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We sent this press release out to the local media, and are excited to share the exciting news with you, too:

In late August, Dr. Bruce C. McArthur, a Lakewood Dentist, his dental office staff and a few spouses will be teaming up with an oral surgeon from South Africa, an optometrist and a small group of U.S. medical doctors, nurses, and support personnel to help make a big difference in the lives of many strangers in another country. On August 26, 2010, Dr. McArthur and the entire crew will be packing up and heading to Cascas, a remote village in northern Peru, to provide a week of free dental and medical care for local villagers in need. McArthur said, “We are very excited that we can help provide health and comfort to folks that have no other means of receiving it.”

According to Dr. McArthur, the trip is made possible, in large part, by a sizable donation from one of his patients, but the team could still use more help. Most Americans occasionally update their eyeglasses, maybe to change the frame style or due to an updated prescription. Often, they may have old, unused pairs of prescription glasses stashed away in drawers around the house. McArthur points out that those old eyeglasses, while no longer of use to you, could make a major difference in the life of a poor Peruvian villager. Until they leave, Dr. McArthur’s team is accepting donations of old eyeglasses at the Doctor’s Lakewood office, at 6565 W. Jewell Avenue, #9.

Bruce McArthur, a graduate of California’s Loma Linda University School of Dentistry (LLUSD), has a history of involvement in missionary work, it runs in his family. His grandparents were missionaries in Peru in the 1920’s. In fact, his mother was born there. Following in his grandparent’s footsteps, Dr. McArthur spent 2 ½ months, during his senior year in Dental school, providing quality dental care for people in the jungle of Bangladesh. McArthur’s missionary work has also taken him to Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

This will mark the third year that Dr. McArthur’s team has been part of such a humanitarian mission to Peru. The team will transport complete portable dental offices to rural Peru. They’ll have compressors, vacuum machines, and electrical generators to facilitate quality dental care in one of the country’s most remote areas. During their brief visit, the group expects to provide modern American dental and medical care to hundreds of native Peruvians; some will likely travel for hours to take advantage of their services. McArthur said, “A few years back, when LLUSD made a dental trip to Cascas, I’m told that there were people who walked 35 miles to seek dental care!”

Dr. McArthur said, “We are so incredibly blessed to live in the US, where so much is so available. When you see how so many people live without what we so easily take for granted, it gives you a whole new perspective on life!”