Page 18 - RADC 2015

MILITARY MATTERS
National (Forced) Smile Month
National Smile Month
National smile month was 18/05/15 to 18/06/15... I wanted to do something for the troops in Sierra Leone regarding oral health education, and thought that this would be the perfect
Closing down
If we thought setting up was hard work it was nothing to closing down! Not the sterilising and packing of the instruments but the PAPERWORK!! Every single item
needed 3 disinfection forms which were
not allowed to be photocopied. And when I say every item I mean every item, each individual instrument, each packet of bur/ les, you name it
we had to complete
3 certi cates for it! Not too bad I hear you say, just get started early and do it little by little, we were told 2
days prior to the kit being handed back to LSD. The only saving grace was that after
a morning of nothing but lling it paperwork and not being close to the even the middle of the pile I swallowed my pride and rounded up the medics to help which they did more
than willingly. I cannot tell you how relieved I was when they took the kit off us and I had paperwork in my hand that said it was not longer my responsibility!
Going Home
After 112 days of working seven days a weeks I think both myself and Captain Dobie were ready for home. I was full of mixed emotions when I was leaving, it had become ‘home’, and I was sad to leave the new friends and experiences I had behind. On the other hand, I was so excited to be reunited with my friends and family back
in the UK. Anyhow, on 2nd July 2015 we met for breakfast at 05:00 and headed to Freetown airport, this time we were ying military. It was comfortable ight, having
2-3 seats each and the food was good
too! Seven hours later we landed in Brize Norton where we had to undergo all the necessary health checks and be graded with our ‘Ebola risk categories’. After all the check had been carried out we eventually got to our accommodation at South Cerney just after midnight. Time for a much needed sleep- ready for decompression briefs the following day. Once these were complete it was in the car for our last journey of the tour, back to sunny Aldershot.
opportunity. Not
expecting anything
at all; I emailed BDA
and asked if we could
have a pack sent out
to us. A few weeks
later I was ecstatic
when one arrived
in the post...It’s the
little things that count
when you are on tour. Having the pack as a baseline we began to create display boards and organised two dates to host events in the communal area, so people could come and read the information and ask questions. The events turned out to be a real success, and even the media team wrote the article ‘A smile in Sierra Leone’ on the event.
If we thought setting up was hard work it was nothing to closing down!
Homeward Bound
Join the Army, see the world
16 RADC BULLETIN 2015