Would you and you staff like to give back to the community? There are many ways to get involved via Australian Dental Health Foundation volunteering options.
No matter how much time you have, there are options available depending on what suits your practice and staff. Each option is a rewarding experience and can make a huge difference for the patients involved. Consider some of the following volunteering opportunities:
Dental Rescue Day
If you are looking for a great team-building experience that makes a big impact, you can’t go past a Dental Rescue Day at your practice. A practice can allocate a full day or half day to treating referred patients (or one chair can be dedicated so the practice can still accommodate their regular patients on the day).
Adopt a Patient
When you adopt a patient, a volunteer dentist completes a course of treatment for a referred patient. If a Dental Rescue Day isn’t possible at your practice, this is a way to really make a difference to a patient’s life, and appointments can be scheduled at a time convenient to the practice. A practice can adopt as few or as many patients as they choose.
A practice can also Adopt a Patient they have seen from a Dental Rescue Day if the patient requires a course of treatment that cannot be finished during the Dental Rescue Day.
Rebuilding Smiles program
This Rebuilding Smiles program treats survivors of domestic violence. A patient is referred to a practice to complete a course of treatment.
A rewarding experience
Dr Jack Brazel from 123 Dental and his team have found hosting Dental Rescue Days and subsequently, adopting two patients, a rewarding experience.
“The local community have supported us so much, especially during COVID, that we wanted to find a way to give back to them,” Jack recalls. “When we heard about the Dental Rescue Days, we jumped at the chance to help out.”
Jack says on each of the two Dental Rescue Days they provided a variety of treatments for patients, including cleans, general restorative work, cosmetic treatment and dentures.
The practice also decided to adopt one patient from each of the Dental Rescue Days, to complete a course of treatment.
Jack said the experience of adopting the patients was fantastic for him and his staff. “All of our staff were really excited to be able to provide this service to people in need and has really increased their sense of purpose and job satisfaction in their roles,” he says.
“It’s been amazing to see the transformation in these patients. You could see the increase in their confidence even before they left the practice; giving people the ability to smile again (sometimes for the first time in decades) is why we love our job so much!
“I would really encourage any practice that has the capacity to try a Dental Rescue Day; it’s something that we all look forward to as it approaches.”
Support for practices
Practices don’t go about these programs alone – they have the support of the state ADHF coordinator, who liaises with the patient’s case worker or charity. These programs also have the support of generous sponsors towards some materials, lab and denture services.
Interested in finding out more about the ways your practice can make a difference in 2023? Please contact WA State Coordinator, Andrea Paterson – adminwa@adhf.org.au
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