Dentists and dental nurses volunteering their services to a community in need in East Africa are having their experience reported live via blogs, Twitter and Facebook.
Dental charity, Bridge2Aid, provides emergency access to pain relief to those who need it through their Dental Volunteer Programme (DVP).
And a team from GG Communications (GGC), the company that offers marketing support to the dental charity, Bridge2Aid (B2A), and from FMC, publishers of Dentistry, is offering live updates on the exploits of the young team who flew out earlier this week to offer dental treatment to the community in Mwanza, Tanzania.
Bridge2Aid offers this support to an area in need of dentists, just one of the places in the world included in the 70% without access to a dentist.
The DVP team (below) trains local healthcare workers on how to diagnose, administer local anaesthetic and extract teeth, to create a sustainable solution to the problem.
In May, members of the UK dental trade met in London to discuss Bridge2Aid marketing and, with the help of Les Jones from PracticePlan, dreamed up new ways to
raise awareness of the charity among the UK dental profession.
Karl O’Higgins, managing director of A-Dec UK and a supporter of B2A said: ‘As soon as anyone visits Mwanza and sees for themselves the extent of the problem and
the amazing work that B2A do to support those suffering, they are on board.
‘These people fundraise, they tell their colleagues, their friends and they return on the next DVP. They do all they can to help B2A. So, we need more people to
experience it!’
Gemma Godman, managing director of GGC, flew out to Mwanda in a bid to raise the profile of the charity by reporting on the day-to-day developments of the trip.
She is tweeting live updates, pictures and also blogging at the end of each day so readers can get a ‘real-time’ feel for thee experience of the team.
She said: ‘The purpose of our trip is to create a “looking glass” for the UK dental profession to see DVP through our eyes. So, without leaving your practice and through
the power of social media you can follow our blogs, our Facebook or Twitter page and see what we see, ask us any questions and experience a taste of Mwanza and
what you might expect on the programme.
‘Every day we will be writing a blog to outline what we have seen that day and where (communication is) possible posting pictures, quotes and updates through Twitter
and Facebook.’
If you have ever considered DVP, a charity mission, or to simply try something different but either keep putting it off or just don’t know enough about it to commit, you
can keep up to date with the trip by doing the following:
• Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GGC_Gemma
• Facebook www.facebook.com/GGCommunicationsltd
• Visit www.ggcommunications.co.uk
• Search #livefrommwanza
• Visit www.bridge2aid.org
To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/GGCtomwanza.
Picture caption: Blogging brilliant – Gemma Godman, managing director and Mark Topley, CEO of Bridge2Aid, tweeting updates all week
