the building’s structure wasn’t physically affected. They did, however, take in a number of new orphans. PT
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