Held Helps Launch Nicaraguan Fact-Finding Mission

Kathy Held, assistant director of extramural programs, returned this week from a 10-day community service trip to Rio San Juan, Nicaragua, with Project Stretch, a non-profit organization that provides dental services to disadvantaged children worldwide.

The trip marked the first to Rio San Juan for the Project Stretch team, which aimed to determine if area residents would benefit from the organization’s continued work there. Team members gathered information about children’s oral health, provided more than 250 temporary restorations, and gave more than 600 children their first toothbrushes.

"We found children in dire need of emergency dental care," says Held. "One pediatric dentist with Project Stretch, Dr. Chris Cannon, said he saw more infections in one morning than he would in a year in his private dental practice in Iowa."

Held went to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, in 2005 and Teacapan, Mexico, last year as part of Project Stretch.

The organization plans to return to Rio San Juan next year with more people, more supplies, and increased education for caries control.