Bruce Baird, D.D.S., a Delta Dental of Tennessee board member, and his wife, Sandy, recently traveled for a second time with a group of students from The University of the South–Sewanee on a health mission trip to Haiti. Offered through Sewanee’s Outreach and Community Service department, teams of students are placed in domestic and international settings during academic breaks to participate in community service initiatives while gaining cultural experience.

The Bairds and 20 Sewanee students were joined by support staff and two medical doctors, including the Bairds’ son, Matt, for the 2008 spring break trip. After working last year beneath a tree, the group set up a clinic in a small town and saw more than 350 patients during their ten-day trip. Students served as doctors’ aides and also staffed a pharmacy. Limited to extracting teeth due to the lack of electricity and running water, Dr. Baird and team removed teeth from 150 people, averaging three teeth per individual.

“The Haitian villagers are so happy to receive pain relief, some having lived with acute dental problems for years,” said Dr. Baird, who plans to return in future years. “The Sewanee outreach trips provide another great benefit: the students gain a different perspective of the world acquired only by personal involvement in foreign settings. Witnessing the eye-opening effect these trips have on college students makes me wish I had been able to experience similar opportunities at that age.”

Delta Dental of Tennessee, along with its affiliate in Michigan, provided dental supplies and instructional oral care coloring books for children. Delta Dental and the Delta Dental Foundation underwrote travel scholarships for two Sewanee students to help make their participation possible. Delta Dental plans to continue support of the program in the future.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to provide assistance, but one realizes that it is merely a drop in the bucket,” said Dr. Baird. “So many villagers wanted help this year that we needed two of the students to serve as crowd control. We hope that we will be able to help even more villagers next year.”

The Sewanee/Haiti initiative was influenced by Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Kidder’s MountainsBeyond Mountains, which traces the life of Dr. Paul Farmer, a noted physician and anthropologist. Farmer founded Partners In Health, a nonprofit healthcare organization that serves poor and underprivileged communities around the world. This year’s Haiti trip was the fourth for Dr. Baird and the second in collaboration with Sewanee.

“It was an incredible trip; a trip I highly recommend for anyone who wishes to step outside their comfort zone and experience an incredible place unlike anywhere they’ve been,” said Sewanee student Zach Gerth. “It would be impossible to quantify what this visit to Haiti meant to me. My life has changed because of my interaction with the people, especially the children.”

About Delta Dental of Tennessee

Delta Dental of Tennessee, with its affiliates in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, is one of the largest dental plan administrators in the nation. In 2007, the enterprise paid out more than $1.8 billion for dental care for more than 6.2 million enrollees. Offices are located in Okemos and Farmington Hills, Michigan; Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis and Greenwood, Indiana; and Nashville, Knoxville, and Memphis, Tennessee. Delta Dental of Tennessee has maintained a Best’s rating of A- (excellent) for six years. For more information on Delta Dental of Tennessee, please visit http://www.deltadentaltn.com/.

###