This content was published: November 14, 2003. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
PCC staff, students selected for Romania mission
Photos and story by James Hill
SYLVANIA CAMPUS – Four students and staff from Portland Community College’s Dental program at Sylvania Campus will be joining a mission to Romania in late November.
Anne Jackson (director of the dental program) of Newberg, Josette Beach (dental hygiene instructor) of Gladstone and second-year dental hygiene students Ron Wright of Canby and Katie Harrington of southwest Portland will help assist dentist Weston Heringer of Northwest Medical Teams during Thanksgiving week. The group will be traveling with Heringer, pediatric dentist from Salem, on the international dental mission, leaving Friday, Nov. 21 and returning Saturday, Nov. 29.They will arrive in Bucharest and drive five hours to the small town of Sibiu in the region of Transylvania. The dental groups from Northwest Medical Teams have been providing care to the children in a state-run orphanage there for about four years. The teams usually have taken students and staff from OHSU’s Dental Hygiene program. However, because the program has been discontinued at the facility, Northwest Medical Teams turned to PCC.The PCC staff and students will assist the dentist mainly with cleanings, extractions, shots and hand out toothbrushes to girls ages 8 to 18. Wright, a father of three, feels this will be a perfect opportunity to get hands-on experience. "This is an experience that you expect will change you but you can’t expect how it will change you,"Wright said. "I wanted to help people in need before I got into my career full time."Harrington, a native of Lebanon, Ore., has been to such locales as Paris and London but this will be her first mission. "I’m really excited about this trip,"Harrington said. "I had it in my mind that I wanted to do a mission. There was an opportunity there and I jumped on it. I feel we’ll be making a difference."The students and staff must pay their way and are seeking donations, which are tax deductible, from anyone wishing to assist financially. For more information on this mission or how to donate, contact Anne Jackson at 503-977-4235, or Northwest Medical Teams at 1-800-959-4325.
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »