Jonmoore International (JMI) has partnered with Smile Ghana, a dental charity organisation registered in the United Kingdom for a weeklong dental screening and treatment in three communities in the Volta Region.
From the 23rd – 30th of April 2019, residents of Peki Blengo, Adaklu Hasu, Adidome and its surrounding townships benefited from the corporate social responsibility initiative of the two institutions.
Hundreds of beneficiaries both young and old after receiving a general health briefing by the dental team received basic health checks such as taking their blood pressure levels and ascertaining their respective peculiar health status prior to being addressed by the specialist dentists. The residents with various levels of dental problems received free dental screening, immediate necessary treatment and advise on the need to practice good oral hygiene.
The dental outreach is a joint initiative by three dental trainers and specialists based in the UK and their spouses. They are Dr. George and Mrs. Phil Brown, Dr. Malcom Farr and Mrs Cynthia Kudzi-Farr and Dr. Chris Vondee and Mrs. Pat Vondee.
The team was supported by Ms. Zaneta Arthur, a volunteer UK trained dental nurse and health care services manager, Mr. Douglas McAddy, a dental nurse with Knight Smile Dental Centre and a group of community health officers and dental surgery assistants from the various district hospitals from the communities that benefited from the dental outreach.
As part of Jonmoore’s corporate social responsibility which has health and well-being as one of its prime objectives, the initiative by Smile Ghana bared relevance to its objective and thus, the partnership to bring the needed social impact to the respective communities the team toured.
The Managing Director and CEO of Jonmoore International, Hilton John Mitchell met with the team at Adidome.
Speaking to the B&FT, Mr. Mitchell stated that the exercise was the company’s small way of impacting the lives of people across the country, particularly in the areas of health and education.
He said: “As a company, we are very passionate about health and education as our key areas for corporate social responsibility and that is what we are doing in our own small way”.
“For us, we make sure our CSR cuts across the country and not limited to only where the company operates.”
Mr. Mitchell added:” We believe that if we can reach out to someone somewhere that is farther than where we operate to impact their lives, we would and that is what we are seeking to achieve through this initiative. In the years ahead, we are going to focus on the two areas that are passionate to us, which are education and health.”
Founder of Knight Smile Dental Centre based in Osu, Accra, Dr. George Brown and the leader of Smile Ghana indicated that most of the diseases that were treated over the six-day exercise were preventable and called for increased public health education, especially for would-be mothers on oral care and hygiene.
He said: “There is a big gap in educating would-be mother about the care of children and how they keep them from the period of breast-feeding up to weaning”.
“Most of the diseases we have treated here are preventable and if we can integrate oral health education in local health centres and antenatal clinics specifically about high sugar diets, we will eliminate most them.”
In the absence of sufficient dentist to patient ratio in the country, Dr. Brown suggested the formation of oral health clubs and deployment of health professionals to various communities to educate people on good oral health practices.
He added: “It is also an element of ignorance; we need oral health clubs, just as we have keep-fit clubs, in schools and communities that will sensitise people about the care of the teeth”.
Principal Dentist and Clinical Director for Perry Vale Dental Limited and a member of the dental team, Dr. Chris Vondee, expressed concerned about how people with oral problems tend to rely on fake medicine peddlers in the attempt to dispense self-care instead of visiting the clinic or the dentist for proper treatment.
“I have observed that people spend money trying to treat themselves at home, but I will advise that they should visit the dentist—who will be able to treat or advise them appropriately”.
“They should be wary of quack doctors who will take the absence of qualified dentists in such remote parts of the country to rip off people” he said.
Dr. Vondee further indicated that there is an identifiable need and gap in the market that fake medicine sellers are taking advantage of and called for increased education on oral hygiene especially in remote communities.
“It should be a regulatory matter, but it also has to do with the availability of resources. Within this mix, there is the need to train people who can raise awareness so people will be better advised about where to seek help with their oral health instead of relying on medicine sellers.”
He also called on the media to help propagate the message of good oral care by portraying issues on the ground to the masses.
Another member of the team, Dr. Malcom Farr, advised Ghanaians to inculcate the habit of cleaning the teeth and reduce the intake of sweet diets.
“Mothers should ensure proper oral hygiene for their children by reducing their intake of sweets and other refined carbohydrates and sugars.”
He said: “I will recommend basic cleaning of the teeth and regular visit to dentist—at least once in a year. Also, the use of the chewing stick will help to maintain the teeth and reduce gum diseases.
The member of Parliament for South Dayi District, Nelson Rockson Dafeamekpor, in an interview with Maritimelivegh at the Peki-Blengo outreach, expressed gratitude to the medical team and Jonmoore for the gesture which, he said, will help to improve the wellbeing of the people of the area.
“This is a very good gesture and we are very happy to have them here as a district and as a people. This is a way of helping to improve the wellbeing of residents of the area,” he said.
He added: “Apart from the district hospital that is serving all purposes, we only have health posts and CHPS compounds which handle minor ailments and therefore, we can only fall on the benevolence of such corporate institutions, NGOs and specialist practitioners to help close the healthcare service delivery gap in the district.”
Miss Amma Abrokwah, the Corporate Manager of Jonmoore indicated that the company’s corporate social responsibility focuses on a continuing commitment to contribute to the socio-economic development and improving the quality of life of the local community and society at large in an ethical manner. Education and mentoring, wellbeing and health as well as infrastructure development are the key CSR scope of the company.
Jonmoore International’s services cover a spectrum of transport, logistics and freight forwarding including the movement of heavy duty and over-dimensional cargo, standard cargo movement, containers, break bulk cargo and small priority shuttle services.
The company is also involved in global freight forwarding, port and custom clearance, transit clearance and documentation as well as craneage, forklift and heavy lift services.