Giver Chat: Laura Ichim

Laura Ichim has been a dentist for nine years and a One Percent Collective giver for five. Aside from her paid gig helping grown-ups look after their oral health and ensuring the tooth fairy only gets quality goods from the kids, Laura donates dentistry to people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access it. She may also be a ‘crazy plant lady’.

Who is that extremely cute kid in your photo?
This photo was taken earlier this year on a volunteer dental outreach trip to Tavua (a small remote island about two hours off the coast of Fiji). The little girl in the photo is Esther who is around three years old. She started coming to visit our outdoor dental clinic on the first morning we set up and proceeded to hang out with the Kiwi dental team of nine (including dentists and assistants) every day until it was her bedtime. Although she spoke no English and we spoke no Fijian we all became great buddies and she stole a bit of our hearts.

What’s your involvement with the free dental clinic at our partner charity, DCM?
The Wellington branch of the New Zealand Dental Association has set up a free dental clinic in association with DCM on their premises for over three years now. The volunteer dentists (I have been one too) treat the taumai giving them access to free dental care. We have found that this not only helps get them out of pain (some taumai we’ve met had been living in pain for years) but it provides a stepping stone for their journey towards ending homelessness and getting opportunities to change their circumstances.

The dental industry isn’t known for sustainability. How are things changing and what part are you playing in that?
It’s so true and it is something I’ve struggled with. As health professionals we always strive to do an excellent job and meet the highest standards (including of cross-infection control), but for years this has meant the use of cheap single-use plastic items due to ease. Things are changing and they need to because, although we are part of the problem, we also have a responsibility to be part of the solution. My practice – The Wellington Dental Practice – has been committed to reducing our footprint drastically over the last couple of years. We’ve done so in many different ways, from switching previous single-use items to high quality stainless steel autoclavable items (that can be reused like in hospitals). Some items we couldn’t find reusable options for so we switched from plastic to compostable materials – got a TerraCycle bin on site to upcycle all non-recyclable oral health products and added eco-friendly alternatives like ecofloss to our supplies. This is something we talk about on a weekly basis in our practice meetings – we want to be at the forefront of sustainability in dentistry.

Got a guilty pleasure?
Buying fresh flowers and house plants – you could call me a ‘crazy plant lady’.

I hear you recently asked your partner ‘Will you put up with me forever?’ Tell us more?
This year for my partner’s birthday (who happens to be One Percent Collective Founder, Pat Shepherd) I followed our rule of ‘experiences over things’ and asked him to spend forever with me on a special birthday cake thanks to Kate at Tomboy.

How has giving and generosity impacted your life?
The ability to give (be it money, time or skills) is in itself a privilege. This will sound totally cliché, but generosity has completely changed me as a person and changed how I live my life. It’s a big part of why I do what I do everyday. I’ve become more empathetic towards others and being part of the One Percent Collective has helped me meet like-minded people from many different walks of life (including my soon-to-be-husband). Many of my friends and whānau are givers too, which reminds me how lucky I am to be surrounded by such great humans.

– As told to Ben Woodward. Image by Pat Shepherd.

If you’re ready to get the feels from giving, explore the causes you can connect with as a One Percent Collective giver here then join us by hitting the big blue button below.