In
December 2023, I received an email from the organization DVI (Dental
Volunteers for Israel) describing how
they were treating the thousands of Israelis displaced from their homes by the
attack on October 7th along with the underserved youth population
they usually treat. The email also stated that many volunteers had cancelled
their trips due to the war.
I had been agonizing about the war and had made financial contributions
but still had a feeling of helplessness. I realized immediately that this was
my opportunity to contribute in a personal way to the plight of our brothers
and sisters. I set in motion plans to travel to Israel, and two months later, I
was blessed to find myself at the Trudi Birger Dental Clinic contributing my skills in a meaningful way.
* * *
DVI provides free dental
care and oral health education to thousands of needy children in Jerusalem
every year, regardless of race and religion, thanks to benevolent support from
friends and visiting volunteer dentists from around the world. DVI’s agreement
with the Ministry of Health specifies treatment for patients aged four to 26
and 65-plus. But DVI director, Dr. Roy Petel, said, “I was so moved by the story of the displaced
people’s perilous escape and their current living conditions that DVI is privileged
to provide totally free dental care to this entire group.”
The dental problems of needy
children and youth are often far more severe than those of children in better
economic situations, who typically have better diets and superior hygiene
habits. Poor children and youth desperately need dental care to do well in
school. When they don’t get it, an education gap is formed – reducing their ability
to escape the cycle of poverty. DVI provides critical basic services to the poverty-stricken
communities of Jerusalem. With a total population of a mere 874,000, Jerusalem has
over 200,000 children living under the poverty line.
Unfortunately, the number
of needy elderly and Holocaust survivors has also increased significantly, and
so, in 2016, DVI added the Free Dentures for Needy Elderly and Holocaust
Survivors project. A special campaign to fund the creation of an in-house lab that
will ensure the long-term operation of this program is almost complete.
*
* *
I had volunteered at the DVI Clinic four times previously, and while it
was always an amazing experience, the feeling was much more powerful this time.
Both in and out of the clinic, I felt the warmth of being with family. The
patients seemed especially thankful, and everyone I met expressed their
gratitude for my volunteer visit.
On my day off from the clinic, I was presented with the opportunity to
volunteer on a farm in southern Israel near Gaza. I was bused there with 45
mostly Israeli volunteers. The farmer described the destruction he experienced
on October 7th. He had employed 250 Palestinian workers but is now
totally dependent on volunteers. After some instructions, we spent the day
planting lettuce and weeding other, established, lettuce beds. It was a very
meaningful day.
Volunteer dentists from
around the world, together with their Israeli colleagues, perform over 1,000
treatments each month. During the past 44 years, over 5,000 dentists have
volunteered for DVI. In 2023, DVI hosted 131 volunteer dentists, including 57
international volunteers. Because the dentists are all volunteers and supplies
and even some equipment are donated by major U.S. manufacturers, DVI is the
most cost-efficient free dental clinic in Israel. The clinic’s total operating budget remains a
fraction of what it would cost to operate a clinic this size: six dental
chairs, a dedicated X-ray chair, plus a full-time hygienist. Most volunteers
are general dentists and pedodontists, but there is a need for help from endodontists.
Through the years, DVI has won numerous awards, including Israel’s Presidential
Award for Volunteerism, the highest award an Israeli non-profit can hope to
achieve.
DVI is the only authorized
dental clinic in Israel that serves as a pediatric residency rotation as DVI’s
clinic director, Dr. Roy Petel, is a board-certified specialist in pediatric dentistry
and a professor at Hadassah. He recruited two new dental schools to the pediatric residents
program: the Galilee Medical Center and Tel HaShomer Medical Center. DVI
now has pediatric residents in the clinic every day of operation, and through
DVI, dentists from around the world are sharing best practices from their countries
with these residents and dentists across Israel.
*
* *
Observers who visit the
clinic will see a lively place full of kids as well as elderly patients of various
local ethnicities, yet the clinic is in need of funds to purchase the
additional PPE (personal protective equipment) and to help provide more
treatment to the displaced Israelis, Ukrainian refugees, and Ukrainian new
immigrants, along with the all the other special patients treated at DVI.
My experience this winter showed me what a strong, beautiful, joyful,
and resilient people we are. I highly recommend volunteering in Israel during
this time. I was able to help a little – I was helped a lot!!
For more information about DVI, please
visit www.canadianfriendsofdvi.org or www.dental-dvi.org.il
or email michelle@dental-dvi.org.il.
Dr. Goodman maintains a private practice in Annapolis: goodmandentalcare.com. He may
be reached at aggoodman@comcast.net (just for
journalist quotes).
