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When the pandemic hit in 2020, it grounded their international volunteer efforts. Soon after, Haidar’s mother, Naomi, became very ill and was eventually hospitalized.

“My mother had always been strong and independent, but my biggest fear was realized when I saw that I couldn’t help her,” she says. “I knew I had to channel my sadness into a more positive energy, so I came back to volunteering. Helping others became my way of helping her.”

And so began Haidar and Mya’s journey volunteering with the NECHC.

“It took some time to earn the patients’ trust. They needed to see that we’d be a consistent part of their community.”

It’s the appreciation from her patients that keeps bringing her back to the NECHC. “When you give someone back their smile, you give them back their self esteem,” she adds. “It’s life changing. I was put on this planet to help make that life change.”

Naomi’s Outreach Fund

In the summer of 2021 when Haidar’s mother (pictured left) passed away, she began to consider other ways to keep her memory – and generous spirit – alive. Haidar had been donating to the Faculty of Dentistry since graduating in 1997 and decided to set up a new fund in her late mother’s name.

Over five years, Naomi’s Outreach Fund, like Haidar’s community volunteer efforts, will help make it possible for disadvantaged community members to receive oral health care that would otherwise not be possible for them.

“It’s the perfect way to honour my mother,” Haidar says. “Helping others to look and feel their best was part of her career, too. I know she would have wanted this.”

The gift of giving

In December of 2021, Haidar and Mya, along with the team at the NECHC, expanded their volunteer efforts and helped organize the clinic’s first Dental Blitzen, an event that offered free extractions and restorations to help clear a backlog of dental work caused by the pandemic.

“It was Mya’s idea, originally, to perform as much dentistry as we could over the holidays,” Haidar says. “I told her, ‘I have a better idea. Grab my contact book.’” They reached out to dentists from across Nova Scotia, many of whom quickly responded and were eager to help, and together they provided over $50,000 in free dentistry to community members in need.

The Blitzen continues as an annual event at the NECHC, one that Haidar, Mya, local dentists and community members look forward to every year.

“It’s not about what you have, it’s about what you’ve done – that’s my greatest lesson in this life,” she says. “It’s the legacy you leave behind, and how you’ve helped others. Being able to change someone’s life, that’s what dentistry has done for me, and continues to do for others.”