Medical Sailing Ministries

Guest speaker at Wednesday's Club meeting was Robert Latimer of Medical Sailing Ministries.  Robert founded Medical Sailing Ministries, 10 years ago in 2008, as an outreach activity of North Ringwood Uniting Church.
 
The inspiration for Medical Sailing Ministries came from an article titled, "Sailing For Humanity", in the November 2004 edition of the sailing magazine 'Cruising Helmsman'.  A time when Robert neither owned a boat, nor had any real knowledge of Vanuatu.
 
He had this dream of providing remote access dental support and medical transport around Vanuatu, which is made up of 85 islands, 63 of which are inhabited.  There is 1 dentist per 10,000 people and oral hygiene and dental care are almost non-existent.  
 
To realise his "Unattainable dream" he purchased the steel ship "Chimere", which he co-owns with an old friend and silent-boat-partner, Barry Crouch.  In French, 'Chimere' means "A dream that you can not touch". 
 
He also established a connection in Vanuatu with the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu (PCV), which runs a 'Prevention of Blindness' program.
Five years ago, he established a "Dental Care" program to complement the "Prevention of Blindness" program.  A website has since been created to coordinate visits of both programs to the isolated islands.
 
Robert has now coordinated four medical transport missions around the islands of Vanuatu (2009, 2010, 2013 and 2017) supported by a loyal and dedicated team of supporters and 100+ volunteers; both from North Ringwood Uniting Church and from around Australia (plus New Zealand and the UK).  The 2017 mission involved 41 volunteers, visited 18 islands and 28 clinics were held.
 
In 2017, a National Oral Health survey was conducted that involved:
  • 1,712 mouths
  • 70 locations
  • 5 age cohorts
  • 23 islands
  • a 35 question survey
The results of the survey will be published in November.
 
In the future, Robert aims to:
  • Set up a locap Co-op manufacturing local toothpaste from cocounut, Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) ffrom ground coral, flavouring and a trace of flouride
  • Establish a "Brush in a box" system, around the world
  • Manafacture bamboo tooth brushes
  • Establish a sustainable nationally supervised in-school tooth brushing program
  • Establish a second-life tools and goods retail project
  • Manufacture low-smoke stoves
  • Develop low-cost building sytems
  • Etsablish meaningful tourism in Vanuatu
Robert finished his presentation with the statement: "We all have something to do and share".
 
 
 
 
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