Dental clinic starts

By Erienne Greene / Journal staff writer

Hundreds of community volunteers gather in the auditorium of Hedgesville High School for a rally held in preparation for this today’s Mission of Mercy Healthy Smiles project. (Journal photo by Erienne Greene)

HEDGESVILLE - More than 800 volunteers donning colorful T-shirts scrambled throughout Hedgesville High School Thursday evening, finalizing last-minute details in preparation for a two-day dental clinic that starts today.

The clinic, formed by the Mission of Mercy project, is an initiative of the Healthy Smiles Partnership that provides no-cost dental work performed by more than 60 dental professionals. The event is back again this year, due to the overwhelming response to last year's event.

While doors for the M.O.M. clinic do not open until 6 a.m. today, organizers expect to see hundreds of people waiting their turn for dental service long before dawn. The mission is to help anyone age 18 and older who cannot afford to see a dentist or who is uninsured or underinsured.

"We think that knowing what happened last year, people may show up even earlier this year, around midnight," said Vicki Shean, director of resource development at United Way of the Eastern Panhandle, during a press conference and volunteer rally Thursday evening.

Organizers and volunteers are prepared for an anticipated 1,200 patients arriving today and Saturday for the clinic.

Hundreds of individual dental spaces are set up, and signs are abundant throughout HHS's hallways. A children's care center is also set up for those bringing little ones with them.

In addition to information about the M.O.M. event, Jan Callen, executive director of United Way of the Eastern Panhandle, announced at the conference that plans are under way for completion of a permanent Healthy Smiles Community Oral Health Center, slated to open in January 2010.

The idea for such a center was inspired after officials saw the need of additional oral health care facilities in the Eastern Panhandle.

Dr. Dean Russell explained to the audience at the conference that funding for the Healthy Smiles Center is being provided by a combination of operating revenues, grant funding and local contributions, including those from Quad/Graphics, Allen Henry of Panhandle Builders, Mikki Van Wyk, Shorthand Valley Medical Systems and the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation.

A capital campaign also has begun in hopes of raising $300,000 over the next three years for the expansion of the facility.

"We hope that the volunteers from this weekend will be so affected emotionally by their positive experience helping here, that they'll go home and tell their neighbors, their friends and their family about this and build a community-wide network of supporters for the free clinic," said Mary Clare Eros, chairman of the community center's capital campaign.

New to this year's clinic will be more routine health screenings for sight and hearing, which are being sponsored by the Martinsburg Lions Club.

Dr. Lisa Dunn, of the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center Eastern Division, said that while patients wait for their turn in the dentist's chair, they also will be able to get their eyes and ears checked at no charge - without losing their place in line.

"In many instances, people who have never received dental care have probably never received these types of screenings either," she said.

Also at Thursday's rally was Berkeley Spring resident Vickie Bechtol, a volunteer for the first time.

"I'm a massage therapist so I'll be helping out by massaging other volunteers throughout the day," she said. "A friend of mine had approached me with the idea, and I just thought it was great. I like to volunteer for anything with a good purpose and with so many people out of work this year, this clinic is really needed."

Callen said that this year's free dental clinic has an underlying special significance, as it is being dedicated to three community members who recently passed away: Dr. Matthew Mathias, Dr. Bernie Hutzler and Katherine Sharp.

What really brought on the idea for a dedication was the death of Katherine, because we saw that she was signed up again this year to volunteer for the clinic," he said. "These three people touched us in some way or another, and we just thought 'How could we not mention them this year?'"

Even with the large volume of patients expected at the clinic, Callen said he doesn't find the whole community service project to be as daunting of a task as one might think.

"I was always comfortable with doing this, because I was quietly confident that everyone involved could pull this off and they did - and we will again."

- Staff writer Erienne Greene can be reached at (304) 263-8931, ext. 183, or egreene@journal-news.net