Technical Services supporting Balibo Dental Clinic
DHSV has a long and enduring relationship with the Balibo Dental Clinic in Timor-Leste.
When our Technical Services team aren’t busy servicing equipment across the state, they can be found plying their trade internationally.
Travis Oaten and Luch Barjaktarevic from Technical Services recently travelled to Balibo in Timor-Leste to repair and maintain the equipment at the Balibo Dental Clinic.
DHSV has a long and enduring relationship with the clinic. Funded by the Balibo House Trust, the Balibo Dental Clinic was opened to the public in 2016 and is staffed by volunteer dentists from Australia who are registered with the Australian Dental Board.
A service that supports the community
The efforts of our Technical Services team mean that the clinic can provide critical care to the community through dental treatment, community education and prevention programs, and a mobile dental service for the more remote areas.
This was the first visit to Balibo for Luch and the second for Travis.
“I went the first time to get the clinic up and running in 2016. We were there for four nights and installed the chairs, the compressor and got the clinic ready,” Travis said.
This time around the clinic is well established so a much shorter trip was required of the Tech Services guys.
“We only needed to head over for one night this time to service the chairs and equipment and fix the faults,” said Travis.
“The chairs were pretty much unusable for most of the year as both had major air leaks and water in the air lines due to the high humidity. We trained a couple of the staff to fix basic and common faults, and service the chairs,” said Travis.
Despite the challenges posed by the language barrier, Luch and Travis were able to share their expertise and support the clinic staff as they carried out repairs and complete services on both dental chairs, including replacing all gaskets, diaphragms, O-rings, and flush valve stems.
“The training we provided to the local staff was essential, as it allows the staff to recognise the faults and carry out some basic repairs to the equipment,” said Luch.
“This is crucial as it means that the clinic can remain operational, and they can continue to see patients. The staff were very grateful for our training and advice,” said Luch.
Dental stock donations
“The dental clinic is desperately needed in Balibo as the people there have nowhere else to go and the support from DHSV is much appreciated from the local community,” said Travis.
To help keep the clinic running and making a positive impact, donations of stock are welcome!
Each year DHSV supports the clinic to improve oral health outcomes through the donation of crucial supplies including:
- dental instruments
- laboratory equipment
- stock
- other clinical equipment that DHSV either no longer uses or that is no longer fit for purpose based on our clinical definitions.
Do you have some dental stock or equipment to donate to the Balibo Dental Clinic? Please contact communityrelations@dhsv.org.au.
