There is a Chinese proverb that states: “You give a poor man a fish and you feed him for a day. You teach him to fish, and you give him an occupation that will feed him for a lifetime.”
Rod Feeney, owner at Fidelity Dental Handpiece located in Indianapolis, Indiana, visited the Fondation Max Cadet (FMC) while on a mission in Haiti in 1998. Since then, he decided to repair FMC’s dental handpieces as his contribution to the project. FMC would periodically ship its handpieces to him for service.
For over 30 years, Mr. Feeney earned a living by managing Fidelity Dental Handpiece. His company repairs and maintains dental handpieces, a vital instrument used in dentistry to remove decays in the mouth, update prostheses, polish fillings and perform cosmetic dentistry.
Cleaning and maintaining the dental handpieces can be quite complicated, depending on the design. Proper cleaning and maintenance help prolong the lifespan of the instruments while always keeping them dependable and efficient. This in turn help reduce operational cost. However, shipping our handpieces for service was costly and time consuming despite the free service Mr. Rod Feeney extended to FMC. In 2011, Mr. Rod Feeney, along with his son John, traveled to Haiti to teach handpiece repair and maintenance techniques to three technicians at the dental clinic. Mr. Rod Feeney left in FMC’s files, books on handpiece parts for distinct brands and a video of the sessions that his son John recorded for the clinic. This trip bears testament of his long-term vision for FMC’s development.
The various pictures listed below show Mr. Feeney in close interaction with the staff of the dental clinic. He is going over repair, cleaning, and maintenance procedures for the distinct types of dental handpieces. The low-speed dental handpiece used to polish and finish dental procedures; the high-speed for dental surgery and the contra-angle used to reach less accessible areas of the mouth.
Thank you, Rod Feeney, for a gift of a lifetime.