As recently as the summer of 2000, Nashua residents who couldn?t afford dental care sought comfort from one of two emergency rooms in the city. There they received antibiotics and pain medication, but never any follow up. Since October of that year though, the poor and working poor have received better care thanks to the nonprofit Greater Nashua Dental Connection. But the days of the connection may be numbered. In the first of 2 parts on the public health organization NHPR?s Dan Gorenstein looks at what service the Connection provides.
As recently as the summer of 2000, Nashua residents who couldn?t afford dental care sought comfort from one of two emergency rooms in the city. There they received antibiotics and pain medication, but never any follow up. Since October of that year though, the poor and working poor have received better care thanks to the nonprofit Greater Nashua Dental Connection. But the days of the connection may be numbered. In the first of 2 parts on the public health organization NHPR?s Dan Gorenstein looks at what service the Connection provides.
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The mission of the Greater Nashua Dental Connection is to improve access for affordable dental care for individuals and families who qualify for services.
Executive Director Kim Anastasiou is reading the Connection?s mission statement. It?s framed on the wall next to the receptionist at their office on the corner of Cross and Lock in Nashua.
After 5 years of talking, a group of dentists and community activists put up their own meoney to achieve that mission.
What their money bought them was a three-chair site, that to date, has served 1300 patients many who return for on-going treatment. But not everyone can be a client at the Connection. An adult must live within the Nashua area, be referred by one of 12 social service agencies that work with the clinic, and be 200% below the poverty line.
And because the Connection is seeing those who rarely, if ever, receive dental care, dentists like Board member and volunteer dentist Elliot Paisner see some pretty grim cases.
10:38 decay, just cavaties, teeth that are rotting away, broken teeth, infected teeth and gums, sometimes loose teeth, teeth that need to be removed, b/c they are beyond repair. There is an overabundance of that.
5:50 I couldn?t eat, I couldn?t sleep. It was terrible, and there was nothing I could do, or no place I could go.
Cheryl Ann didn?t want her last name used. She had unsuccessfully tried to find a dentist willing to accept monthly installments before. Her social worker sent her on to the Connection.
Board member Donnalee Lozeau can relate the Cheryl Ann?s discomfort.
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1:07 Everybody knows what it?s like to take that bite of ice cream and go through the roof. If people can relate that one problem that they have had maybe once, and they got fixed, to somebody that has to do it everyday.
Cheryl Ann
4:27 when I first came in, two teeth were rotting out of my mouth. They had to pull them, there was no way to save them.
In their first six months dentists at the Connection pulled some 250 teeth. The average private practice pulls that number in two years. Connection hygienist and Outreach Coordinator Terry Miller says it?s a business they don?t like.
:40 we prefer to save teeth if we can?And will offer these patients a referral out to an endodontist, someone who specializes in root canals?but most of these patients can?t afford it, and Medicaid won?t pay for it, so?if they don?t have the money, then that?s the only option, extraction.
And while that beats being in severe pain, a smile marked with holes has it?s own problems. Again Volunteer dentist Elliot Paisner.
4:50 People who are having a hard time getting back into the workforce, they want to go for an interview, if they have a horrible smile, it is difficult to go in with confidence. If we can give them a smile, we might be able to give them a job.
Five fillings and two extractions later, Cheryl Ann proudly describes her teeth as healthy.
11:21 I feel better about myself, I feel a lot cleaner, and I am not worried about all my teeth falling out, having to be pulled. It?s important for jobs, nobody is going to hire you if you have no teeth. That?s your livelihood.
Cheryl Ann has been hired to arrange bouquets at a local florist.
The Connection?s policy calls for a $25 dollar minimum monthly payment. As long as some payment effort is made, care will continue.
But last fiscal year, the Connection wrote off $12 thousand dollars in unpaid bills. They figure treating unhealthy teeth is the priority. That won?t happen without its $350,000 dollar annual budget.
In it?s short two-year history, the Connection has never started the year with sufficient funding. In 2001, the Nashua-based St. Joseph?s Hospital bailed it out with $125 thousand dollars. Now, the clinic needs about $150 thousand. Executive Director Kim Anastasiou says 95% of her time is spent wondering where the next check is coming from.
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:58 I am constantly thinking about what the next grant we can be writing. There are no guarantees. In June, what are we going to do? We are hoping someone is going to come forward and say you don?t have to worry about that anymore. Just run the organization, do good things in the community.
The prospect of the Connection closing, scares Cheryl Ann.
2:30 I would be devastated. I have no place else. And these people are so nice, it would be awful. They aren?t going to close are they?
For NHPR News, I?m DG.
In Part 2 of our series on the Greater Nashua Dental Connection, NHPR?s Dan Gorenstein explores how the clinic gets funding, and why they are having such a hard time.
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