In 2020, as the COVID crisis spread across the Commonwealth, the Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation saw the need to help support organizations on the front lines of the pandemic. We proudly gave $700,000 to safety net clinics, those clinics that provide care to the uninsured and other vulnerable populations, and to non-profit organizations. Throughout the past year, these organizations have remained open despite the loss of staff and income. In addition, they have juggled all of the other curve balls thrown at them, including virtual learning, obtaining personal protective equipment and keeping their families safe.
We’ll be highlighting some of these organizations that rose to the challenge throughout the year to show how they’re using their funds to help our communities.
Gloucester Mathews Care Clinic
The Gloucester Mathews Care Clinic opened new clinics during the pandemic to serve more patients in need. The dental clinic was scheduled to open in March, right when the pandemic hit and closings began. They had to delay the opening until October of 2020, but they did it! Read their story.
Our dental clinic opened in 2014, but unfortunately, we had to suspend dental services at the end of 2017 due to an unanticipated and significant loss of funding. Our Board worked diligently to restore this critical service, and the community generously supported the effort. By the end of 2019, we were poised to reopen the Clinic in 2020 with volunteer dentists. We hired a Dental Assistant/Coordinator, and were days away from reopening the dental Clinic in March when the COVID outbreak began. We spent time researching and learning about safe dental practice with COVID considerations. We were finally able to re-open the dental clinic on October 6, 2020 to our first patients!
This funding from Delta Dental helped to offset the cost of dental supplies, the salary and benefits of our dental assistant, and additional costs of PPE and sanitizing supplies due to COVID. One of our “success stories” is of a male patient who lost his job and health insurance last July due to the pandemic. When he broke one of his front teeth, he didn’t have the means to see a dentist, so he used superglue to put the tooth back together. He became our patient in August, and when our dental clinic opened in October, Dr. Harris reconstructed and smoothed his broken tooth. The patient described it as “the best dental experience I’ve had in years.” He has two cavities that need to be addressed, and he said he is actually looking forward to returning for treatment!
-Arlene Armentor, Executive Director
The Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation is proud to support local organizations that are making an impact on the most critical oral health needs in our communities. Learn more about our Foundation.