Bangkok Pattaya Hospital is always pleased to actively support the Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drive, and once again will be on station at the Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drive Children’s Fair on Sunday September 14th 2003 at the Diana Garden Resort & Driving Range.

We really appreciate Khun Neera Sirisampan and Neil Maniquiz, with staff from the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, being part of the Team and providing support in a number of ways. The Ambulance & First Aid Unit will again be on station for the famous 30 & 50 kilometer Charity Bike Ride, run by Kim Fletcher, starting at 8 am on the Sunday morning, but this year for adults only in the interests of safety.

The Unit is there to deal with any emergency, or hand out bandages and ache & pain medicines to the bikers. The Unit will later be on hand throughout the Children’s Fair, to deal with any situation that needs medical care. Everyone is welcome to come by and have a free blood pressure check with the Duty Nurse.

Khun Neera, Neil and staff from International Department will also be part of the team energetically selling tickets at the Children’s Raffle stand. ‘Biffo the Bear’ came out top at the auditions for the 2003 giant Teddy Bear, and he heads up a wonderful range of prizes sponsored by Pattaya Sports Club, the Jesters, and other generous individuals. The prizes include a Sony Play Station II, Lego from Denmark, TV, CD & DVD players, bicycle, electronic keyboard, to name just a few. Full details will be published in a future report about this year's Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Children’s Fair.

Bangkok Pattaya Hospital has always participated in community events and charity projects and one of the most vital projects currently is Dental Care for the children at the Fountain of Life Center This on-going vital need continues to be funded by the Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drive, but a lack of volunteers to help with the project this year has meant that not as many children have been treated as the Center would have liked.

Diane Connelly is affectionately known as the ‘Tooth Fairy’ as she works hard to organize an effective Dental Program but does need additional volunteer help. She can be contacted at the Fountain of Life Center.

Diane is quick to explain that getting these children to the dentist from an early age is so important, as their family circumstances do seriously work against the possibility of them having good teeth. Many of the children are given sweet drinks by their carers to pacify them, and add to this a total lack of tooth brushing and the effects are awful. It is easy to blame the families for lack of hygiene and bad diet, but in reality this is just a small part of the problems for the very poor. Pattaya is a prosperous city but there are many people who do not have access to running water? Brushing teeth then hardly becomes a priority. At the Fountain of Life Center the teachers quickly teach the new children about health and hygiene and they all brush their teeth after meals, but what about the rest of the time? The tooth decay in the children shocks the dentists and is hard to treat. Many of them have untreated abscesses. If your teeth are rotten you also don’t want to chew on fresh fruit and meat, instead they fill up on soft sweet things and rice that means they may look OK but are actually malnourished.

Diane Connelly

This year, thanks to the ‘Care for Kids’ campaign, 75 children have been to the dentist with a total of 143 visits.

This is where Bangkok Pattaya Hospital comes in. The Dental Department has treated many of the children each week, made possible by the generous 40% discount given to the Center. Great credit to Dr.Thasannee and two of the dentists in her team, Dr.Apinya and Dr. Thanaporn for making this possible by providing treatment and making Fluoride visits to the Center. Of course there is a limit to the number of children that the BPH Dental Department can handle, so other sources of dental care have to be found, but the costs are usually much higher and the extent of treatment limited by the Jesters funds available in relation to other basic needs, like food.

Medical care for the children is another area generously supported by Bangkok Pattaya Hospital and no less than 83 hospital visits have been made due to acute or chronic illness, and accidents.
It may sound silly to say that success causes a problem, but due to the work at the Center in processing ID documentation and enabling children to progress to the government schools, the intake of children is increasing, as word is out that the Fountain of Life Center is their stepping- stone to an education. This means many more teeth to be cared for and a desperate need for the Dental Care program to expand.

There are many ways that the Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Fund will be used to help the beneficiaries this year, as Lewis Underwood outlined in last weeks’ Pattaya Mail ‘Care for Kids’ article ‘Working with the Beneficiaries’. However, a top priority has to be getting the ‘Kids’ on the path of life with a set of teeth that does justice to the wonderful Thai smile.

A final word about Bangkok Pattaya Hospital and the recent developments that include a new Pediatric Specialist & Allergy Clinic on the Ground Floor, and a high-tech Dental Department that makes treatment for the very young to the very old, a painless pleasure. Two new specialists have been added to the already extensive list of resident consultants - an Endocrinologist and a Neonatologist for the newborn.