The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Tayside dentists’ mercy mission to help refugees
Pair will fly to Greece to offer dental care to people living in camps
A pair of Tayside dentists will travel to Greece to help ease the suffering of refugees.
Elaine Kenneth, 43, who runs Fresh inc Medispa in Invergowrie, will fly out to Thessaloniki next month with her colleague Gayle Fagan, a dental therapist at Cherrybank Dental Spa in Perth.
They will visit various camps within a 20-mile radius of the city to offer free basic dental treatment and have set a target of around £500 each in order to fund the charity effort, with £320 in the kitty so far.
All the funds raised will go through Dental Mavericks, a charity specialising in linking volunteer dentists with those abroad in desperate need of basic dental care.
Elaine says she was first prompted to think about getting involved around Christmas, after seeing adverts on TV featuring Hollywood star – and Perthshire native – Ewan McGregor.
“I started to look into it and watched a video about the charity, Dental Mavericks, who do great work helping refugees,” she said.
“It can be very emotional to see people in excruciating dental pain. Things like that are bound to worsen the misery of refugees even more.
“After getting in touch with the charity, I contacted my colleague Gayle to see if she wanted to come too, as it is quite daunting doing something like this yourself.
“It’s the first time I have ever taken part in a humanitarian effort but it is something I am keen to get involved in.
“I just think that it must be miserable enough as it is so if I can help out and do something to make it even a little more bearable, then why not?”
Gayle said: “I realised I had a skill that would give these poor people some quality of life. Dealing with what they have to deal with is bad enough but doing that with dental pain and not being able to eat what little food you are provided with makes things 10 times harder, I’d imagine.”
A spokesperson for Dental Mavericks said: “It’s unimaginable, the journey that these refugees have gone through, and so we are very grateful to our volunteers for the work they do.”
To donate to Elaine and Gayle’s effort, visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=Elain eKenneth&isTeam=true.
I realised I had a skill that would give these poor people some quality of life