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Blodgett residents benefit from dental van visit

6/1/15, 6:35 PM

Blodgett residents benefit from dental van visit


JUNE 06, 2013 9:30 AM BY KATHI DOWNING, GAZETTE-TIMES
COLUMNIST

It was an exciting morning last Friday when the big


white van pulled into the parking lot of the
Blodgett Elementary School. The kindergartenthrough fourth-grade students were getting ready
for class when two large exotic-looking chairs
were transferred from the van into the comfortable
school library.
Then, two by two, every 25 minutes, participating
youngsters were escorted from their classrooms to
the library to take their seats in these oversized,
mechanized chairs. They were greeted by a
dedicated team of dentists and technicians who immediately went to work examining, cleaning
and in some cases sealing or filling the teeth of these lucky kids.
Cindy Hallett from the Benton County Health Services helped to organize this impressive
operation with the help of Strengthening Rural Families and Carol Adams of the Coast Range
Food Bank.
Last year, the dental van made its first foray into the western rural area of Benton County by
setting up for one day at the Summit Grange Hall. This year, when Cindy approached Carol
Adams for a repeat performance, Carol suggested bringing the dental van to the Blodgett
Elementary School instead, where it might be able to serve children as well as adults.
Carol contacted Blodgett Elementary School teacher Amber Eaton, who sent fliers home with
all of the school children, explaining the program and encouraging parents and other
community members to make an appointment.
This turned out to be a brilliant plan because this year the team was able to make contact with
more than twice as many people as it had last year.
Kevin Baldwin, DDS, along with his volunteer dental sta, worked tirelessly all morning on the
students teeth, rewarding each one with a goodie bag filled with essential dental items.
By lunchtime, they had seen all of the students who had signed up for the program a
whopping 20 out of the 36 children attending the school!
It was a great turnout, Blodgett school teacher Diane Priewe said. All of the kids were happy
about it. In fact, none of them complained about their dental treatment.
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Blodgett residents benefit from dental van visit

6/1/15, 6:35 PM

Diane mentioned that for some of the students, this was their first visit to a dentist.
After the morning rush, the two chairs were moved back into the van, and the practice was
open to the community.
During the afternoon, Daniel J. Poelman, DDS, and sta provided fillings, extractions and/or
cleanings to 16 adults.
One patient will be able to get a long-awaited hip replacement now that the requisite dental
treatments have been completed. As he put it, This was life-changing.
Paul McElroy, the pastor of the Blodgett Community Church next door, visited the van and
said, I appreciated the service. The volunteer sta was very friendly, and I enjoyed meeting
other members of the community whom I might not have met otherwise.
By the time the mobile dental unit moved out of the BES parking lot at 3 p.m., everyone
involved considered the day a huge success.
Thanks to grants from Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, which supports eorts to
address uninsured adults in dental pain and from Kaiser Permanente to provide outreach
services to select Benton County schools with at least 50 percent or more of the student body
eligible for free and/or reduced lunches, Benton County Health Services, Strengthening Rural
Families and Coast Range Food Bank were able to sponsor this event.
And thanks to Drs. Baldwin and Poelman, hygienist Lauren Sauvage and assistants from MidValley Dental Associates, our local citizens received dental services valued at $10, 501. It is an
amazing gift to our community.
Carol Adams of CRFB says she looks forward to another successful Blodgett Elementary Tooth
Fairy Day next year.

http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/blodgett-residents-benefit-frticle_6ae4d71e-ce76-11e2-8024-0019bb2963f4.html?print=true&cid=print

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