Foothill Unity Center & USC Dentistry Partner
to Provide Free Dental Service to 110 Local Youth
DUARTE, CA, November 15, 2011 – More than 100 local area children from low income families in Duarte and surrounding communities served by Foothill Unity Center are receiving comprehensive free dental treatment and care this week.
For the second year, Foothill Unity Center and the USC School of Dentistry have partnered to provide critical dental services to needy local children who otherwise because of financial restraints would go without care.
At a USC School of Dentistry Mobile Dental Clinic set up on the grounds of Beardslee School in Duarte, children, about half residents of the Duarte community, received treatments from x-rays, cleaning, and fillings to root canals on primary teeth, extractions and stainless steel crowns. The cost to Foothill Unity Center to bring the Mobile Dental Clinic to the community is $51,000, but the value of the dental services provided is estimated at $164,000, according to Kathy Close, director of health services for Foothill Unity Center.
Last year, grants and donations from organizations and individuals including the San Marino Women’s Club, Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park, Methodist Hospital and the Duarte-Monrovia Quota Club helped to fund the project. The Foothill Unity Center is still looking for financial support for this year to augment a $20,000 donation from the San Marino Women’s Club and other smaller donations from organizations including the Duarte Kiwanis Club.
The idea to bring the Mobile Dental Clinic to the local community developed three years ago when USC School of Dentistry conducted free dental screenings for over 300 school-age clients at Foothill Unity’s Back-to-School event. They found that 86% of the children screened had at least one or more visibly decayed teeth, while 15% were deemed Urgency Code 4 which means abscess or pain.
“It was from those findings that we decided we needed to offer some kind of care and treatment for the children, many of whom are uninsured or under insured,” said Close. “We wrote grants and raised funds to bring the Mobile Dental Clinic last year to the City of Monrovia, this year to the City of Duarte because those were the two zip codes that had the largest percentage of children that showed the greatest amount of need,” she said.
Foothill Unity Center serves thousands of homeless and very low-income families who qualify with incomes at or below 150% of the National Poverty Level. Free or low-cost dental resources in the Foothill Unity service area of Arcadia, Azusa, Baldwin Park, Bradbury, Duarte, Irwindale and Monrovia are extremely limited. The few that exist are often overwhelmed with long waits for appointments.
Over the past two years, the Foothill Unity Center Health Services Department has been developing a collaborative approach to providing much-needed health care to client children. The program recruits medical, dental, optometry and mental health providers who agree to see a designated number of children at no cost. Methodist Hospital in Arcadia has agreed to donate a limited number of laboratory, radiology and emergency services.
Foothill Unity Center believes its efforts are helping to improve access to care and give children a medical home. Bilingual personnel who are Certified Application Assistants help families to sign up for the no-cost and low-cost insurance programs and services for which they qualify. The Mobile Dental Clinic is a key focus of the program.
For more information call Foothill Unity Center at (626) 358-3486, or go the website at www.foothillunitycenter.org.
#
