Wallace McKenzie DMD, and his wife Kathryn from Welches Oregon began mobilizing  this project in 2003 by providing the design and collecting the modern dental equipment which was shipped by Global  Health Ministries.   The clinic includes a library/training space, two   operatories for high tech dental needs, and  two operatories  for low tech dentistry. It opened January 2007 under the direction of Chief Dental Officer  Charles Rabemahefa DDS MPH from Madagascar. He is by Dr. Francis Mdoe. The dentists saw 1321 patients the first year and 2,650 in 2009. The program welcomes short term volunteers as trainers.   

The DCMC program established a dental team in Dodoma and started a prevention program in two Dodoma town schools.  The prevention program  has been introduced  in village  schools in Ntyuka,  Nkuhungu, Chamkoroma  and Lwihomelo. Patients from as far away as Dar es Salaam and Arusha seek DCMC dental services. DTHD donors contrbute to a fund to help provide care for those  who are unable to pay.

The Health Center which is adjacent to the DCMC Dental Clinic started outpatient services to patients from Dodoma town and the neighboring  village in August 2008. It has 14 bed capacity for short stay and in 2009 provided lab services and treatment to 1,633 patients.  The programming and community outreach from the health center has the potential of changing Central Tanzania's grim maternal/child mortality statistics.  When the Health Center's goals are fully met it will continue to offer ambulatory care for all patients and provide a special focus on:

• Full reproductive and child services including well-child, prenatal and high risk pregnancy management and family planning.
• Comprehensive  HIV/AIDS services

DCMC manages three rural Lutheran dispensaries located in Kondoa, Lwilhomelo, and Chamkoroma. St. Johns University in Dodoma town has also requested DCMC Community Health Department to manage their student dispensary.

Community involvement and outreach from a dispensary can have a great public health impact on a community.  Maximizing the role of prevention  and public health is the assignment of DCMC's Community Health Director Katrin Boehl.  During the year 2007  the dispensaries treated a total of 6,521 patients of which 2,023 were children  under five. In 2009 DCMC rural dispensaries treated 8,837 patients.

Dispensary Accomplishments

• Participatory Rural Appraisals to engage community
• Building and staff housing improvements.
• Installation of necessary equipment
• Development of management systems and controls
• Staff recruitment, training and support

Westwood Lutheran Church and Calvary Lutheran Church in Minneapolis and German dispensary partners funded a new staff house at Chamkoroma.

Peer Educators Maximize Outreach

The Community Health Department trained and equipped eighteen peer educators on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. They contribute to VCT (voluntary counseling and testing) activities at the Winza Ruby mines and in the Mpwapwa area. A peer education program related to reproductive and sexual health curriculum. was also instituted in some Mpwapwa secondary schools.

Safe Motherhood Program

The Community Health Department is focusing on targeted rural villages to decrease the maternal/infant mortality rate by promoting safe mother hood procedures and training village health workers and traditional birth attendents to teach safe motherhood practices. Village health workers are rewarded by the government for bringing pregnant women for deliviery at a health care facility.

 Drexler Plus Partners and Guenter Nester from Germany are supplying architectural and hospital planning services for the hospital.   A flexible modular plan has been developed which could accommodate as many as 180 beds and achieve the goals of cost effectiveness and good medicine. There are many specialty areas that are needed in Dodoma's central location. They include complicated OB/GYN including fistula repair, traumatic and restorative orthopedics, maxillo-facial/plastic surgery and cardiology with a focus on acquired pediatric diseases.

Dodoma Innovation and Production Company will provide the construction utilizing the bricks made on site and creating a cost savings to DCMC. This for-profit company was formed by investors to provide businesses to insure  future sustainability for the hospital.

 DCMC's goal is to develop Tanzanian and International partnerships to provide intercultural exchange, training, and mutual growth. DTHD has established a relationship with the University of Minnesota for this purpose. A delegation from university made DCMC one of their stops to explore possible partnership connections.   DCMC Guest Flats provide volunteers with a place to stay.

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