Alpha Omega Foundation US (Foundation) and Dental Volunteers for Israel (DVI) are pleased to announce the installation of the state-of-the-art Alan J. Sherman-Alpha Omega Foundation US Dental Chair at the Trudi Birger Dental Clinic. This milestone marks a significant advancement in the commitment of both organizations providing high-quality dental care to underserved communities in Israel.

Dr. Jonathan Sherman initiated a matching gift campaign for a New Dental Chair at the DVI Trudi Birger Dental Clinic in Jerusalem, Israel, in honor of his father, Alan J. Sherman. Everyone who knew him always said that helping others was the essence of Alan’s very being, and a value he clearly passed on to his children. He is pictured on the right volunteering in the DVI clinic. Dr. Jonathan Sherman donated $10,000 and the Alpha Omega US Foundation donated the remaining $15,000! This is the largest donation that DVI has received from the US supporters and the Alpha Omega Foundation US since 2002, when Trudi Birger passed away. Alan was an active member of the Alpha Omega International Dental Society and served as a Southern California Regent from 1978-1980 & International Trustee from 1994-1996.

Alpha Omega US Foundation: The Alpha Omega Foundation was officially chartered in 1969 as the philanthropic arm of the Alpha Omega Fraternity, now known as the Society. The Foundation focuses on raising money to provide oral health care to children and adults suffering from a lack of accessibility to oral health services while training dental professionals to care for the most vulnerable populations. Since the formation of the foundation, there is no way to measure the years of tzedakah (charity) and mitzvot (good deeds) except that the programs have changed people’s lives.

Alpha Omega and the founding of DVI’s Trudi Birger Clinic: In the beginning, Alpha Omega members from France helped purchase equipment, set-up the clinic, and advise DVI founder and Holocaust Survivor Trudi Birger on the day-to-day operations of the clinic. AO members from France would frequently volunteer in the clinic sleep on mattresses and live the principle of Tikkun Olam. From the early beginning to current day, Alpha Omega members are deeply-rooted in supporting and continue to volunteer at DVI Trudi Birger Dental Clinic in Jerusalem.

DVI Background: Since its founding in 1980, DVI – Dental Volunteers for Israel, has been working to improve the health and quality of life of Jerusalem’s most underprivileged children and youth on an equal basis, regardless of race or religion, providing caring treatment to needy youth who would not otherwise receive care. This is afforded them through oral health education and state-of-the-art dentistry, free of charge with the help of volunteer dentists from around the world as well as local professionals, operating out of DVI’s totally free dental clinic in Jerusalem. In 2019, DVI hosted 140 international volunteer dentists from 19 different countries from all religious faiths who provided dental treatments to thousands of needy youth, elderly and Holocaust Survivors. In 2020, despite the pandemic, DVI had 56 volunteer dentists! To achieve that, with foreign dentists unable to GET to Israel, DVI had to switch gears and recruit locally. DVI is also committed to the training and advancement of promising young dentists interested in specializing in pediatric dentistry and is the only dental clinic in Israel that serves as an external pediatric rotation for dental students. DVI’s initial partnership with the Hadassah School of Dental Medicine expanded to include the Tel-Aviv School of Dental Medicine in 2020 and in 2021, the Galilee Medical Center and Tel HaShomer (Sheba) Medical Center, turning DVI into the largest off-site Residents’ Training Facility in Israel.

Dental Chair for DVI’s Free Jerusalem Clinic: DVI’s less operable dental chairs have been presenting problems, as dental assistants struggle to get them up and down while some first-time young dental patients get more and more anxious. As the individuals DVI treats are already coming from difficult backgrounds, this additional anxiety is creating a serious patient care issue. The workstation will replace an existing dental operatory, which is barely functioning, after several decades of use, can no longer be repaired, and when it fails to rise and lower, the result is reducing output in the number of treatments DVI can provide every week. In real terms, the chart below shows the number of children, youth and elderly who will benefit from this new equipment every year. The A-Dec dental chair, a quality manufactured operatory which is built to last, is likely replacing the actual chair Dr. Sherman was working from here.

For additional information, visit the AO website http://www.aofus.org/ and the DVI website http://www.dental-dvi.org.il/.