Dentistry Stalwart, Fay Duncan is a ‘Special Person’

Dec 09, 2018 Features / Columnists, Special Person

---

Pull Quote: “For the love of just helping people, I have remained in dentistry. When you are finished with a mouth and you would have alleviated someone’s pain or helped give their mouth a nice clean feeling, it is very satisfying.”

 

By Sharmain Grainger

When seeking after employment, people are often guided by the need to earn an income that can cater to their expenses and then some. However, there are some individuals who completely disregard this primary intent of being employed and instead premise it on their desire to help others.
But it isn’t every day that you will come across someone who is driven by the need to help others. Moreover, those who are so inclined are undeniably a rare breed of human beings.

We at Kaieteur News were able to single out just such an individual who we present today as our ‘Special Person’.
Her name is Fay Duncan, a resident of New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, on the West Coast of Demerara.
But exactly what makes this seemingly ordinary woman outstanding enough to be so designated? Well the answer is simple!
You see, for decades Fay has been delivering, with distinction, dental services to many individuals accessing the public health system. She currently holds the coveted title of being the longest serving Dentex having been in the system for more than 40 years.
While a Dentex is neither a dentist nor a dental nurse, such a professional is recognized as a dental extender who is equipped with the knowledge and skills to function independently when providing dental services ranging from extraction to sensitization.
It isn’t by chance that this profession remains dear to Fay even to this day; let me explain.
Over the years, Fay was able to develop a special talent characterized by her giving each patient such keen attention that many of them started to appreciate the importance of caring for their teeth. In fact, many ‘return patients’ have been known to ask

for Fay by name when they seek dental services at the facilities, where she operates. Fay currently offers her services at the Grove Health Centre as well as the Diamond Regional Hospital, both on the East Bank corridor.

EARLY DAYS
Although she loves what she does and is known to perform her duties with precision and passion, with no exceptions, Fay confided that it wasn’t her first entry into the workforce.
Let’s rewind to years earlier when Fay was just a baby. She doesn’t remember any of it, but later in life, she was told that her parents – Sylvinia and Hilton Francis – and their growing family were residents of Russell Street, Charlestown, Georgetown.
Born Fay Ann Francis on October 18, 1956, she was the fifth of the eight children produced by her parents’ union. For reasons she did not share, Fay said that when she was very young, her parents decided to relocate their family to La Retraite on the West Bank of Demerara. It is there that she has very vivid memories of growing up.
“I used to be a master crab catcher as a young child. When there was low tide, you would see the young boys and girls in the village mingling near the river bank…everybody was running to catch crabs, but I was king for that,” Fay narrated amidst a chuckle.

She recalls attending La Retraite Primary School and then West Demerara Secondary. Immediately out of school, it was time for the blossoming lass to learn some independence, and thus she sought a teaching job. Indeed, she was accepted to teach at the very primary school she’d attended years earlier. She went on to become a trained teacher and was among the first batch to be trained as Coop Teachers. This tactical move was to enable the government of the day to fully cater to the coop education needs of an institute it had introduced – the Kuru Kuru Coop College.

CHANGING COURSE
Fay would remain in the education system for a solid three and a half years before she decided to follow her heart’s desire to do something in the science field. As a student, she had come to have an appreciation for science subjects and had since then embraced the idea of furthering her studies in that area.
After receiving word that government was providing training for various levels of health workers, Fay decided to take advantage of that offer. She distinctly recalls applying for training in nursing and dentistry, and deciding in her mind that the first one to accept her application would be the path she would follow to infinity.
As we know by now, Fay was accepted first for training in dentistry. In addition to learning the intricacies of the field of dentistry, Fay said that the training entailed “chair-side talk” which meant that you have to engage your patients to better understand and care for them.

Fay was able to master her training right down to the “chair-side talk”, which resulted in patients often favouring her over her colleagues. But this wasn’t always to Fay’s advantage. “It can be overwhelming when patients are only waiting on you, because sometimes you feel as though you can’t be absent a single day, because somebody is demanding you see them… So when you are not there, you are really missed,” Fay shared.
But she wasn’t going to let a few overwhelming days prevent her from seeing each and every task through. This was especially since she had grown accustomed to hearing her patients express profound appreciation for the service that she offered them.
She, moreover, willed herself, even on the overwhelming days, to do the best she could for them.
“For the love of just helping people, I have remained in dentistry. When you are finished with a mouth and you would have alleviated someone’s pain or helped give their mouth a nice clean feeling, it is very satisfying,” Fay quipped.

