Current Projects:
| • | Ellsworth Free Dental Clinic - 11 clinics to date, currently without supervising dentist, investigating the possibility of providing preventive services to children. |
| • | Coalition building and needs assessment to work toward future nonprofit dental clinic to serve area residents on Medicaid and "working poor." |
| • | Applied for and awarded grant from Dental Health Division of Maine Dept. of Human Services for County wide needs assessment to be conducted 9/98-12/98 (statistical analysis ongoing). |
| • | Ongoing participation in Maine Dental Access Coalition. |
| • | Application for and achievement of Federal Underserved Status. |
| • | Provision of free dental education and screening opportunities to community at such venues as health fairs. |
| • | Assisting indigent individuals in acute need of dental services to access free services on case by case basis. |
Long-Term Goal:
Hancock County area full service, nonprofit dental clinic with the mission of improving the access to dental care of low income citizens, with and without Medicaid, especially children. How will this be structured? While open to all possibilities, currently envisioned as a nonprofit, local voluntary organization supported by a coalition of local and state partners.
Funding will come from a combination of Medicaid reimbursement (more feasible since the recent fee increase), free for service (sliding scale), grants (local, state, and national), in kind support from the community (volunteers, benefits, materials, services and supplies), gifts, donations, city and state support, FAME, Federal student loan reimbursement, and support of coalition partners.
Hours would be structured (including evenings and Saturdays) to accommodate the needs of the "working poor" who often find it difficult to get time off from work to attend to the medical and dental needs of their families.
Part of the clinic's mission could be to provide the professional oversight and support needed to facilitate volunteer community efforts to extend preventive services to the community at sites such as schools, Headstart, the homeless shelter, health fairs, congregate living facilities and free clinic settings, etc!
After a thorough needs assessment and coalition building progresses, a volunteer lawyer is handling the application status and a board is being formed, representative of coalition partners and community interests, to supervise the ongoing operations and decision making. A core staff of a supervising dentist, an hygienist, a dental assistant and an office manager could be augmented by some part time office help and volunteers.
The clinic would provide an excellent training site for dental, hygienist and social work students. The students could expand the service volume potential of the clinic while working under supervision of their instructors and the permanent staff. Simultaneously, the students would gain invaluable knowledge, insight, concern and experience regarding the needs of and the challenges faced by frequently underserved and often overlooked members of the community.
As a nonprofit entity, it may be possible to secure substantial donations of office equipment, (two such opportunities have been missed by hours). One possibility for space may involve appealing to the city for a lot, H.O.M.E. for assistance in building a simple structure and local building supply companies and contractors for materials and construction help. Block grant funds may be available from the City of Ellsworth.
Ongoing and active coalition building is seen as a permanent facet of the project. Beyond the obvious and primary goal of providing desperately needed dental service, a futher goal, effect and outcome of this endeavor is to be a concrete expression of community solidarity, sprint and compassion within the Hancock County area. Efforts will be on going to involve communities of faith, parents' groups, schools, civic organizations, advocacy groups, fraternal organizations, civic-minded members of the business community, volunteers and local health organizations in the goal setting, planning, support, promotion and long term sustenance of the low income dental access clinic.
FUTURE PROJECTS
Emergency Dental Care
Screening for Headstart
Assisting with School Oral Health Programs
Community Oral Health Promotion Activites
• A Short History of the Involvement of the Ellsworth Free Clinic in the Dental Access Project
• Letter of Support/Personal Story
• Maine Department of Human Services: Fact Sheet - General Practice Dentists (1998)
Contact People: Nell Beer 667-6076
Marie Frazier 422-8910