SEARHC has hired two permanent dentists for the Haines clinic.
Dr. Alex DeYoung and Dr. Lucia Nascimento each worked here recently on an interim basis. Both also served their residencies at the SEARHC dental clinic in Juneau. They started seeing patients in Haines about a week ago.
Nascimento, who hails from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, worked eight years at the Juneau clinic, where she rose to the position of deputy chief. She worked seven years to earn the money she needed to move to the United States. She cleaned houses and worked as an interpreter in her first jobs in the United States. After earning a bachelor’s degree, she worked in a cancer studies lab in Houston and received her doctor of dental surgery degree from Marquette University School of Dentistry.
DeYoung hails from near Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his doctor of dental surgery degree from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry and worked at free dental clinics in rural Virginia. A hiker, camper, hunter and skier, DeYoung said he took the job here because he wasn’t ready for his Alaska adventure to be over after his residency. “I always wanted to come to Alaska and this was a way for me to do it,” he said.
Nascimento is a commissioned officer in the Indian Health Service and is working toward a master’s degree in public health. She enjoys woodcarving, painting and beading. A wolf mask she made placed first in show at a University of Alaska Southeast student art exhibit. “I came to Haines two years ago and felt comfortable with the community. I started thinking about (moving here) and it happened.”
Nascimento and DeYoung both work four, 10-hour days per week.