A Heroic Journey
10/28/05

On Thursday, September 23rd, three brave volunteers left behind a typically beautiful Fall afternoon in Southern California, en route for unpredictable conditions in Monroe, Louisiana. Equipped with a sleeping bag, air mattress, 2 ice chests full of food, and a coffee maker, Dr. Lynn Fasnacht, Dr. John Blake, and, Miguel Peraza packed into the Long Beach Children’s Dental Health Clinic’s RV and hit the road to avoid the rush hour traffic. Despite careful planning, none of them could have prepared for what was to hit them on the road ahead.  

Almost 3 weeks earlier on August 29th, the eye of Hurricane Katrina collided into New Orleans as a Category 4 storm. The storm surge quickly breached the levee system that protected New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain, causing most of the city to be subsequently flooded by the lake’s waters. This and other major damage to the coastal regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama made Katrina the most destructive and costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States. The official death toll now stands at 1,163 and the damage higher than $200 billion, topping Hurricane Andrew as the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.  

Katrina left most of New Orleans, including Louisiana State University School of Dentistry under water. Learning of the dental school’s devastation, CDHC contacted the ADA to loan its Mobile Clinic (RV) to LSU Dental School. The 32-foot long state of the art dental van with two dental chairs has been used to provide dental treatment to underprivileged children in Long Beach since November 2003. The plan was for it to now be utilized by dental students to provide dental treatment for people in need in Louisiana.  

The three men were planning on making the 1723-mile journey in the predicted 26½ hours, by driving in shifts. Things were going fairly smoothly and they were actually making good time. Around 6 AM Friday morning, Dr. Fasnacht was getting some rest in the back, Miguel was behind the wheel, and Dr. Blake was just waking up in the passenger’s seat. Dr. Blake decided to take pictures of the sunrise and the gorgeous views as they drove just west outside of El Paso. Not five minutes after putting away his camera, Dr. Blake and Miguel noticed a lone white bird flying directly toward the van. Unable to react and avoid the impending impact, the seagull slammed directly into the driver’s side windshield. Still in disbelief, they pulled over to evaluate the damage; the accident had left a 3-foot diameter crack in the driver’s side windshield. Being the resourceful dentists that they were, the men taped up the crack lines with duct tape and continued to push on. With Rita looming east of them, they were hoping to have the windshield replaced. However, due to the size of the van, it was impossible to find a service station with the specific size glass available. The men continued on their journey, but as they drove, pieces of glass began chipping away, and the cracks began to spread outward. They had no choice but to stop for re-taping along the way, this time with clear barrier dental tape, so they could still see through the window. Outside of Dallas, the windshield began to bow dangerously inward, forcing them to use safety goggles during the night, and sunglasses during the day.  

Fortunately, nearing Louisiana on Friday night, Hurricane Rita had just landed and had not caused too much damage or rain inland. In the last hour, just outside of Monroe, Louisiana, it did, however, begin to rain. The men were without the use of their windshield wipers, for fear of completely breaking the windshield. Despite all the tape over the cracked windshield and the rain further inhibiting their view, they were able to reach the Red Cross station safely at 1am Saturday morning. After only getting a few hours of shut-eye, they awoke to meet the doctors from LSU Dental School at 6 AM, who arrived to receive the dental van. Needless to say, the LSU dentists were very appreciative of the loan.  

Aside from a delayed flight, the absence of power at the airport, and a VERY bumpy ride from New Orleans to Atlanta, the men were able to make it safely back home. Though the journey was both physically and emotionally exhausting, if asked to reflect on the odyssey, all three of them simply recall the ecstatic smiles and appreciation of their LSU colleagues, and they’ll admit it was well worth it.  

This trip was financially supported by the American Dental Association. Dr. John Blake is the Director of the Long Beach Children’s Dental Health Clinic. Dr. Lynn Fasnacht is the President of the CDHC Foundation. Mr. Miguel Peraza is an RDA and treatment coordinator at the CDHC.  

Submitted by:
Nhu Tran DDS 

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