Oct. 3, 2024, KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Eight students and two instructors from Oregon Tech’s Dental Hygiene program in Klamath Falls traveled to the Caribbean country of Grenada this summer to provide dental care to underserved populations in rural areas.
The 2024 student team members were seniors Sierra Avril, Rachel Broskey, Kylie Berg, Maria Corona, Ally Crowell, Cas Harrod, Melissa Lee, and Audrey Vanderhoff. Faculty instructors Jeannie Bopp and Lois Goeres helped coordinate the trip and traveled with the students.
The trip was part of the International Externship Program (IEP), which provides students the opportunity to travel outside the United States and deliver dental care in nontraditional settings and within new cultures. Clinics were set up in two different schools in rural areas of Grenada and students provided dental services for eight hours a day for five days.
“There are moments in life where you do not know what your soul needs until it finds you,” said Audrey Vanderhoff. “The opportunity to travel abroad and provide dental care to an underserved population went beyond an educational experience. The core memories of connecting with others, collaborating as a team, and learning about another culture was impactful. I left as a student and came back a better person.”
At Oregon Tech’s Klamath Falls campus, students in the dental hygiene program participate in a yearlong course to provide dental assistance to Klamath County, but the IEP trip expands learning to a diverse cultural setting and a variety of situations including extreme heat, old equipment, and long bus rides to the sites on rough, narrow roads. The skills learned during the IEP trip benefit students in future work settings such as public health, dental missions, rural health, and mobile dentistry.
“The number of volunteers has grown and now includes more dentists who do root canals and esthetic restorations, which is wonderful as the culture in Grenada is still one of expectation for tooth extraction rather than repair. This year many more teeth were saved instead,” said Bopp, who has participated in six IEP trips with students.
“I am so grateful that I got the extraordinary opportunity to visit Grenada and provide dental care,” said Rachel Broskey. “I learned so much from the experience both inside and outside of oral care.”
“Watching the students grow as a person through this experience and seeing how they make such a positive impact on the people they serve is priceless,” Bopp said. “They are such great ambassadors for Oregon Tech; I am so proud of them.”
Dental Hygiene would like to thank Christian Achleithner, DMD, and the Oregon Tech Foundation for their support.
