Page 29 - FIS World

“Over 70% of our patients are children so it’s very important that our staff love to work with kids. We love
to have them here”.
Dr. Banach, FIS Parent
one might think that having 48 six- year-olds descend on their busy clinic to “discover things” was the stuff of their dreams. “Over 70% of our patients are children so it’s very important that our staff love to work with kids,” Dr. Banach explains. “We love to have them here. I wouldn’t want to miss it.”
Dr. Banach’s clinic has welcomed between 90 and 100 of our students every year since 2007, when the eldest Banach children were in First Grade. Now in its eighth year, the field trip has become a tradition unmatched in the history of the Primary School, and possibly of the entire FIS.
“We’ve had teenage patients who come to us for their first appointment with a big smile on their face and say: ‘Don’t you remember me? I was here on a field trip when I was in First Grade.’”, Dr. Banach says. “In a few years some of today’s visitors will start their orthodontic treatment. As a teen- ager, to have braces in your mouth at
this sensitive time in your life is not easy, so we have to motivate our patients to stay with the treatment. A positive early experience of a dental visit can help a lot to start it off with the right attitude.”
In many ways, by following his pro- fessional passion Dr. Banach has also become an outstanding educator. Whether they realize it or not, the first graders busily learning in his clinic have benefitted greatly from their visit.
Not only have they made positive associations with a dentist’s clinic and discovered new things about oral hygiene, they have experienced what it’s like to meet someone who is pas- sionate about what they do: all lessons that will last them a lifetime.
Kasia Pomykol, PS Teacher
Grade 1 students in the middle of a serious operation
February 2015 FIS World 27