Wittenberg: Robins credit union honored for their support of Rehoboth’s volunteer dental clinic

The Rehoboth Life Care Ministries Inc., a ministry of the Rehoboth Baptist Association, held a ribbon cutting and a plaque presentation to Robins Federal Credit Union for their support to the volunteer dental clinic by granting the funds for the purchase of two dental chairs. It is noteworthy that the community grant is possible due to the contributions of Robins Federal Credit Union employees. They contributed $28,144.76 for this purpose.

A plaque recognizing and thanking Robins Federal Credit Union and its employees for their generousity was presented. The clinic also received another grant from the E.J. Grassman Trust for a third dental chair and a delivery unit. This enables the dental clinic the ability to see more patients and provide the highest quality of care with state of the art equipment.

Yesmin Wilson, executive director of the clinic, presented the plaque to Robins Federal Credit Union and thanked them for their support.

At the ribbon cutting, the Rev. Tim Millwood offered a prayer of thanks to God for the clinic and dedicating the facility to its work. He also thanked the credit union for its generous contributions.

The dental clinic also received two transportation grants so that patients that could not afford to keep their appointments are now eligible to receive a gas card to help them keep their dental care appointment.

One grant is from the MEDCEN Foundation and the other one from the WellCare Foundation. If a patient expresses the inability to keep their appointment due to lack of transportation services, the clinic will reimburse them with a gas card to purchase gasoline or pay for their taxi cab fare. Oral health affects overall health, and the clinic is doing what it can to improve the patient’s overall health status.

The clinic has provided dental care to nearly 600 clients so far this year. The MEDCEN Foundation has also provided a grant for dental hygiene services that will allow the clinic to see more indigent patients, at no cost to the patient, to help prevent disease and avoid cavities. The clinic is grateful to the agencies that have partnered with it so that the clinic can maximize its ability to care for those unable to afford dental care.

The clinic provides care to uninsured low-income individuals who cannot afford care. Through meeting their basic dental needs, the clinic intends to help “close the gap of inequity and disparity that affects those least able to muster the resources to achieve optimal health.” The goal is to provide a thorough oral health evaluation to each patient seeking dental services, to document a treatment plan prioritizing the level of treatment necessary to meet the patients’ immediate needs, and to institute a preventative care plan of dental hygiene to prevent future dental emergencies.

Patients pay a small fraction of the cost of treatment. For instance, an office visit may be valued at $300, but a patient with an annual household income of less than $10,000 a year pays at a 90 percent discount from the average cost of their services as if it was performed at a private dental office. For example, one dental extraction may cost between $21 and $28 depending on whether it was a simple or a surgical tooth extraction. Allowing patients to pay for the services rendered gives value to services provided and the patient is more likely to keep their appointment and take their oral health more seriously.

The clinic is a ministry of the Rehoboth Baptist Association through its care for life clinic program.

For additional information, go to www.careforlife clinic.com.

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Wittenberg: Robins credit union honored for their support of Rehoboth’s volunteer dental clinic ."