6/1/15, 6:35 PM
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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.
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