Local dentists and non-profits are making it easier for Project Access to provide dental service to members of the community who are in need. They are opening their clinic doors to provide dental care for those who are uninsured or under-insured and are limited in financial resources.
Project Access has worked for 10 years to improve the health care and well-being of individuals who struggle financially and are unable to access healthcare services. In 2007, the Community Based Health Care Coalition started “Mission of Mercy.”
Mission of Mercy was expected to be a short term solution for uninsured, low income, individuals to receive dental care until additional, more permanent resources became available. One day a year, Mission of Mercy organized an event that brought together dentists from around the area and served hundreds of patients.
Since Mission of Mercy began, the number of resources available to provide dental service to the uninsured has grown. Commonwealth Dental Clinic, the Christian Free Clinic in Botetourt and the Rescue Mission Fralin Clinic opened. joining the already established dental clinic at the Bradley Free Clinic. Additionally, New Horizons Healthcare will open their dental clinic by the end of the year.
“With the increase in resources, we saw an opportunity to change our model,” said Kate Ellmann, Project Access Executive Director. “We expect the number of individuals needing to access services from “Mini Mom”(the smaller version of the Mission of Mercy!) to decrease with the addition of these new clinics. We wanted to be able to provide service more than just one time a year for those individuals who cannot receive services at the clinics, so we began Mini MOM.”
Still in its development stage, the first Mini MOM, which took place in June of this year, saw 41 patients. “Our hope is that, as it grows, more dentists will collaborate, not only with us, but with each other to participate in the Mini Mom.” The next Mini MOM will be on October 3 with four scheduled for 2015. “We hope to see the number of events increase as more dentists agree to participate.”
Five offices/clinics will be participating in the October 3rd event: Rescue Mission Fralin Clinic, Bradley Free Clinic, Dr. Richard Joachim, Dr. Gavin Aaron and Carilion Clinic. Dentists can choose to volunteer at one of the local clinics for the Mini MOM.
The Rescue Mission Fralin Clinic will be hosting Dr. Caroline Wallace, owner of her own practice in Salem, Virginia. “I’m thrilled and excited about the opportunity to host a new dentist,” said Helen Ferguson, Assistant Director of Programs for the Rescue Mission. The Rescue Mission Fralin Clinic provides medical and dental service for individuals who are homeless, unemployed, and uninsured. All of the providers at the Fralin Clinic are volunteers. “Since the patients we serve must meet the three criteria of being unemployed, uninsured, and homeless, we had really utilized Mission of Mercy in the past to help us give service to those that did not meet our criteria. Now we can be of service to them, in return.”
“Mission of Mercy started as a once-a-year event,” said Ellmann. “Now, with Mini MOMs, we are trying to provide a continuum of care for individuals who have no other options by working with local dentists and safety net clinics.”
