Press Release

Canvasback Deploys Dental/Orthopedic Teams to Ebeye

Individuals, companies rally to support ambitious mission

March 15 marks the beginning of one of Canvasback’s most ambitious mission trips yet, when two teams of missionaries travel to the tiny, overcrowded island of Ebeye to care for a long list of needy patients and to train personnel at Leroj Kitland Memorial Health Center in up-to-date procedures.

Team members hale from states across the U.S., including Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, Arizona, California, Washington, Idaho and Virginia.

The Canvasback dental team, led by Milford Anholm, DDS, includes: Richard Nakabayashi, DDS; Glenn Richey, DDS; Jackie Ashe, RDH; Deborah Howell, DA; Carlene McKay Richey, assistant; Christopher Howell, maintenance; Miriam Cho, assistant; and Amy Peat, coordinator. The team also includes two third-year dental students from Loma Linda University: Elisa Song and Tara Ericson.

This team has their work cut out for them. Working with Ebeye’s Dr. Timota Taniera, they hope to treat up to 50 patients per day in an effort to relieve the overwhelming backlog of patients in desperate need of dental services. They also intend to train the Ebeye dental staff to do four-handed dentistry.

The Canvasback orthopedic team is headed up by Robert Wells, MD, and includes Max Hammond, anesthesiologist; Jim Carlson, MD; Donald Noel, PA; Carol Hogue, RN; Marilyn Shipp, PT; Vicki Nakabayashi, RN; Susan Wells, assistant; and Jacque Spence, coordinator. The team’s challenge is to perform joint replacement and arthroscopic surgeries, highly advanced procedures for such remote and austere conditions.

This mission was particularly complicated to pull together because of all the specialized surgical equipment and supplies needed by the orthopedic team. Preparations were months in the making, as tons of donated equipment and supplies had to be collected and shipped to Ebeye in advance. Jacque Spence said "It was a great and daunting undertaking, to be sure, but our God is even greater! One by one, He has brought people, companies, supplies and logistics together in a way that was simply amazing to watch!"

Some of the many generous individuals and companies that rallied to make this mission possible include:

• Smith Nephew and Richards Medical donated the implants for knee and hip surgery and loaned the team drills and other hand tools as well.
• Cardinal Health donated surgical packs.
• Mt. Diablo Hospital donated orthopedic equipment.
• Portland Adventist Hospital donated orthopedic supplies and pharmaceuticals.
• Ultradent Products Inc., World Medic, and KERR Corporation donated dental supplies.
• Sullivan Schein Dental donated toothbrushes.
• Sharon Hurst, Kwajelein AFB launch site director, and Jimmy Matsunaga, transportation manager, solicited Matson Lines for a 20-ft. container to ship the supplies and equipment to Majuro.
• Physical therapist Marilyn Shipp enlisted help of a trucking company to truck a pallet of donated wheelchairs, crutches from Tucson to the West Coast.
• Biomedical technician Adam Lengyel traveled from Portland, Ore. to Canvasback headquarters in Benicia, Calif. to check and repair dental equipment for the trip.
• Crawford and Crawford built crates for shipping the equipment and supplies to the Marshall Islands.

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Help is still needed: If you would like to donate toward the purchase of anesthetic, toothbrushes, and pharmaceuticals, please call the Canvasback office today.

An anesthesiologist is still needed to participate in an ENT mission to Yap in June. If you or someone you know would like to volunteer, please call us at (800) 793-7245.

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