MOM-n-PA’s Success Continues in 2019
As I shared last year, I am very proud of our volunteers and the
tremendous work they do on behalf of the underserved. This past
year we made several changes that resulted in an increase of:
n donated dental services,
n dental education,
n the number of legislators that came to the press conference,
n the number of radio and TV spots featuring our mission,
n and the number of Facebook and other social media posts
about the mission.
One of the other important changes to this year’s mission was
the addition of full dentures as a new service to the patients.
However, the most rewarding aspects of this mission are hard to
measure, but they make a difference deep within the souls of
those that volunteer and those that benefit from our mission. I’m
talking about the happiness and pride of our volunteers, the pride
of the local leadership and their communities and the amazing
response from patients about the way they were treated.
One patient that had several severe dental issues (abscesses,
fractured teeth, missing teeth) was unable to receive care at
home due to uncontrolled diabetes and dental anxiety. In fact,
when we first saw him in Medical Triage, we were not able to
treat him because of a very high blood glucose level. He was
obviously disappointed and stated that this is exactly what
happens to him every time he sees a dentist for care. We
counseled him and advised him to take his medication and
return in a couple of hours and that we would not make him
stand in line again. He did return and his blood glucose levels
were within normal limits so we were able to extract several teeth
and restore his fractured teeth. He was extremely happy and his
wife wrote us a note thanking us for “SAVING HIS LIFE.” And they
were so happy that this patient, his wife, his children and his
mother returned the next day with big smiles on their faces for
more dental care.
This is just one example of the hundreds of amazing testimonials
we received from happy and healthier patients in Wilkes-Barre.
I had so many volunteers come up to me and thank me and our
leaders for the opportunity to serve in this mission and that told
me that this was one of the most rewarding days of their lives!
Most of them told me that they cannot wait until next year to
volunteer in Philadelphia. Also, I would like to thank all the Chairs and Department Leads for
the Wilkes-Barre 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 this
mission we utilized 47 separate departments and we had 70
Leads and Chairs.
And I cannot say enough about the Northeastern Pennsylvania
(NEPA) leadership and the community. The local leadership, led
by Dr. Chris Kotchick and Dr. Rich Grossman proved that a few
people can make a big difference in the lives of many. Because of
them, hundreds of people are out of pain, are healthier and look
and feel better. Their local support was extremely important to
the success of the mission, and their leaders and members
should be as proud as I am of their efforts and the improvement
of their community. On behalf of the MOM-n-PA Board, I would once again like to
thank all the sponsors and volunteers that made the Wilkes-Barre
mission a huge success. Together we made a big difference in the
lives of many underserved individuals.
And like every year, our patients were grateful and extremely
positive about the care they received. The testimonials and the
personal notes and discussions I had with many patients reveal
that we are meeting our goals.
We are extremely proud of reaching the significant achievement
of treating our 10,000th patient since our mission started in 2013.
We wouldn’t have been able to reach this incredible milestone
without our sponsors, dedicated volunteers, and everyone else
who has helped throughout the years.
And of course, this mission would not be possible without the
awesome support of our sponsors! Our sponsors donated over
$250,000, not including gifts-in-kind. And with these donations
we were able to donate $1,196,306 in dental services. That’s right
– nearly $1.2 MILLION of dental care (a new record for us)!
Please join us next year in Philadelphia
on June 5 and 6, 2020. And check out our
updated website for information about our
mission at www.mom-n-pa.com .
SEP TEM BER/OC TOBER 2019 | P EN N SYLVAN IA DEN TAL JOURNAL
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