Locals on mercy mission

DENTAL assistant Michelle O'Connell calmed patients with hugs when words failed in her first assignment as a volunteer with the Medical Ship in Papua New Guinea.

"I am very chatty, I found it difficult not being able to communicate," Mrs O'Connell, 37, said of her experience with patients from remote villages in PNG's Gulf Province. "I cannot speak Pidgin English, so to let them know I sympathised, I was not afraid to grab them and hold them by the hand."ORAL HEALTH: Dental assistant Michelle O'Connell and dentist Dr Angela Emery on the Medical Ship

An ex-employee of the 1300SMILES dental practice in Townsville, Michelle joined her old boss, Dr Daryl Holmes and former 1300SMILES dentist Dr Angela Emery for an intensive five days in the surgery aboard the MV Pacific Link.

The medical ship is run by the Townsville base of Youth With a Mission, an international Christian youth organisation with a five-year plan to help improve medical services in the Gulf and Western provinces.

Dr Emery flew from London, another volunteer dentist, Dr Tim Yanone, travelled from the US and dental assistant Ally Annamalai came from Sydney.

Ms Annamalai heard about the trip through her brother Amuthan, a fourth-year medical student at JCU. They treated 257 patients, entailing 750 tooth extractions and 104 restorations.

Victoria, in 2008.

She said her first trip out of Australia had been life-changing. "Its been amazing," she said.

"Just to see how much we take for granted in Australia puts things in perspective, makes me value life more."

Dr Holmes said he had invited his former colleagues to join him in the medical ship's first outreach of 2011 after seeing the need for emergency dental work in Gulf Province while volunteering in a pilot project last year.

He plans to also pursue at a government level ways of improving oral health in PNG, where there are said to be just 32 dentists for a population of six million.

get experience by working in the Medical Ship team.

Dr Emery, who worked for Dr Holmes in Cairns and Mackay from 2003 to 2008, said she had taken a fortnight's leave from her job as a dentist on the outskirts of London to make her first trip to PNG.

"This is my first time, but it will be the first of many, I think," she said.

"In a way, it feels like we are just scratching the surface, but it depends on how big a picture you want to see."

Mrs O'Connell said she, too, planned to volunteer again.

"I had ever been out of Australia before and some people were concerned about me coming to New Guinea," she said.

"But I have never been with a group of people so caring and doing such wonderful things. I feel goosebumps to have played such a small part in this work."

Source The Townsville Bulletin