Dentistry grad improves health of Dominicans
by Susan Griffith
Jeffrey Luffey, a former naval flight officer and 2002 graduate of the
Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry, has seen the critical
needs for health care in the third world and has taken community service
above and beyond the normal school curriculum. 
Over the past four years, Luffey's vision and organization made a difference in over 1,000 lives of poor people in the Dominican Republic whose medical facilities were decimated by Hurricane Georges in 1998.
As many as 200 people a day arrive at the Case Western Reserve University-based dental clinic in Guaricano, Dominican Republic, for one of 60 coveted tickets to see a dentist. Some patients may arrive as a group of 25 people packed in a dilapidated truck and who have driven four hours from remote sugar fields for their first dental visit to ease tooth aches, oral infections or simply to have a checkup or cleaning—a luxury for a country that lacks accessible health services for its poor, says Luffey.
The clinic's goal is to provide ongoing dental services through the Federation of People's Popular Organization.
Before Luffey arrived at CWRU four years ago to start studies for his Doctor of Dental Science (DDS) degree, he witnessed poor health care conditions in some 16 countries over nine years as a flight officer in the U.S. Navy's Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squad 2 stationed in Spain.
"While in the Navy, I never lost interest in the health conditions of people," says Luffey, who earned his B.S. in medical technology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1985.
He kept current with science and technology by taking courses through the Navy's education program.
"I always wanted to join the Peace Corps to make a difference," says Luffey.
After hearing Douglas Van Auken, an associate professor of medicine at CWRU's medical school, talk about health clinics outside the country, he thought, "Why not a dental clinic?"
Van Auken's talk inspired Luffey, who with the help of Samuel Byers from CWRU's oral surgery department, went in January 2000 to the Dominican Republic to inspect conditions and available buildings in Guaricano. Van Auken assisted Luffey by clearing the red tape with the Dominican Republic's minister of health and director of public health and welfare.
Now the clinic has a Dominican public health dentist to provide ongoing care. By 2001, what was once a concrete shell of a two-story building that lacked windows and had inches of debris covering the floors has evolved into a sanitary, working clinic with white walls and windows, dental equipment and a full-time staffed public health dentist. Now the clinic is equipped with x-ray units, dental chairs, sterilizers and other equipment to provide care.
The clinic was made possible through the efforts of Luffey and other student doctors Jared Anderson, Rob Barber, Lance Crowther, Kenny Dibbles, David Halls, Tyler Hunt and Klint Keller. It received support from the Helen J. and Louis Stollier Foundation.
Besides the help from University faculty and the CWRU Chapter of the American Student Dental Association, resources to fill the needs of the clinic came from Colgate, Oral-B, Hu Freidy, Gloves Plus, Inc.; Oral-B; Ultradent; Patterson Dental Supply, the Heights Dental Club; the Cleveland Heights Rotary Club; and the John O. Butler Company.
Many CWRU faculty members—such as James Lalumandier, chair of the community dentistry department; Sally Baden, assistant clinical professor in the department of oral diagnosis and radiology, and Edward Ruch, associate clinical professor of oral diagnosis and radiology—have been instrumental in providing the clinical expertise and guidance to students at the clinic.
Private dentists (Dr. Dale Hibbert and Dr. Len Aste) have made contributions to the development and continuation of care at the clinic.
Teams of three or four dentists and as many as 22 students at a time make semi-annual trips to the Dominican Republic to provide dental services. Luffey has made four trips since the clinic's inception and seen more than 1,000 patients on those visits.He calls a normal day, "controlled chaos," as people start arriving at 4:30 a.m. and some stay to the end of the day for services if they receive a higher numbered ticket.
When he graduates on May 19, Luffey's future plans include establishing a general practice in Cleveland as well as expanding his vision of taking care of some of the world's poorest people by raising funds and resources to open as many as five more clinics in Central America to provide access to dental care lacking in poor village communities.
Sharing Luffey's accomplishments is his wife, Debbie, and daughter, Jessica, 9.
