Five years ago, Napa’s Dr. Robert R. Hampton, DDS, and his wife, Claudia, accompanied Drs. Eric Grigsby and Mary Rocca to the small African nation of Malawi, where the couple had previously established the Palliative Care Association of Malawi to educate health care providers on effective and available methods of pain and symptom relief at the end of life for patients with HIV/AIDS and cancer.“Their clinic was at Daeyang Luke Hospital in Lilongwe,” says Dr. Hampton, “and they invited us to come set up a dental clinic in a vacant room there. We’ve since returned for a few weeks every year, and it’s manned by a Malawian dentist when I’m not there.”
In a country of 16 million people, there are only 22 Western-trained dentists and about 220 Malawian dentists (trained only in basic extractions and simple fillings); the country’s single dental school is “underequipped, with outdated books and equipment. And all their training is done on live patients, because they don’t have practice pieces.” What’s more, oral health education is almost nonexistent in the nation, one of the world’s poorest.
When the Hamptons returns this June, it’s with a new goal: “There are 16 nursing schools in Malawi, and we’ve convinced each of them to send two students, who we’ll train in oral hygiene, care and prevention, as well as triage and basic extractions,” says the 74-year-old dentist. “Then they can go back and train their classmates.
“The nurses are at the vanguard of health care in Malawi,” he continues. “They’re the ones who come into contact with the poor populations, and who serve at the rural clinics. They’ll be able to educate people they treat and, hopefully, that information will spread.” (Claudia also teaches women to make and use solar cookers, another valuable skill.)
In addition to an early April fund-raising event, Hampton, a painter and sculptor, is selling some of his work and accepting donations to underwrite the expense. Donations can be made to HealthRoots Foundation, United Village Transformation or directly to his Napa office ( 2025 Redwood Road, Suite 2).
