Dr. Chisholm and Dental Assistants

Dr Wayne Chisholm, Akihisa Lopez, Fehi Zollinger, and Marian Allie are at Moroni High for 3 weeks helping students and staff with their dental needs.

Dr. Wayne Chisholm a dentist who had a practiced in Monroe, Utah is at Moroni High School for about three weeks to help with various dental needs of students, missionaries, prospective missionaries, church employees and others as time permits.  This is Dr. Chisholm's sixth visit to Kiribati as part of the Academy of LDS Dentists program.  He and his good wife visited Kiribati twice when serving their mission in 2003-05 and have since returned four more times.  Dr. Chisholm and team are sponsored by Deseret International and are doing a great service to the Saints in the Pacific.

Sister Lopez and Sister Zollinger cleaning teeth

Dr. Chisholm is accompanied by two volunteer dental assistants who have worked with him in the Pacific area for several years.  Akihisa and Fehl, both attended Liahona High School together.  Akihsa began working as a dental assistants while the Chisholms were serving as missionaries in the Pacific. A short time later Akishsa introduced Fehi to Dr. Chisholm and she also became a volunteer dental assistant for nearly fourteen months in Tonga during their mission there. These Assistants accompanied the Elder and Sister Chisholm to Kiribati, Samoa, and Fiji twice during their mission.   Since that time they both have come to Kiribati four additional times.   They speak of how the Kiribati students invigorate them and they both love coming here.

Akihisa married Jared Lopez and now lives in Australia but continues to serve with Dr. Chisholm when he comes to the Pacific.  Fehi's family immigrated to the US and Dr. Chisholm hired her for a while to work in his practice in Monroe, Utah.  Fehi decided to go to Logan to visit with a missionary companion but, her companion was not home, instead she met her brother.  They eventually fell in love and were married. She still lives in Logan, her married name is Fehi Zolinger. She continues to volunteer her time to accompany Dr. Chisholm as he goes to various Church schools in the Pacific.

Both assistants are very dedicated and volunteer hundreds of hours each year to work with Dr. Chisholm.  The first week they served 100 patients first working with twenty Form 7 students and eighty prospective missionaries.  Dr. Chisholm and his team visit the Pacific church schools about every 18 months to volunteer their time and expertise to help with the dental needs of students and staff.

They have been somewhat over whelmed by the large number of 19 year old I-Kiribati sisters and young elders wanting their dental exams so they can submit their mission papers.  Dr Chisholm shared how very excited these 19 year old young ladies are about to be able to serve missions.  The dental portion of the application and needed dental work will be completed by Dr. Chisholm and his assistants.  Also working closely with them is Marian ALLIE who is the school nurse.  When she is not teaching a class she assists in the work.  Akihisa's husband Jared joined the team at the end of the first week and is also helping assist in the work.

The MHS dental clinic is located in the school nurses office and has 2 dental chairs

Dr. Chisholm related how he got involved with dentistry in the Pacific.  He joined the Academy of LDS Dentists several years ago.  Each year members of this organization try to work in an international location for two weeks each year.  Through a set of unusual circumstances they ended up serving in Tonga and loved it so much they returned for several more years at two week intervals.  As he reached retirement age they decided to go on a mission.  So he informed the people in Tonga they probably would not be back next year because they were in the process of submitting mission papers.

Apparently the coconut wireless heard of their desire to go on a mission.  They had only returned home for about a week when they received a call from the Pacific Area President.  He explained the need for them to start dental clinics in four nation islands in the Pacific.  When their mission call came they were called to work at Church Schools in Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and to especially to be aware of the needs in Kiribati.  While serving their mission is when Akisha and Fehi who began their volunteer work with the Chisholms.  Their good work is greatly appreciated and is invaluable to the students and staff at Moroni High.

As a result, Bro. and Sister Chisholm have established a seven chair clinic at Liahona High School, they are in the process of completing a five chair clinic in Samoa, and another clinic at the Church High School in Fiji.  The Kiribati clinic at Moroni High School has two dental chairs.  The dental team of three (now four) of  stay very busy working 8 hour days Monday thru Friday.

Other LDS dentists volunteer time to serve in the Pacific and in other nations through out the world, but so far Dr. Chisholm is the only dentist to come to Kiribati.  He has three sons who are also dentists.  They have practices in Monroe, Santequin,  and Kamas.  Sister Chisholm normally also accompanies him but she has developed an allergy to mold and other things that are prevalent in the Pacific. The allergies cause her become very ill, so she stayed home this time.  But as a consolation she took her daughter and some grand kids to Disney Land.

A Form 7 Moroni Student getting dental care.

