Photo By Master Sgt. Kelly Ogden | Senior Airman Adan Vences and Capt. Marie Cross, a dentist in the Advanced Educational...... read more read more
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BELIZE CITY, Belize - Following in her father’s footsteps, she met with an Air Force recruiter while she was in dental school and joined the military.
Now, during her first year as an Air Force dentist she’s deployed to Belize.
U.S. Air Force Capt. (Dr.) Marie Cross, a dentist in the Advanced Educational and General Dentistry Program from the 99th Dental Squadron, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, is in the country supporting the U.S. Southern Command-sponsored New Horizons exercise.
A significant part of New Horizons exercise is the collection of Medical Readiness Training Exercises, better known as MEDRETES, which are designed to provide humanitarian assistance and medical care to people in the local area while helping improve the skills of U.S. military medical forces and those of military medical professionals of the host nation.
This training is essential and ensures U.S. forces remain prepared for real-world deployments in support of contingency, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief operations
At the invitation of the Ministry of Health, Cross and her team have been in Belize working out of a makeshift dental clinic for two weeks and have seen and provided treatment to more than 700 local patients.
During this time, Cross performed more than 60 procedures, to include composite fillings, metal fillings and root canals.
Of her experience with her local Belizean patients, Cross says, “I feel like I’ve made them feel very calm and cared for.”
She also says that she is enjoying the experience and values the training, and now has a better idea about what deployed dentistry would be like.
Cross is learning to how to work at a faster pace with less equipment and resources at her disposal.
“I’ve become a more dynamic dentist just by being here,” Cross said.
New to the Air Force but not new to Central America and the Caribbean, Cross has also provided dental care in Ecuador and Trinidad while on mission trips while in dental school.
She will leave Belize and return to Nellis Air Force Base at the end of the month.
| Date Taken: | 06.27.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.27.2014 13:06 |
| Story ID: | 134696 |
| Location: | BELIZE CITY, BZ |
| Web Views: | 472 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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