Spotlight on Dental Volunteerism
Scranton District Dental Society
The Scranton District Dental Society
(SDDS) continues a longstanding
tradition of providing valuable care to
the poor and uninsured of Lackawanna
County via a unique community partnership
that has endured for decades.
A large group of member dentists from
Scranton District volunteer their time and
services to the Jewish Family Services
(JFS) dental program. The structure of
program has evolved over time, but
everyone involved is proud of the
collaboration. At present, JFS screens
patients and those eligible receive
treatment in the offices of the volunteer
dentists.
“Up until the early 1990s, JFS provided
a fully equipped clinic for Scranton
dentists to volunteer their services on
Sunday mornings.
Since about 1991, I’m guessing it was
about then, we have treated them in our
own offices,” said Dr. Chuck Scrimalli,
immediate past president of SDDS.
“Presently our number of participating
dentists is around 25, although in the
past it’s been much higher.”
This community partnership began over
50 years ago and has provided hundreds
of thousands of dollars of in-kind dental
services to area residents. Just in the past
year alone, this resulted in nearly $50,000
of free services to the local community.
“We are recently seeing a recent revival in
the program’s success,” Dr. Scrimalli added.
Dr. Scrimalli estimated that collaboration
of the SDDS and JFS began in the late 50s,
spearheaded by Dr. Ben Shair, who had
been very active in their local community
as well as organized dentistry.
“Colette Jesikiewicz, Administrative
Services Coordinator for JFS, along with
Executive Director Sheila Abdo of JFS,
have been instrumental in our recent
success, as well as the generous services
of Fortis Institute’s Dental Hygiene and
Assistant Program, and our Scranton
Society’s awesome volunteer dentists,”
he said.
According to Colette Jeskiewicz, the
DentalCare Center has been operating
as part of JFS since 1920.
“I found out in 1974 it was called the
Jewish Federation Dental Clinic. In 1976
the agency changed the name to Jewish
Family Service of Lackawanna County and
eventually to Jewish Family Service of
Northeastern Pennsylvania,” Jeskiewicz
said. “There was a ‘special denture project’
with grant funding from United Way,
Community Development Fund in 1979.”
Members of the Scranton District Dental Society at a meeting
with members of Jewish Family Services.
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SE P T E M B E R/OC TOBER 2019 | P EN N S YLVA N IA D EN TA L J O UR N AL