Huntsville dentist presented with humanitarian award

Local dentist Dr. Adrian Musters has been presented with the Lyle Best Humanitarian Award for his ongoing humanitarian efforts.

Musters was recently presented with the award by the Manitoba Dental Association at a black tie gala.

The award is presented by the Manitoba Dental Foundation to recognize individuals who have significantly improved the dental health of underserved populations, whether nationally or internationally. The award was created to honour the philanthropic efforts of Lyle Best, an Order of Canada recipient known for his extensive community work with various organizations, including the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation and Kids with Cancer. 

Musters said he was honoured and humbled to be nominated for the Lyle Best Humanitarian Award by his longtime friend and Huntsville colleague, Dr. John Koncan.

Musters is a semi-retired dentist living in Huntsville. After graduating from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Dentistry in 1981, he worked for 36 years as a solo practitioner in general dentistry.

“As an immigrant from the Netherlands (1960), I realized the tremendous sacrifice that my parents made to better the lives of the five children they were privileged to raise here. It was deeply ingrained in me that ‘to whomsoever much is given, much is required.’ I took this to heart, and during these earlier years, my wife and I participated in many volunteer activities locally – everything from Boy Scouts, school, and the library, to baseball and hockey – all areas that our three sons were involved in. I have made significant contributions to the Salvation Army and the local food bank. In my practice, I routinely offered free dentistry days, mouthguard days, and augmented our charitable donations through my “Donate Your Gold Teeth” program. We always accepted all forms of government payments and made a point of never refusing anyone needing dental care who couldn’t afford it,” noted Musters.

His global volunteering journey in dentistry began in 2004 when local Huntsville physician Dr. Greg Stewart, who was in Guatemala at the time, convinced him to join him on his final mission after being in the country for seven years.

Musters agreed and joined Missionary Ventures, an evangelical Christian group. The clinic was in a very remote, impoverished little town called San Pedro Necta, about a four-hour ride from Guatemala City by bus. It is located deep in the mountains, and the Mayans who live there are virtually cut off from the rest of the country, growing coffee and doing what they can to survive, explained Musters.

“The clinic was set up in a school that was out for the summer. The conditions were very primitive. We slept on the floors in the classrooms and ate all our meals on site, prepared by the locals. The group consisted of doctors, a pharmacist, an ophthalmologist, a dentist, plus a construction team. The dental needs were overwhelming. There was no dentist in town. The locals had no access to one. They had no money to travel or pay for care. Having a dentist visit was a true blessing for them,” recalled Musters.

He also went on a missionary trip to El Salvador in 2014 with Samaritan’s Purse. “This was a combined trip of medical/dental professionals and a water distribution team. The clinics were set up in various locations in the countryside, reaching out to the locals by word of mouth. As school was still ongoing, we worked in outdoor settings as best we could. We even worked in a large chicken coop. Needs were varied but not dire. Equipment problems were common. Pollution from burning garbage caused me lung issues that hampered my effectiveness. The water projects involved building concrete cisterns for individual houses that converted the dirty water to drinkable water for household use.”

Musters said he enjoyed channeling his energy into building and distributing those units to families in need. “When I came into one of the houses to set up the unit, a very frail 78-year-old woman was lying in a hammock on the porch. When I asked the translator about her, the family had no money for food that month and decided she was expendable and stopped feeding her,” he recalled. “She was dying right where she was resting. We immediately went to the local grocery store and provided the family with another 4 months of staples. When we delivered, they moved the grandmother back inside.”

In December 2016, he sold his practice in Huntsville after 36 years and stayed on as an associate for a year. He did locums for dentists in town who needed short-term help to cover sickness or holidays.

In 2019 he left for another mission to Peru with Kindness in Action, a strictly dental outfit. “Our group consisted of four dentists, dental assistants, and a hygienist. Four dental students from the University of Alberta went along as well, hoping to gain some clinical experience, especially with extractions. We went to a small village about an hour’s flight from Lima, staying in very nice hotel accommodations, double rooms with a shower, excellent food, and even a pool. It was in a nice small-town main square. We worked for only four days in various school locations, treating mainly the local children for check-ups, some fillings, and the occasional extraction.”

He said the odd local who had an emergency was also treated. The mission was set up by a local couple who acted as guides and worked closely with government organizations to facilitate the work. “It was more of a holiday with some dentistry done while on the way to Machu Picchu or a week in Lima. One of the other dentists on this trip was Dr. Tom Pekar, a Rotarian of St Catherine’s. He happened to know a General Surgeon in my town, a patient of mine, Dr. Hector Roldan, who was originally from Guatemala and who was setting up a clinic there,” recalled Musters.

Musters reached out to Roldan after his missionary trip to Peru. “I learned that Hector and his life-long friend, Juan Vasquez, an engineer by trade and partner in the venture, were both born in Guatemala and grew up together in Escuintla. The families were both well-to-do and very close. They always had a dream about how they could give back to their community in Guatemala, even though Juan moved to the USA and Hector to Canada.”

Musters said the men set up a charitable organization called Optimum Service Organization (OSO) and registered it as a charitable group in the USA, Canada, and Guatemala.

“They chose Jocotan as their location for the clinic because it is in the poorest area of the country. Jaun’s father had a large piece of property there and donated 10% of it to OSO. They had been working on their vison for the project for about 12 years and had decided to start with the dental clinic. They wanted to cover the essential aspects of life: health and education, so the people of Jocotan will have a better chance in life. Both systems are lacking in the area and throughout the country. The situation in Guatemala is due to poor management, corruption, and geographic intricacies. Juan has moved back to Guatemala full-time and is coordinating the project from there. Hector continues to practice here in Huntsville as a general surgeon,” explained Musters. (More information on that project can be found at www.o-s-o.org).

One thing led to the other, and Musters became the dental director for the project. “It was now time to draw on all the contacts of mine that I had developed over the years, personal and professional, and shamelessly ask for help.” He sought help from Henry Schein’s design team, and sourced equipment for the dental clinic.

“I unapologetically called everyone and anyone I could think of to give them an opportunity to become involved in the project. I joined Rotary International Huntsville. I immediately volunteered to join the International Committee and the Environment Committee as its Chair. After a presentation to the club by Hector and Juan, our local club adopted the Jocotan dental project as one of theirs,” he explained. “They generously donated to the group every year. My role was applying for matching District grants on behalf of the club. This involved a presentation to the club, an application to the District, accepting the grant, supervising the distribution of the funds and providing a year-end review to the District. With the club’s contribution and matching money from the District, we received about $4-5000 dollars every year.”

Musters said the needs were high because there was no municipal water and drinking water was more expensive than bottled sugary beverages.

For all his volunteering, Musters was honoured with the Lyle Best Humanitarian Award.

“Overall, I feel a deep sense of satisfaction about the work I have been privileged to do and share with others. The expression goes, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Musters said he hopes his efforts in mentorship, collaboration, support, and encouragement of the local people of Jocotan in Guatemala to sustain the clinic will be fully realized.

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