Dental clinic fills a hole in the safety net Dental Health Day. Hug was one of about 40 patients who went looking for relief and found it at Douglas College. The look on Wilfred Hug’s face said it all. Hug couldn't speak after having eight teeth extracted, but he had a contented smile as he hugged dentist Dr. Wendy Rondeau. Hug was one of about 40 patients who went looking for relief at Community Dental Day and found it at Douglas College. ‘The one-day, volunteer effort to help working, low-income adults without adequate dental care was held April 26 as part of Oral Health Month. The patients, like Hug, are ineligible for care provided by Income Assistance and without dental coverage. Rondeau led a team of six dentists helped by dental assistants, Douglas College Dental Assisting Program students and the BC Dental Association who offered emergency assistance to the patients.” What I love about it is to be able to relieve their pain,” says Rondeau. “Here I am, extracting this poor tellow’s teeth, which is quite stressful, and yet at the end, he gives mea hug. It’s just such a positive experience-a real win-win.” The joint-project between the Douglas College Dental Assisting Program and the BC Dental Association is in its second year. The College provides its clinical facility and equipment and donates dental supplies. ‘The clinic meets an urgent need in the community as well as serving asa learning experience for st udents, says Dental Assisting j £ instructor Linda Symington. Patients started lining up at the College at Zam-two hours before the clinic was to open. “We had one woman sitting outside in the waiting area, crying with pain,” says Symington. “She had the teeth extracted and you could just see the relief on her face. I think sometimes we don’t realize that not everyone has dental coverage, ‘The clinic was also a good experience for Rondeau, a member of the Oral Health Month Committee of the BC Dental Association. “Tt was fabulous-I can’t say enough positive things about Linda [Symington] and the staff at Douglas College. They ran a thoroughly professional clinic,” says Rondeau. “It was great for the students because they don’t get many opportunities to see such a broad variety of dental procedures.” Rondeau says there are excellent career Opportunities for dental assistants in BC, so Douglas College students can expect to be employed upon graduating. Douglas College was one of five BC colleges to take part in Community Dental Day. In addition to the college participation, many individual dentists chipped in, working in their offices. Patients treated on this day were not billed. —— Graduates and students of the Dispensing Dispensing Optician students awarded Optician Program were honored at a special awards ceremony at the David Lam Campus on May 24. Many students received financial awards donated by program partners and sponsors. Ron Brownell accepts his award for Academic Achievement and Personal Development in the Contact Lens Program from Nadyne Rousseau of J&J Vision Care. A new face on the College Board Mike Russell was welcomed to the College Board this Spring. Mike has a human resources and health background and presently is the Director of Human Resources at Providence Health Care. Mike holds a Master of Science in Organizational Behaviour from the University of London, a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics) and a Bachelor of Science (Honours Biochemistry) from the University of Saskatchewan. Skydive: Look up...look way up Imagine a play where the performers float about the playing space free of gravity, flying up, down and around like Superman. Then imagine a 30-second skydive gone terribly wrong. ‘That's the central premise of Skydive, a work-in- progress by the Realwheels Theatre Project. The brain-child of Douglas College Theatre graduates James Sanders and Bob Frazer and playwrite Kevin Kerr, Skydive explores uncharted territory in the theatrical landscape that incorporates aerial choreography for a performer with a physical disability. This freedom is achieved through the use of special stage devices called “instruments,” counter- weighted cranes that look like medieval catapults. “They offer a freedom of mobility that I certainly don’t experience any other day of the week,” says Sanders, who became a paraplegic in 1989 after an accident. The “instruments” are the creation of Sven Johansson. They're capable of lifting 2,400 kilograms, but Johansson won't allow anyone weighing over 200 pounds in it for maximum safety. With the help of two hidden operators, they lift an actor 23 feet above the stage and allow him or her to rotate 360 degrees on the pole. They can also turn 180 degrees, profile to profile. All movements can be performed simultaneously if need be. “It can get quite complex,” says Johansson. “We can also wheel the instruments across the stage for even more movement.” Sanders and Frazer were at Douglas College on May 11, work-shopping their performance and testing the limits of the two instruments. They glided, dropped and soared, defying gravity. Theatre Program graduate James Sanders dangles high above the stage in Skydive, a 90-minute play about a 30-second skydive gone terribly wrong. 2. Frazer and Sanders met while they were students in the Douglas College ‘Theatre and Stagecraft Departments in 1989, A couple of years ago, they decided to perform a play together, but couldn't find a suitable piece. They enlisted the help of Governor General Award winning playwright Kerr (Unity: 1918) and started bra instormi ng. “We were having a meeting and I said: ‘Wouldn't it be great to start the show off by falling from the sky?” said Frazer. “We laughed at this sky-diving image but Kevin (Kerr) called us up later and said ‘I can’t get this sky-diving thing out of my mind. So we said, okay, how do we do it?” Skydive evolved from that idea. Kerr says the show will have “an unconventional structure” and essentially takes place in 30 seconds. “That's the frame of how long the skydive takes,” says Kerr. “But it explodes out of that to a 90-minute play. We flash back in time, go forward in time and see moments in time between these two characters and their relationship.” A number of Stagecraft and ‘Theatre grads are working on the project. Aside from Frazer and Sanders, Stephen Drover, a guest director who brought his experimental version of Oedipus the King to Douglas College this Spring, is also involved, as are several other Douglas College alumni. ‘They're hoping to premiere the work at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in January, 2007.