FAMILIAR TERRITORY: Private Christina Pera, herself a former Kaitaia College student, was back on familiar ground yesterday.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY: Private Christina Pera, herself a former Kaitaia College student, was back on familiar ground yesterday.
The New Zealand Defence Force's Operation Wisdom Tooth, which winds up in Kaitaia today, had been a real success according to Major Suzanne Halligan.
Not only had more than 400 patients, some of them suffering quite severe oral infections, received dental treatment from NZDF dentists at Kaitaia Hospital, but thestudents at the seven schools that had been visited had been receptive to messages around how to care for and protect their teeth.
Local health providers had also been involved in the educational programme, not only gaining an assurance that what they were already doing was worthwhile but also bouncing ideas off the "military guys".
Education about caring for teeth could have major beneficial effects later in life, for the individual and in terms of reducing the need for future treatment, she added, particularly in an area like the Far North where the uptake of free dental care for children and teenagers up to the age of 18 was not as high as it was in some regions.
The education programme, which was delivered to Kaitaia College students yesterday, comprised instruction in oral health, nutrition and healthy lifestyles, a mini-Army assault course and finally a quiz.
Meanwhile the exercise had also been good value for the NZDF, whose goal had been to provide personnel, regulars and reservists, with experience they could use in future aid missions in the Western Pacific region.
"It's about capacity-building too," Major Halligan said. "What we aim to do is leave a programme that people can build on to develop the ability to care for their own."
