University Of New Haven Dentistry Student Rose Zajac Works On A Young Patient At The Cheyenne River Dental Clinic In Eagle Butte.
Story Created:
Nov 7, 2007 at 12:20 AM CDT
Story Updated:
Nov 16, 2007 at 4:36 PM CDT
A new federal study shows as many as 3-point-3 million college students will spend part of this year doing volunteer work.
Some travel to third world countries for missionary work, while others can find those similar conditions here at home.
Tonight, a South Dakota story of what started out as classwork but turned into so much more than that.
South Dakota Highway 2-12; a long stretch road and at times, not a lot to see.
2-12 runs through the heart of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation and the community of Eagle Butte.
Where in this non-descript tan colored building, something wonderful is happening;
One tooth at a time.
"I wanted to find a worthy cause." Rose Zajac is a dentistry student at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. She wanted to give something back to her country and help those who can't help themselves. "I know there's a big need here in the U-S."
Her research led her to Eagle Butte, the Cheyenne River Dental Clinic and administrator Evvi DuPris. "I was hesitant in the beginning...." Hesitant because DuPris says most people volunteer to earn class credit or some other mandatory reason...not because they want to. DuPris tells me these New Haven students are different. "They have passion for their job; they have a passion for the people that they treat."
Passion is good, because the conditions are bad.
90 percent unemployment, a one in three high school graduation rate, a life expectancy of just 48 years.
Given that, DuPris says these students have started something extraordinary. "You wouldn't believe the people that have been coming into the office."
This clinic usually sees a trickle of daily patients, but during the week the UNH students were here, the clinic saw 50 patients a day:
Being treated by Rose and her teacher, Carolyn Patenaude. "There are so many people in such a large area that just are not receiving care."
These are kids and adults, patients at a clinic where usually, only one dentist is on duty.
"No one really knew what was going to happen; we really had no idea." UNH stduent Kristin Edgar is here because she felt it was her duty. As did Jacqueline Tyler, who says when she leaves, she will be a changed person because of her interaction with a seven year old girl. "She was so good she sat for me for an hour while I cleaned her teeth."
These students are doing all of this work for free, because they say it's the right thing to do, and while they worked on teeth...a lot of teeth...the real impact is in their hearts.
The UNH students say they're already planning to return to Eagle Butte next year, hopefully with more dental students in tow.
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