Guatemalan Gratitude
When asked to
describe her recent
mission trip in three
words Yankton dentist,
Dr. Jessie Scott,
states “The words I
would use would be:
perspective, priorities,
and gratitude.”
Dr. Scott had the
opportunity to travel
to Chimaltenango,
Guatemala this past
January with her
assistant Martee
Herman and said her
life has been changed
ever since.
“I went with a
group (of dentists) I
found online, they go
several times a year.”
She explained how
welcoming the group
was to her, and how
for many of the 30
dentists it was their first time traveling with a mission group
as well. “I always wanted to go on a mission trip, just to do
something to give back. I needed something to revive. You get
so used to practicing (dentistry) that you need something to
break that up,” Dr. Scott expresses.
“Guatemala is very friendly to mission trips,” says
Scott explaining why this is such a popular destination for
missionaries. Legality issues limit the amount of mission
work that can be done here in the United States, and she
explains this is why so many people travel to provide services
elsewhere.
The days were long and consisted
of lots of hard work, but Scott insists
it was worth it. “We got up and got on
a bus by 7 o’clock at our hotel and a
bus would drive about an hour (from
Antigua where they were staying) and
we would get to the little town (of
Chimaltenango),” Dr. Scott says. She
reveals when they arrived at the church
where the equipment was set up, there
would be long lines of people patiently
waiting to receive dental work. “We just
pulled teeth,” Dr. Scott explains, “Our
goal was just to get people out of pain.”
The group of dentists saw patients
ranging in age from 2 to 80 years old.
The total number of patients treated
is unknown, but Scott estimates that
over the five days in Chimaltenango “we
extracted nearly 2000 teeth”.
But things did not always go as
planned while there. “Because we were
set up in a church, it wasn’t really built
to handle the capacity that we needed
to hold all the air compressors and the
lights, so we blew fuses all the time.
But we had one of the dentists’ husband come along and he
was very mechanically inclined, so he fixed a lot of things.”
When asked about her family’s opinion of this trip Dr. Scott
chuckles and states, “They hated it. I was gone for a week
and it was the first time I had ever left them, so they weren’t
very excited about that.” But as much as they worried about
their mother Scott’s children understood why she was going
there and knew “these people needed me to go in order to get
better”.
“Before I left, (my kids and I) went through all their toys and
clothes and got everything that was decent and put it in these
Keeping Smiles Healthy & Young
New Patients and Emergencies Welcome!
1101 Broadway Ste. 105, Morgen Square
605.665.2448 • www.scott-family-dentistry.com
Experience Gentle, Personalized Dental Care For Your Entire Family!
14vHERVOICEvJULY/AUGUST 2016