Dental student Madison Blore travelled to Mombasa, Kenya recently. She is seen here with a group of school children she and her colleagues were educating about proper dental care. Supplied Photo
A Lloydminster woman has had the experience of a lifetime to preface her career in the dental field.
Madison Blore, who graduated from Holy Rosary High School in 2020, accepted an internship in Mombasa, Kenya, through International Medical Aid (IMA).
She and a friend, who is studying to become a doctor, travelled together to the central African country in mid-May.
“It was so unbelievable. I’m very, very lucky I had the opportunity to go, and was chosen for the internship … I want to go back as soon as I can,” said Blore.
“It’s so eye-opening, you really appreciate everything and you also want to take advantage of what we have … like you want to go to the hospital if something’s wrong. People in Kenya can’t go if there’s something wrong because they can’t afford it, but we can.”
Blore said going from Lloydminster to Mombasa was a complete culture shock, generally speaking, and of course, medically.
She explained at Coast General Hospital, where she was stationed, the dental ward was part of the hospital.
“Many of the people doing the procedures were still students and some of the patients that came in needed serious procedures done. The equipment at the hospital was not as modern as we have back home,” said Blore.
Most of the patients that came into the dental ward were in a lot of pain, largely due to the fact that in Kenya they rarely teach how to prevent cavities and other dental issues.
Madison shadowed the dentists at the hospital and met many of the patients, but one woman in particular, she said she’ll never forget.
Sara came in on the very first day of Blore’s one-month internship.
“She was in pain around the neck area and I was wondering, ok—what’s this case, and they told me it was Ludwig’s angina, which is a life-threatening cellulitis of the soft tissue that involves the mouth and neck area … this necrotizing fasciitis, which is a flesh-eating bacteria, spread through her neck and then over to her shoulder/collar-bone area,” said Blore.
“So when they took the bandage off she was completely flesh from her neck to her shoulder—there was no skin. And I’m just thinking, oh my gosh, what happened?”
After the patient left, Blore asked one of the dentists what caused this, and she couldn’t believe the answer.
“The reason she even got necrotizing fasciitis was from one cavity that turned into a decayed tooth. One tooth caused her entire neck to her shoulders to be gone … like just flesh. I’ve never seen something like that, and I hope I never see it again,” said Blore.
“It was just so, so hard to accept the fact one tooth did that to her.”
But that’s not where the story ends. Sara needed to have the large wound cleaned daily to avoid further infection. Blore made a point to be there every day for the painful procedure.
“I had never heard pain or screams or just ‘why me God’ –she kept saying it, and I was just like feeling sick the entire time. She was holding my hand and I was just rubbing it,” she recalled.
“She came in every single day I was there to get the same cleaning so it didn’t become infected. It was so hard. It was mentally challenging because I was just like ‘why is this even happening?’ She was so strong, but she was in pain every time they did it, and I made sure I was in the room when she got those treatments.”
Blore said a doctor told her on day one that Sara didn’t have a very high chance of surviving, but they persisted in cleaning the wound every day, and after three weeks she was told she was healthy enough to be discharged from the hospital.
“I was so excited because it had started to heal up, and her prognosis at the very start was bad—it was like we’re just going to try to help her as much as we can. By week two they were like ‘oh my gosh, it’s healing—she’s going to be ok.’ By week three you could start to see skin growing back, which is unreal, and it was less painful for her every time they cleaned it,” Blore said.
But just when things seemed to be going her way, another obstacle presented itself.
“They told her she could leave and the next day she comes back in and she’s still wearing her hospital gown, so I asked one of the dentists why is she still here, I thought she was discharged yesterday,” said Blore.
“They told me she was being detained because she couldn’t afford her bill. And my heart broke. I was so so sad.”
The medical bill was equivalent to about $800 CDN, not an affordable amount for the average Kenyan.
“I was so angry at the system, I was so upset. They worked so hard to save her life, only to detain her,” said Blore.
“There were a few other dental interns with my program that also had become fond of Sara, so we kind of went around and told people in other areas and other departments about it. There were five of us who got together and got the money and donated it directly to her hospital bill. We went in secret, kind of, and paid her bill,” said Blore.
“On the very last day of my internship, I was saying goodbye to everyone. She (Sara) came in and was asking for me … she just brings me in and hugs me for 10 minutes and wouldn’t let me go. She had tears in her eyes and said ‘both of my sons are here today … they’re taking me home. I don’t know how, but I’m going home!’
They were finally able to let her go because her bill was paid for in full.
“It was a full-circle moment, and it made my entire experience so happy and joyous because she finally got to go home, against every odd. They thought she wasn’t going to make it the moment she came in … so that was THE best moment for me.”
She said she is still in contact with many of the doctors and fellow students she met during her internship.
“I became so close with each and every one of them, and they taught me so much. They all wrote me a note and a goodbye and they all said how I positively impacted their days, and they appreciated my enthusiasm to learn and my respect for the patients, and they learned from me as much as I learned from them,” said Blore.
“It was just so eye-opening and changed my whole perspective. I’m starting dental school at U of S in August, and just getting to go into dentistry with those experiences behind me—I hope I can kind of bring awareness to my class.”
To find out more about the IMA program visit them online at medicalaid.org/contact-us/.
