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Volume 1 Issue 7
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N
ews and
E
vents
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Corporal Kelly Zseder providing oral
hygiene care to a CF Ranger as part of
Operation NANOOK in Resolute Bay.
➋
Operation SALON dental personnel in
Oka, Quebec, in 1990.
Front row (L. to r.) Cpl JA Montgomery,
Cpl JF Bélanger, Pte MM Binette,
Cpl JLB Aubin, Cpl BP Hanlon,
Back row (L. to r.): Capt JRD Gagnon,
Capt JM Maltais, Maj JC Taylor,
Capt JAA Rioux, Capt TW Hogan.
➋
Okanagan Forest Fires
(Op PEREGRINE), 2003
At the request of the B.C. government in August 2003,
the military responded to forest fires in the Okanagan
Valley. At the height of the crisis, about 800 fires were
burning and tens of thousands of people had been
ordered out of their homes. Operation PEREGRINE
involved more than 2,200 Canadian Forces personnel,
who fought 5 of the worst fires over a 45-day period.
A section from 1 Field Ambulance Dental Platoon
from Edmonton—Major Costa Batsos, Sergeant Sylvie
Marcoux, Master Corporal Andrea Plante, and Corporal
Nathalie Sauvageau—provided emergency dental
services to deployed CAF personnel. To facilitate access
to treatment, the mobile dental clinic was centrally
located to many of the fires. When not providing
emergency dental care, the dental team transported
medical patients to the Field Ambulance location.
Canadian Health Measures
Survey, 2007-09
In 2007, Health Canada’s Canadian Health Measures
Survey (CHMS) included clinical indicators of oral health
in a national survey for the first time in over 30 years.
1 Dental Unit provided 14 dental officers to serve as
calibrated examiners, carrying out oral examinations for
the CHMS’ oral health component. In total, dental
officers gathered valuable clinical data on over 6,000
Canadians at 15 sites. In 2009, the RCDC received CDA’s
Oral Health Promotion Award in recognition of their
contribution.
Op NANOOK, DVI Resolute
Bay, 2011
The dental section of Operation NANOOK was tasked
with a double mandate: provide dental support to the
over 500 personnel on exercise and provide dental
treatment to eligible Resolute Bay residents. It marked
the first time an RCDC dental team was deployed
to provide dental care to CF members in the High
Arctic, and the first dental outreach initiative between
Health Canada and the Government of Nunavut that
involved RCDC personnel. The dental team of Corporal
Kelly Zseder from dental detachment Edmonton and
Major Rachel Jetté from 1 Field Ambulance Edmonton
deployed to Resolute Bay in July 2011.
Operation NANOOK also involved training exercises
based on a scenario of a major air disaster. These
activities were suddenly suspended in August when
the inbound First Air Flight 6560 crashed just 2 km from
camp. During the rescue efforts, the dental section
helped care for 3 injured passengers and contributed to
the victim identification process.
a
CDA is playing a central role in commemorating the 100th
anniversary of the RCDC inMay 2015, reflecting CDA’s role
in establishing amilitary dental service in Canada and the close
partnership between CDA and RCDC since that time.