Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

IKPIARJUK/ARCTIC BAY
If the students at Inuujaq School have a bright smile on their faces, that's partly thanks to Claudette Girouard-Qamanirq. The school and community dental therapist will celebrate her 25th anniversary working in the community in August 2012.

Arctic Bay dental therapist Claudette Qamanirq shows Inuujaq Grade 3 student Calvin Hughes how to brush his teeth. - photo courtesy of Claudette Qamanirq

She is now working on her second generation of children.

"My first students are now parents," Girouard-Qamanirq said. "They're bringing in their kids."

Her dedication to the community's oral health earned the attention of Quttiktuq MLA Ron Elliott, who thanked her for her work in the legislature on June 7.

"Arctic Bay is a very lucky community to have Charlotte and you can really see the difference that she makes," Elliott said, urging the government to hire more dental therapists like her.

"The recently published Inuit Oral Health Survey Report noted that more Inuit reported poor oral health and oral pain, more dental disease, and more extractions when compared to other Canadian jurisdictions," he said.

That's where Girouard-Qamanirq comes into play. Her role is to act as a self-worker, acting relatively autonomously under the direction of Dr. Vincent Chan, who visits Arctic Bay three or four times a year.

"The School of Dental Therapy's program was designed to work in community-based settings," Girouard-Qamanirq said. "The dentist comes in and does the screening and treatment planning, and the therapist does all the work.We run preventative programs, such as a brushing and fluoride program. We provide instruction in the classrooms. We also provide restorative treatment, so (that includes) any kind of fillings, and extractions, sealants, crowns. Basically what a dentist does."

As fellow long-time dental therapists Nathan Caskey in Arviat and Dallas Tucktoo in Rankin Inlet are doing, she's been running the federally-funded Children's Oral Health Initiative (COHI), which targets newborns to seven-year-olds.

"We do screenings on those children, provide fluoride varnishes, and the tools and supplies needed to each person," she said.

Early intervention is the key to success, and her lifetime commitment to her work has led to long-term improvements.

"I have seen a decrease in caries, the extent of decay has subsided, but there is always room for improvement. It's something we all have to work at," she said. "In the COHI program, I see there's a lot less fear. Kids will watch others before it's their time to get in the chair. I'm in the school and they see me in the classroom setting. I'm also at the prenatal and postnatal clinics for early intervention."

Although her main role involves caring for children, she also tends to the oral health of adults, many of whom she knows from when they were child patients.

"I do extractions, fillings," and other emergency work, she said, "and a lot of the young parents still come to see me."

Girouard-Qamanirq has no immediate plans to retire. The Hamilton, Ont., native has always enjoyed her work, starting her career in Manitoba, and making the move to Arctic Bay on the recommendation of a teacher.

"I was awestruck by the beauty of the landscape," she said, remembering her arrival and noting she still feels that way when she leaves and returns. "I came in August, so the water was open, and people were very welcoming. Everyone was asking me if I was the new dental therapist. I felt more isolated in Manitoba than I did here when I first landed."

She's stuck around, in part, due to the fact that she fell in love and married Joseph Qamanirq, with whom she has two children.

"For me, it's very easy to go to work in the morning," she said. "I walk five minutes to work; I get to eat lunch with my children every day; and I'm off in the summer months because I'm a school year employee. I really enjoy my work, and I think it's a great job."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.