East Meets West (Emw) Dental Program

A letter from Dr. Charles "Fritz" Craft,
EMW Dental Program Director

The East Meets West (EMW) Dental Program was started in 1995 to specifically help disadvantaged children living in central Vietnam improve their oral health. Our first clinic opened in April 1996 and since that time we have treated over 26,000 children and provided over 84,000 humanitarian dental services.

We are extremely proud of our Vietnamese dental staff who provide tremendous amounts of emergency, corrective and preventive dental care while adhering to the highest standards of patient treatment and infection control guidelines. Together this team of five members work side by side with our international volunteers to provide excellent and compassionate dental care for our patients.

In 2004, the East Meets West Dental Program operated on an annual budget of $45,000. Additionally, the program received contributions of in-kind goods and services totaling $144,000 per year, resulting in a total annual budget of $189,000. For this investment, the program was able to treat 5,272 patients and provide 19,095 modern dental services, which have an estimated value of $954,750. The funds come entirely from individual supporters and donors from around the world and they are used to pay for equipment, supplies, and staff salaries.

If you are interested in providing support to continue this program, please contact emwfdental@pmail.vnn.vn. For all dental questions and inquiries, please contact me directly at FCraft80@hotmail.com.

On behalf of East Meets West, I would like to thank you for your interest in our humanitarian dental program for children in Central Vietnam.

Dr. Charles F. Craft
EMW Dental Director
FCraft80@hotmail.com

http:www.eastmeetswest.com

Operation Smile Vietnam

Our Mission

Throughout the world, Operation Smile volunteers repair childhood facial deformities while building public and private partnerships that advocate for sustainable healthcare systems for children and families. Together, we create smiles, change lives, heal humanity.

International Missions

Operation smile’s standard international medical mission is comprised of a team of credentialed medical professionals from around the world who travel to operation smile partner countries to treat children during a two-week period. on a typical international medical mission, 300-500 children receive full medical evaluations and 100-150 children are surgically treated. thanks to your support, we are able to conduct over 25 international medical missions in a year.

Operation smile also uses the international medical missions to provide educational opportunities to in-country healthcare professionals. ranging from a formal medical conference, to an informal workshop on a specific skill or technique, the programs are designed to meet the needs of the facility and the healthcare workers from within the partner country.

Local Missions

Operation smile foundations in each of our 25 medical mission countries not only support international misssions, but nearly three-fourths of our foundations also organize year-round local missions. based on the operation smile international mission model, teams of in-country medical volunteers conduct local programs to take care of more of their children. as the foundations work towards self-sustainability, many foundations now have clinics, where children can be treated all year, receiving not only post-operative care, but also consultations on dental health, speech therapy, nutrition and psychology.

Operation smile:
www.operationsmile.com

Contact for the current Mission schedule:
http://www.operationsmile.org/missions/schedule/2006/

For donations and support, contact:
Operation Smile Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh

Julie Atkinson
Ho Chi Minh
julie@hcm.fpt.vn

About Student Programs

Operation smile has depended upon students around the world, contributing even for just a brief moment, their youthful energy and imagination to making a child smile. more than 450 operation smile student associations around the globe build awareness, raise funds and educate students about the values of commitment, leadership and volunteerism. operation smile takes two volunteer student educators and a student sponsor on every international medical mission. students learn how they can impact the future when they help children in need.

Realizing that you have the ability to change another human being's life is the first step in joining the operation smile student program. within each of us is a given strength and compassion that will never reach its fullest capacity until we commit to make that step. the children and students need you, but this alone is not the reason you should join our mission. join us, because you as an individual have the capacity to create a miracle for a child--to touch the face of humanity.

Find out how operation smile empowers students with leadership, education and service.

Contact Information

To inquire about Operation Smiles Student Programs, please contact one of the following:

Ashley Barron

College Program Coordinator
(757) 321-7751
abarron@operationsmile.org

Wendy Creekmore

Student Programs Coordinator
(757) 321-3241
wcreekmore@operationsmile.org

K. Wade Hooton

Director of Student Programs
(801) 472-1029
whooton@operationsmile.org

Alison E. Smyth Ph. D.

International Student Programs Coordinator
asmyth@operationsmile.org

Journey For Children

Dedicated to improving the health standards of children around the world, Journey For Children (JFC) supports its many diverse programs through corporate business partnerships, events, co-ventures with other foundations or institutions and public support.

For those in North America looking to work in JFC's dental Orphaned mission programs in Vietnam, please contact JFC directly. 

• Primary Health Care (PHC)
• Maternal and child health care
• Health education
• Reconstructive and rehabilitative surgery
• Microfinance and other economic development programs