James Rolfe / 2010 National Awards Honoree
James G. Rolfe, D.D.S.
Founder of the Afghanistan Dental Relief Project
"This $5,000 gift, one two-hundred-millionth (1/200,000,000) of our military budget, will provide the first dental care ever received by over two thousand poor Afghans, even saving lives. Changing the world can be as simple as supporting what you believe is the right action for yourself. I am reminded of phrases from our founding fathers, such as, 'of the people, by the people, for the people,' and 'liberty and justice for all.' Thank you for this honor."
For the past eight years, Santa Barbara, California dentist Dr. James G. Rolfe has improved the lives of the Afghan people through his organization, the Afghanistan Dental Relief Project. Dental care conditions in Afghanistan are severely compromised. There are currently only 134 dentists to serve a population of 27 million, which amounts to only a single dentist per 200,000 patients. Sterilization practices are lax and treatment methods are often crude - untreated dental conditions resulting in death are not unheard of.
Dr. Rolfe established The Afghanistan Dental Relief Project to provide dental treatment facilities in underserved areas of Afghanistan, to staff these facilities with volunteers, to train the Afghan people in dentistry and dental technology, to provide dental treatment at no cost to the needy and to provide instruction in methods of preventative dental care.
Dr. Rolfe's journey began in 2003 when, moved by the plight of orphaned children in Afghanistan with no access to dental care, he volunteered at a remote mountain province orphanage. There he spent 17 hours a day, seven days a week providing much-needed dental treatment to the children for three straight weeks.
Dr. Rolfe's goal of establishing a dental facility in Afghanistan started with his idea of transporting shipping containers filled with supplies that could also double as its structure. Dr. Rolfe shipped several 40 foot structures containing 120,000 pounds of dental equipment and supplies from Santa Barbara to Kabul. Practicing dentists and manufacturers and distributors in the United States donated used dental equipment and supplies.
Despite numerous setbacks. Dr. Rolfe worked with local Afghan government officials and private citizens to identify land for the mobile facility and opened The Kabul Clinic and Training Center in November 2008. The dental clinic includes chairs, x-ray machines and the facilities have their own water sanitizing, plumbing, storage and electrical systems.
In January 2009, Dr. Rolfe opened a volunteer center next to the dental clinic that includes seven bedrooms with complete utilities to house the many volunteers who help at the clinic year-round. Once a permanent facility is built, the next phase of the project will be to transport the mobile dental lab to another Province and continue the training process anew.