There are no dentists in private practice in Kiribati, the few dentist that are here in Tarawa work for the government hospital, which provides free dental care to the I-Kiribati people.  Some dentists after they practice here for a while choose to leave Kiribati and set up their own private practices in Fiji and other locations to make a better wage.  The services of Dr. Chisholm and his assistants volunteer efforts help alleviate the pressures on the few dentists who do practice in Kiribati.

The I-Kiribati people have beautiful smiles and teeth.  One of the major problems according to Dr. Chisholm is periodontal disease even more than tooth decay.  This is because many brush their teeth regularly but do not floss.

Marian, the school nurse also teaches health classes at Moroni High.  She is just completing her student teaching course and will soon finish her ITEP teaching certificate.  Elder Thorne has observed her teaching health classes on several occasions.  One of the units she teaches each semester is on proper dental care.  She provides an in depth demonstration for Form 1 students on how to brush and floss there teeth. 

Sister Chisholm related to us last year, before we came to Kiribati, that when she and her husband first came to Moroni High - several students in the dormitories were sharing the same tooth brush as a result hepatitis was very prevalent among students.  Through their generous service - dental hygiene among the students and staff at Moroni High School has dramatically improved.  Dr. Chisholm spoke of many miracles that have occurred as they have worked on these faithful islanders teeth.

They see many patients each day and will remain busy for all three weeks. The first week they took care of the dental needs of 100 young people - 90 of which were in process of submitting their mission papers.  Over 1/2 of the prospective missionaries were young ladies at or near 19 years old.

A few students also get to assist in cleaning teeth

Marian the school nurse helps Sister Zollinger

Marian Allie, the school nurse also teaches health classes and teaches students preventative dental care.

Open wide

It doesn't look like she is having a lot of fun in this photo as a tooth is extracted

She will be glad to get out of the clinic even minus a couple teeth

Finally, after this experience in the dental chair - serving a mission should be a snap

Akihisa taking a quick break, her husband Jared also flew here on Thursday to help with the dental clinic.  He served a mission in Tarawa several years ago

The few medical and dental facilities in Kiribati are over whelmed with patients and their are long waiting lines. Dr Chisholm and his team help alleviate this problem through their service to the Saints in Kiribati

There are many aspects of humanitarian services provided by the church besides medical and dental care.  A few months a missionary couple from Canada were in Kiribati to do preliminary work for a large immunization effort during the summer of 2014.  Anther missionary couples, who specialize in Clean water projects have also recently visited Kiribati as well other places in the Pacific and through out the world.  Many of these couples live at home and are called to various locations for a month or two to provide expertise on specific local concerns and then return back to their homes until they are called to another location.  There are numerous opportunities (long term and short term) for missionary couples.

The dedication of individuals such as Dr. Chisholm, Akihisa, Jared, and Fehi are greatly appreciated and must be very rewarding, not only for those they serve, but also for themselves personally.  It is also good to see someone from Sevier County in Kiribati.  The Church Humanitarian services truly reflect the teachings of our Savior.  "When you are in the service of your fellowmen you are only in the service of your God."

Halloween in Kiribati

The primaries had a combined activity Friday night on the tennis court, as part of that activity they celebrated Halloween, several of them wore costumes.  Elder and Sister Ogborn and ourselves were delivered candy to by the Primary to pass out to the children when they came to our door as a group to trick or treat.  Halloween is not celebrated in Kiribati, so this was the very first Halloween for most of these children.  So they began their own Halloween traditions.

When they knocked on our door, to our delight they did not say "trick or treat" instead they sang to us.  The song was:  We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Halloween Day!  They then sang it again before we passed out the candy, which was shared among them all, hopefully there was atleast one piece each because there were lots and lots of kids at our door step. 

It was a very fun evening seeing the enthusiasm of the kids.  We saw a pirate, batman, several fairy princesses, a rabbit with lighted ears and other costumes among the group.  Perhaps our favorite was a 3 year old in a white shirt and tie - he even had a missionary badge.  The Primary leaders and parents had bigger smiles than many of the children, for they also truly enjoyed the evening. Unfortunately, it was too dark to get a good photo of them.  The first group sang beautifully, the second group also did great especially singing the song in English.  We were able to record part of the song of the second group.

Primary children enjoying their first Halloween, we were not sure what the peace sign was for, and I doubt the knew either.

 The Kiribati Halloween Song by Primary Children

Later that evening all the Moroni teachers, staff, and administration - along with the Service Center employees held a celebration of singing, dancing, and food to say good bye to Elder and Sister Ogborn, and ourselves.  Even though we still have six weeks more to serve, they felt this was the right time to thank us, because we leave after school ends and many of the teachers and staff will not be available for another party.  They also thanked Dr. Chisholm and his assistants for their service it was a heart rendering evening.  We will provide photos and more details of the celebration in a future blog.