DT News - Canada - Larry Hoffman, DDS: Doing well by doing good

Robert Selleck, Dental Tribune Canada

Wed. 13 November 2013

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CALLANDER, Ontario, Canada: The people at Henry Schein Canada are driven by the philosophy of “doing well by doing good.” And it’s in that spirit that the company recently introduced its Calendar of Caring to spotlight the many charitable programs it supports. The initiative also gives Henry Schein customers the opportunity to contribute a portion of their purchases to help the charitable causes that Henry Schein supports.

This extra support expands the help the company provides and, in appreciation, participating customers receive a plaque that can be displayed in the office.

In recent efforts across Canada, Henry Schein gave 325 backpacks filled with school supplies and clothing to underprivileged children and provided winter holiday gifts to families in need. It supplied more than $240,000 of health care products to underserved people around the world, planted more than 1,200 trees as part of its Go Green program and backed charitable causes fighting breast cancer and oral cancer.

At Henry Schein, according to the company, “giving back” happens 365 days a year, and the Calendar of Caring initiative opens the door to expanding the help the company is able to provide.

Displayed here are just a few examples of charitable and community service work by Henry Schein customers across Canada, with many of them receiving assistance from Henry Schein through the donation of dental supplies to support the noble work.

For more information or to get involved with Henry Schein in these areas, please contact Peter Jugoon, vice president, marketing, at peter.jugoon@henryschein.ca.

Larry Hoffman, DDS

Larry Hoffman, DDS, has been able to experience what many international dental-brigade volunteers only dream of: An area served by a team he was on was so inspired by the visit, it created its own dental clinic — staffed by some of the host country’s newest dental school graduates and modeled after the brigade’s concept — and now the region no longer needs the brigade to return.

Interestingly, though, that’s not at the top of Hoffman’s list of highlights following his most recent trip with the Friends of Honduran Children, which is based in Peterborough, Ontario. For Hoffman, who has a general practice in Callander, Ontario, the real highlight of the 12-day adventure in the mountains of western Honduras was being able to see his daughter, the brigade leader, successfully manage the entire effort.

The Friends of Honduran Children uses combined medical/dental brigades, typically comprising 16–18 medical professionals, built around four or five physicians and two dentists. Shayna Hoffman, a family physician specializing in emergency medicine, had been participating in the trips for years; and when she became brigade leader for a 2013 trip, she invited dad to sign-up for one of the dentist slots.

“The experience was absolutely wonderful,” Hoffman said. “The Honduran people are gentle, beautiful, gracious and grateful. It was an honor to to help and serve them.”

During the trip, the team served in six different communities, traveling on rough, high-mountain roads in four-wheel-drive vehicles, often above the clouds. The team would arrive at a site to set up a mobile clinic, and typically 100 people would already be lined up. The organization’s focus is on children, but everybody in need is seen, so Hoffman saw a number of patients in their 80s and 90s.

Tarps protected dentists and patients from sun and rain (and let in far more ambient light for dental work than interior space would have provided). Reclining lawn chairs served as dental chairs. Garbage bags served as spit sinks.

Hoffman summed up the entire experience as: “Rewarding. Uplifting. Fulfilling.”

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