Each year our missions are on regional television, radio, social media and newspapers. Dentists truly want to help the underserved and surveys show that dentists do help the underserved, although usually in a quiet manner. The dilemma with our profession is that the public and legislators do not hear about the goodness of dental professionals.
When we formed MOM-n-PA in 2012, our mission was to:
n Relieve pain and suffering due to dental disease for the underserved at an annual event in Pennsylvania,
n Educate patients on preventive measures, n Compile data on the dental needs of the underserved, n Educate policy makers
And although we focus on these four mission goals each year, the effects and the reach of the mission are so much more.
I would like to thank all of the chairs and department leads for the Reading mission. They all did a great job. As you can imagine, developing systems and protocols to treat up to 2,000 patients in two days takes a lot of planning and work. For the Reading mission we utilized 46 separate departments and we had 56 leads and chairs.
I especially want to thank the Berks County Dental Society, the Reading Mission Local Committee and our Co-Community Leads, Drs. John Reitz and Brian Schwab. Each year, the local community leads oversee local fundraising, local public relations and marketing, organizing the Friday night event for volunteers, hospitality, local donations-in-kind, parking arrangements and local volunteer recruitment, especially the recruitment of translators, nurses and volunteers to set-up and breakdown the clinic floor.
The statistics for each of our six missions are in the chart below. We are so very happy to report that as of today, MOM-n-PA has completed over 30,000 procedures on 9,159 patients. The total value of dental care donated has been $ 5,122,841 and we have had 5,638 volunteers.
As happy as we are with these statistics, we are most proud of the quality of care we provide for the patients we are privileged to treat!
Our vision for the MOM-n-PA mission is to serve others and make a difference by:
n Treating all patients with dignity and respect and n Putting volunteers in a position to have a meaningful and fun experience.
The testimonials that we have received from patients show us that we are meeting our goals. Here are examples of the hundreds of comments we received in Reading.
“ A blessing! Thank you for everything.” – L. S.
“ Super great care. Everyone was professional. I really appreciate this! Without the free help, I’ d be
in trouble.” – Jason
“ I thank God for MOM because they gave me my smile back and
made me feel special!” – K. Lewis
LOCATION PATIENT VISITS VOLUNTEERS DONATED SERVICES
Philadelphia |
1,820 |
1,001 |
$ 850,000 |
Allentown |
2,047 |
1020 |
$ 1,004,179 |
Harrisburg |
1,705 |
976 |
$ |
875,905 |
Pittsburgh |
946 |
1,008 |
$ |
841,959 |
Erie |
736 |
706 |
$ |
600,798 |
Reading |
1,905 |
927 |
$ |
950,000 |
On behalf of the MOM-n-PA Board, I would once again like to thank all the sponsors and volunteers that made the Reading mission a huge success. Together we made a big difference in the lives of many underserved individuals!
Please join us next year in Wilkes-Barre on June 7 and 8th, 2019. And check out our updated website for information about our mission at www. mom-n-pa. com.
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2018 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL 21