Dental Lotto! 1,000 Line Up By Dawn

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by Melinda Tuhus | Apr 17, 2009 2:26 pm

(14) Comments | Commenting has expired | E-mail the Author

errol%20wms%20open%20wide.JPG Errol Williams joined a crowd that started lining up on Sherman Parkway at 4 a.m. Friday — not to buy rock concert tickets, but to see a dentist.

Williams (pictured) was in pain from a broken tooth. He joined the line outside the New Haven Field House at 5:30 for a shot to become one of the lucky 1,000 or so people from all over the state who would get free dental care by the end of the day.

Williams, 20, is out of school and works just part-time, so he has no health insurance, and definitely no dental coverage. When he arrived in the cold before dawn at the Connecticut Mission of Mercy mobile clinic, he joined a long line of those who had come even earlier.

He was worried he might have come too late.

“There were more people than I anticipated,” he said, “but they gave out wrist bands and tickets, so then I felt like I would get in.” He described a “stage by stage” process of going from one table to another, giving information, then being triaged to have his need evaluated, then being sent on to one of the volunteer dentists to take care of him. He said people had been helpful and friendly.

“I’m looking to get a root canal,” Williams said, “but it [the broken tooth] is in the back and they might not be doing it on the back teeth today, so I might have to get it extracted.”

sue%20with%20bruce%20tandy.JPG Dr. Bruce Tandy (on the right in photo, consulting with a volunteer physician Suzanne Lagarde) practices in Vernon and Coventry. He’s president-elect of the Connecticut Dental Association and sits on the steering committee of CTMOM (Connecticut Mission of Mercy).

At 10:30 a.m. over 800 people had registered, and some were still in line.

“We’re going to be close to the 1,000 we were shooting for,” he said. Many of those waiting to be seen were young people who no longer qualified for dental care under the state’s HUSKY plan. “They don’t have any Medicaid oral health coverage, and that’s the population that’s probably most at risk now, especially with some of the proposed budget cuts that may be coming down the pike.”

The governor is looking to eliminate adult dental coverage for low-income residents, except for emergencies. (Click here for story on that.)

“Right now they don’t pay very much, and to eliminate it totally we feel is unjust,” Tandy said. “The piece that we’re really concerned with, on top of that, is the need for pre-authorization for any treatment that we do on the HUSKY kids.”

He noted that about 18 months ago the state settled a $20 million lawsuit to raise HUSKY fees to come close to covering costs, “so over the past six months we’ve increased the number of dentists who are participating in the HUSKY program from 190 to over 800, so the capacity in the system has increased significantly.”

dr%20james%20mendillo%20with%20enes%20demir.JPG Enes Demir, 14, of West Haven (pictured in chair) came to get his teeth cleaned and a cavity filled. Dr. James Mendillo of Branford is shown taking care of business.

Nancy Murray from East Haddam drove four young people, including two of her children, who either have adult HUSKY — “and no one takes adult HUSKY — or they can’t afford dental insurance at 21, working for $8 or $9 an hour,” she lamented. They arrived at the field house at 4:15 a.m.

“It was like a madhouse,” she said. “The line was around the corner of the building.”

She said they were “frozen to the cement” while waiting in line in the cold, but they decided it was a trip worth making. “There were volunteers who started handing out tickets around 4:45. They gave out a thousand tickets and people who came at 5 a.m. couldn’t get tickets.”

That turned out to be a miscount. Some people arriving as late as 9:30 a.m. did get tickets and were told they’d be seen.

group%20in%20dental%20chairs.JPG Almost 1,000 volunteers will be staffing the clinic on Friday and Saturday, treating up to 2,000 patients in more than 100 dental chairs.

Comments

posted by: Streever on April 17, 2009 3:40pm

Thank goodness for these people & their volunteering spirit. I went to this event—not as a volunteer but a recipient of care. It was well-organized, clear, and I never felt at a loss. There was always direction & a helpful person to take me to the next area.

I arrived at 4:30, and was 459th in line.

People continued to arrive—and get in—right up until about 5:45, when they shut down the line. Even then, they positioned 2 volunteers at the back, who let arrivals know that they were at capacity, but that the new arrivals could come back early tomorrow.

After a very long wait which was actually pleasent because I spent it talking to interesting people (and I was well-fed by the volunteers!) I was put into triage. I had come because I haven’t been to a dentist in 15 years. I have no dental insurance, and have had pain in my mouth lately—I was worried it was something serious & the idea of paying 1,000s out of pocket or giving up what I naively assumed would be 2 hours (closer to 8 than 2!) seemed like a good trade-off.

Triage was friendly & professional. They had some confusion in the way they saw people (the ordering) but the volunteers realized right away, acknowledged they’d gotten out of order, apologized, and then restructured it. It was really commendable: they were direct, apologetic, and fixed the situation immediately.

Triage quickly discovered I had no cavities at all—just bruxism—and sent me on for my first cleaning in 15 years. Again, direction was constant, helpful, & made the long wait seem fast. When they realized they had more people for cleaning then other issues, they re-directed staff, opening up a second cleaning station in just a few minutes.

Then they gave us all a short class on proper technique (Who knew: it’s better to brush gently. Excessively hard brushing contributes to gumline recession, which leads to dental pain) & put us through a short,painless exit process.

During the exit process they also counseled individuals who still had dental issues—or children, or who wanted to know how to see dentists in the future—finding inexpensive dental options in your area.