FOCUS-DRIVEN
Fay started to give her patients even more personalized care after she was faced with multiple dental problems for which she required not only a person with the necessary skills set, but someone who was able to empathise.
According to Fay, “Everything that I am doing in terms of dental care, I needed them at some point too. I know what it is to have a toothache; I know what it is to have an abscess in my gum and I certainly know what it is to have a root canal….when it comes to dental care, check me out, I went through them all,” Fay joked.
She recalled that her first introduction into the public health system saw her being placed at the dental centre, which fell under the purview of the Health Ministry. She was later moved to the dentistry department of the Georgetown Public Hospital after which she was tasked with opening the first dental clinic at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
Although she could easily be deemed more knowledgeable than most in her field, Fay has not been selfish with her knowledge. Her colleague, Holly Adridge-Prince, attested to that, even as she reminisced on them working together for a number of years at the Grove Health Centre.

Adridge-Prince recalled that she first met Fay after she’d completed her training as a Community Dental Therapist and was assigned to work at Grove.
“She is the one who taught me a lot of things, and today I can say my skills are very much improved because of what I learnt from her,” said Adridge-Prince of Fay, who has been the recipient of many accolades from the public health sector for her dedication and years of service in the field.
Reflecting on the evolution of dentistry in Guyana, Fay noted that there have been many improvements in the way services are offered. This, she said, is especially owing to the constant training programmes persons in the field are exposed to these days. This development, she said, has allowed for persons in the field to not only prepare to facilitate extractions, but also be at the ready to sensitise people, even before they develop a dental problem, of the need to protect their teeth and gums.
A move in this direction, Fay said, has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of people seeking extractions.
“From the time I started to now, there has been a great improvement…you are not getting so many extractions, because back in the day, people weren’t being told that they can have things like fillings. People have been so educated about oral health that many of them actually want to maintain their teeth, and this is because of many talks they heard on the importance of oral health,” Fay disclosed.
For persons desirous of entering the field, Fay made it clear that their most important attribute must be a love for people.
“You must have that desire to love and care for people…if you don’t have that, then you will find that dentistry is not the field for you. You certainly can’t come into this field hoping to make a lot of money, otherwise you will be sorely disappointed,” Fay stated matter-of-factly.

FAMILY LIFE
But life hasn’t only been about work for Fay. In fact, she had ample time to find true love, which came in the person of a young man by the name of Clyde Duncan [now deceased]. Fay easily recalled setting eyes on the attractive and very tall young man, who would later become her husband, while helping out at a relative’s ‘wedding house’.
Clyde, who was then a teacher but later became known for being a cricket umpire who officiated at the highest levels both here and abroad, took Fay’s hand in marriage on June 27, 1981. That union produced four children, all of whom have blossomed into productive adults. Their eldest child, Tracey, as well as their third, Troy, are both practising doctors, while their second, Joanna, is an attorney-at-law and the youngest, Susanna, is currently pursing medical studies in Canada.
“We grew up in families that prayed together and that is exactly how we brought up our children too. We didn’t go to paid dancehalls and paid cinemas, and that is how we wanted to raise our children. We only attended invitational events and we did that because we thought that was best for our family,” Fay asserted.
In fact, Fay recalled that she and her husband fully endorsed the notion that parents should be their children’s first role model. She, moreover, emphasised, “As parents, you must live your example not only talk about it. Some parents might tell their children ‘don’t do this and don’t do that’, but they are doing it themselves, and they say ‘do what I say; not what I do’. I believe as parents, we need to lead by example and devote ourselves to Christ, so that we can be better parents to our children.”
But life for the Duncan family was dreadfully disrupted when its patriarch passed away on a date [July 27, 2011] Fay remembers as if it were yesterday. “He was a good husband to me and a good father to our children,” said Fay of her dearly departed husband whose loss she continues to mourn even today.
However, Fay has learnt that in life, you must accept the good with the bad, and has thus continued to rally on as the best possible mother that she can be to her children, even as she strives to retain the status of being one of the most outstanding dental professionals in the land.

---

---