We said goodbye to Dr. Inya Gonzalez five weeks ago. Inya, the dentist of our clinic for eight years, is moving to Canada to be with her husband who had taken a job in Montreal in January.
At her despidida (going away party), there were tears, laughter, memories, photos and more tears.
Inya and Dr. Dirk Anderson of Rock Hill, SC, really gave birth to our dental clinic. Dirk provided equipment for two rooms, supplies, and expertise from his many, many years of dentistry.
Focusing on saving teeth, sealants are applied to children’s teeth as well as fluoride. We hired a hygienist to clean teeth and stressed every six months preventive care. We actually have patients who come in every 6 months! We hired an assistant who was one of the first graduates in a dental assistant program.
Inya, Ligia and Fabiola have been a good team serving the community of Nueva Vida; the 20 feeding programs of ORPHANetwork, our partners in providing dentistry to children; and now the whole area of Ciudad Sandino that lost its low-cost dental care when the Nicaraguan government had to cut that program. We, and many patients, miss Inya.
But we now have Dr. Julio Escobar. He lives in Ciudad Sandino, which is really convenient. He has seven years of experience, also nice. He is funny…which is essential! He worked with Inya a week before she left and she liked him… which is a relief.
When I said goodbye to Inya, she said, “Thank you for believing in me.” I was surprised and taken aback. Where did that come from?
Evidently little things we do matter to others. Little things we might not note can lead to wonderful outcomes. Inya grew and is a really good dentist, unfortunately Canada will now have her.
-Kathleen
Note: if you want to give to help keep the Nueva Vida Clinic's services going, you can give here: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/jhc-cdca