Paul Wessel’s Sustinet people were there, engaging us in lobbying efforts: they had individuals write hand-written letters urging Jodi Rell to not cut funding to health care.

I was extremely impressed with the event, & the very professional & friendly volunteers. Thank you!

posted by: iBlogWestHartford on April 17, 2009 4:03pm

There’s a bill before the legislature right now that would make sure all children (and adults) have the dental care they need when they need it.

No more hoping that some good souls will find the money to hold a free clinic in your community BEFORE the deep, untreated infection in your gums travels as far as your brain and threatens your life.

Learn more at: http://www.healthcare4every1.org/site/PageServer?pagename=learn_thesolution

posted by: Maddy in Litchfield County on April 17, 2009 4:09pm

Dr. Tandy is right! The Governor’s proposals would increase emergency dental visits to hospitals and drive up health costs for more serious problems by eliminating preventive care. The mouth cannot be separated from the rest of the body and should not be separated from the healthcare safety net! The Mission of Mercy volunteers do a great job. If the Governor’s proposals go through, they will have multiples by the thousands waiting in line next year.

posted by: Streever on April 17, 2009 4:50pm

I wasn’t going to comment on Rell’s latest foolishness but why not.

France has a much better health care system (in terms of quality of care & success rate of treatment), which also costs less than ours. It focuses on prevention.

People, when you deny preventative care, people just wait till it’s unbearable and then go to the ER and it costs YOU AND I 2 to 50 times as much as prevention would have cost. That’s per person.

We gotta get this together.

posted by: Paul Wessel on April 17, 2009 5:01pm

Streever: I’m glad it was only bruxism (a new word to me, thanks for that). And thanks for noting the organizers from Connecticut Parent Power who were there. Here’s what one of them reported:

“We went there this morning at about 4:30 am. The line was so long that I never actually did see the end of it. The people waiting for care were from all areas of the state, all races and all ages. There was a woman standing in line for 3 hours on a broken ankle. There was an elderly woman who stood in line for hours while two other women helped to support her. There were parents with infants and young children. Some of the people were employed, some were unemployed, others were retired. It was a microcosm of the health care crisis. What a terrible thing to see in one of the richest countries in the world: people standing for hours, some even throughout the night, for the chance to get free dental care.

It was also a good opportunity to talk with people about the SustiNet bill and have them write letters to their senators in support of the bill while they stood out in the cold for hours. People were very receptive and their emotions were raw so the letters were very heartfelt.

Tomorrow there will be another line and another opportunity to speak with people caught in the health care crisis. I urge you to come out. All you need is paper, pens and clipboards. Not only is it a great opportunity to help the Campaign but a personally moving experience as well.”

I’m joining them back out there tomorrow morning at 4:30 am to see if we can collect another 50 lettters to our state senators. It’s a pretty sad state of affairs. Fortunately, while residents of the richest country in the world (can we still make that claim?) are waiting on line for their charity dental care, they can speak out.

posted by: anon on April 17, 2009 5:08pm

This was a really fabulous event. Thank you to Streever and Melinda for the in-depth coverage! A lot of companies were missing staff today - they were waiting in line!

These days, even full time, middle class people can’t afford dental insurance and/or copays and/or $5000 deductibles on their plans.

And we all still hate the French?

posted by: kevin on April 17, 2009 5:43pm

Streever

I am really glad that you took advantage of the clinic today. It seems, from all accounts, well run—and certainly needed.

As someone in the medical field, I have to tell you, 15 years is way too long to go without a dental cleaning (as I’m sure you know). It is recommended every 6 months, which is impossible for many.

My dentist charges $80 for a cleaning (a little less if needed). Even if you went every two years or so, that would be better. I think you were quite lucky that you didn’t have any cavities (good for you for taking good care of your teeth).

But really… don’t wait 15 years.

posted by: tom on April 18, 2009 6:24am

hmmm, there were alot of nice cars in the parking lot, and parked around the building. I dont think all the cars belonged to the people helping out. I sure did see some people smoking, hmmm, $5 a pack per day = $1825.00 a year. shut up and pay your bills.

posted by: Paul Wessel on April 18, 2009 10:32am

Kevin makes a good point: You want to protect this smile: http://tinyurl.com/streeversmile. (BTW, Streever’s the one on the right.)

posted by: Paul Wessel on April 18, 2009 10:33am

I’ll get the hang of this some day: Hopefully this link will work:
http://tinyurl.com/streeversmile

posted by: Ben Ross on April 19, 2009 5:45pm

Seems many people like the idea of access to health care. Which citizens can create and retain their privileged positions separate from the populous. The wealth of our community can be adjusted to serve us all…..this dental clinic is a good example. No more stupid weapons….Some fair and thoughtful use of the existing wealth.

posted by: fedupwithliberals on April 20, 2009 5:27am

Well put comrade Ross! Sort of sounds like this… “each according to his needs, each according to his means”. Gee, I wonder who said that?

posted by: nfjanette on April 20, 2009 4:41pm

Well put comrade Ross! Sort of sounds like this… “each according to his needs, each according to his means”. Gee, I wonder who said that?

The second part is a direct biblical reference regarding the obligation to bring an offering for the three biblical agrarian festivals (Pesach/Passover, Shavu’oth, Sukkoth):

“Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you” (Deut. 16:17)

posted by: fedupwithliberals on April 20, 2009 9:28pm

NFJANETTE

“Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you”

So now it’s okay to mix church and state? I’m sure you’re on board with the rest of it. How about banning abortion and gay marriage? That’s in the book too! Maybe reinstate school prayer?