Page 42 - RADC Bulletin 2019

SHAPE
Maj Mohanned Abu- Mughaisib RADC
Exciting yet intense 2019 for the SHAPE Dental team. The New Year brought in a whole new crew. Starting with SDO, Maj Abu- Mughaisib, arriving in Aug 2018, PM, Cpl Robinson, arriving in Nov 2018, DN, LCpl Mhlana, arriving in Dec 2018 and receptionist, Mrs Richards, arriving in Jan 2019. The new fresh faces were ready to start the year with a clean slate and put a stamp on making DC SHAPE their own.
SHAPE stands for ‘Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe’ and it is a NATO installation located in Mons Belgium. The majority of our patients
are predominantly senior ranks and
their dependents as well as UK entitled personnel.
It was almost ‘baptism by fire’ for the new team, as we had to quickly adapt to the new working environment and start the preparation for our first health governance assessment (eCaf) only a few weeks after the arrival of the PM.
SHAPE Dental Clinic is embedded
within an American/NATO Healthcare facility. The unique environment meant
that we had added challenges to be able
to deliver effective care to our community. However, the journey of change started with the full-scale refurbishment of both the administrative area and the dental surgery. The changes implemented helped bring our team together and make adjustments that would work for us all.
It was almost ‘baptism by fire’ for the new team, as we had to quickly adapt to the new working environment
Once the eCaf was out of the way, we shifted our focus to a new target which was to achieve the DPHC(Dental) KPI targets. SHAPE Dental fitness at the time was just
about in the green with NATO CAT 1 (75%) and NATO CAT 4 (15%). Slowly but steadily, within five months, we have achieved milestone results: CAT 1 of 92% and CAT 4 of 3%. The team was working “GREAT” as we had a shared sense of purpose and a strong drive to see things through.
Still, it was not just about work... work... work, we have also had many great occasions. Being part of NATO, we soon appreciated the importance of collaboration with our NATO dental colleagues from various nations and what better way to bring everyone together than a ‘Traditional British Tea Party’. The scones and cakes all went down like a treat with an authentic British cup of tea. Everyone got into the team
spirit. The event was hugely successful and created a sense of cohesion between all the multinational teams.
Next was competition time. The ‘NATO Dental Shooting Competition’ was organised by the American team using German weapons including the Heckler and Koch G36 and P8 weapon systems. The aim
was to achieve “Schutzenschnur’, the German armed forces badge for weapons proficiency. Our team did very well and accomplished all three of the awards: Maj Abu-Mughaisib (Ed) winning Gold, Cpl Robinson (Abigail) winning Silver and LCpl Mhlana (Felicia) winning Bronze. It was a successful and well-earned day out of the office where the British dental team made the RADC proud.
On the Oral Health promotion front, a
very successful day was spent with the children in the local British school, where Cpl Robinson and LCpl Mhlana delivered age appropriate and focused messages to the children aged from 3 -11 years old.
40 RADC BULLETIN 2019
Then came the ‘World No Tobacco Day’
OVERSEAS ASSIGNMENTS