The Gers Red Cross will deploy its mobile dental bus in the coming weeks. The objective: to get as close as possible to the inhabitants to offer them dental care. A unique device in France which could make it possible to compensate for the lack of specialists in certain territories of the department.
Several months after its official presentation, the Gers Red Cross dental bus will finally hit the road. The first patients will be able, from May, to have their infections and cavities checked and treated, as close as possible to their homes, in this truck converted into a real dental office.
This project was born from an observation: a large number of Gersois could not find a specialist for their dental care and called the social toll-free number. The volunteers of the Red Cross therefore imagined going directly as close as possible to the patients. “We are ready to offer a new weapon for inclusion and solidarity, rejoiced Marie-José Lier, during the truck exhibition. With the dental bus, we are reinventing social action”.
This dental bus has all the characteristics of a classic cabinet but many constraints, in particular weight and size, had to be resolved.
In addition to its novel and unique character, the creation of this vehicle, which required an investment of €150,000 from the organization and its partners, was a real technological challenge, since it was necessary, for practices, that it weighs less than 3.5 tons. The Red Cross has therefore worked with specialized companies for all the equipment: thus the bus wheelchair weighs, in the end, only 250 kg against 600 kg usually. The sealing of the vehicle for the radios and the autonomy in electricity were also part of the issues to which the association had to respond.
An itinerant practice close to the people of Gers
All that was missing was the signature of the Purpan hospital on the agreement established between the dental school, the CHU and the Red Cross. The care will be provided by sixth-year dental trainees, under the supervision of retired Gers professionals and volunteers. With the partnership now signed, the device of the Gers association will therefore be able to enter its deployment phase.
To do this, “we have carried out a study of the healthcare offer with the CPAM, the MSA, the order of dentists and the Regional Health Agency, explains Sébastien Delmotte, one of the two project leaders. We have thus obtained an exhaustive mapping of the offer on the territory.” Castelnau-d’Auzan, Valence-sur-Baïse, Simorre… The villages were therefore chosen according to their living area and the lack of specialists.
The bus will therefore come into direct contact with the population with, on board, two 6th year dental faculty students who will be supervised by one of the seven Gers volunteer dentists. A Red Cross volunteer will drive the truck and greet the patients, before they are treated in this very special practice.
The dates and places of the visit of the dental bus
The Red Cross has already planned the passages of the dental bus until the end of June, with a municipality in the morning, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and a second in the afternoon, from 1.30 p.m. at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday May 9: inauguration in the morning and Castelnau-d’Auzan in the afternoon. Monday 15 May: Valence-sur-Baïse, Castéra-Verduzan. Tuesday May 16: Estang, Le Houga. Monday May 22: Simorre (all day). Tuesday May 23: Montesquiou, Ordan-Larroque. Tuesday May 30: Castelnau-d’Auzan (all day). Monday 5 June: Valence-sur-Baïse, Castéra-Verduzan. Tuesday, June 6: Estang, Le Houga. Monday June 12: Simorre (all day). Tuesday, June 13: Montesquiou, Ordan-Larroque. Monday 19 June: Valence-sur-Baïse, Castéra-Verduzan. Tuesday June 20: Castelnau-d’Auzan (all day). Monday, June 26: Simorre (all day). Tuesday, June 27: Estang, Le Houga. To make an appointment (from April 17) and any request for information, contact 05 62 63 57 90.