SUNY Broome Dental Hygiene Program Honored

Binghamton is such a giving community and while the focus of the world tends to be so negative these days, it's nice when Binghamton rises above it to do something out of this world by making a difference in the world.

Haiti is the third largest country in the Caribbean behind Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and still in dire need of assistance on so many levels. Dental is one of those needs.  Enter SUNY Broome's Health for Haiti global service learning program, working with local volunteers, providing a water filtration system, solar power, computers and computer literacy courses.  They also help with agriculture, bathroom facilities and more programs.

SUNY Broome's Dental Hygiene program, helping 800 Haitians-- 80 adults and 750 children, during a 10 day trip last January.  According to the school press release, they solicited more than $47,000 worth of dental supplies to run the program and nearly $34,000 in donated dental services to the people of Haiti.

The entire class participated in the fundraising efforts and collected supplies, including toothbrushes, x-ray equipment and portable dental chairs.  Five dental hygiene students, Katheryn Birmingham, Shannon Curley, Allison Fitzgerald, Sarah Mannina and Amy Squier, joined Professor Maureen Hankin in Haiti to provide their services.

For their great work, the SUNY Broome Dental Hygiene Program received the prestigious American Dental Hygiene Association (ADHA) 2016 Student Community Award and their story will be featured in the October ADHA Access Journal.

We salute the entire class for their life-changing efforts.