Previous Story
235 sign up for SDA’s Clinic with a Heart
|
Posted on Jun 12 2011
As early as 1am, community members wanting to avail of free dental services gathered outside the Saipan Seventh-Day Adventist Clinic for its fourth annual Clinic with a Heart yesterday.
Clinic with a Heart happens around late May or early June and allows those who do not have insurance and Medicaid to receive free dental services.
“Our first patient, Rowena Dimalanta, was already outside the office at 1am to line up and start a sign-up sheet that gathered 235 names,” dental hygienist Lori Serna told reporters.
Serna said they opened the clinic around 6am to provide dental services that include tooth extractions and fillings. “I hate to turn people away but the need was so great,” she added.
The dental services, Serna said, were provided by dentists Kenneth Pierson, Crystal Edmister, William Shearer, Carita Berglund, Sarah-Jane Harebottle Shearer, and dental hygienists Maria Agulto, Stacy Stroup, and herself. They were joined by 12 other staff volunteers.
Pierson, who is also the clinic director, said they provided a total of 100 patients free dental treatment worth $26,000. They also gave 42 free dental treatment vouchers to be used by those who were not accommodated at yesterday’s event.
Serna hopes that other dental clinics on island will also provide free dental services at least once a year. “We really want to encourage other dental clinics to do the same thing because there is a great need for it. That’s what happened in Guam. Our clinic started it and other dental clinics followed suit,” she said.
