Greetings Family Promise volunteers,

Over the past few years working at Family Promise of Spokane, I have seen up close and personal the challenges of dental care for our homeless and formerly homeless adults.

I read this recently on the Medical Team International website:

"Right outside of our doors, families are battling the intense pain, complications, and socio-economic challenges that come with severe dental problems.

As untreated dental issues progress, many uninsured people with dental crises turn to emergency rooms for pain relief. ERs are not properly equipped to treat dental problems and is also costly for both patients and hospitals - approximately $765 per ER visit.

There is a shortage of dental providers in the Pacific NW, and the number of providers continues to decline.While in theory all Washington children are covered, there are many reasons why they may have trouble accessing it- poor transportation, parent unable to take time off work, etc."

That is why we were excited to partner this weekend with Medical Teams International with a grant from Empire Health Foundation to provide urgent dental care to our Family Promise families and other adults in the community.

We were featured on the Wake Up on KHQ last Saturday. You can watch the 2-minute segment here!



Here are the Dental Stats for Medical Team International’s Visit on May 12-14

 
28 – Total individuals seen during the 3 days
 
24 – Individuals seen by dentist
  5 – Return visits for more work in following days (needing more care)
  8 –  Individuals who had teeth cleaning by hygienist
 
37 – Session visits total
 
 
9 – Individuals seen were current or former Family Promise Family
13 – Session visits total
 

It was humbling and awesome to have the opportunity to not only care for our Family Promise families but to also help the community as well. Some hadn't been to the dentist in 15-20 years, and others were in so much pain and were so appreciative of this opportunity to have free dental care. One lady teared up thanking me for this opportunity to have her teeth cleaned and pulled.  We hope this is not the last time we will have the Dental Van visit Spokane.



THANKS TO VALLEY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL!

We can't say thanks enough for the students from Valley Christian School for their work this morning at our Day Center. So helpful. You can see from the before and after pictures how helpful these students were and we are in beyond grateful. They also got a tour of the Dental Van and our Day Center.  



And of course, we couldn't send them home empty handed. Each student received a Spokane Alphabet poster. Again, thank you, Valley Christian!!! We are grateful!!!





Thank you again,

Steve Allen