http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120423/NEWS02/704239961/
Published April 23, 2012 in the Rutland Herald
Springfield students get free dental checkups
By Christian Avard
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — Free dental care is now available to students in the Springfield School District, according to Superintendent of Schools Frank Perotti.
Students at the Union Street School were treated to free cleanings, fillings and other treatments last week, thanks to a grant from Ronald McDonald House Charities of Vermont and Springfield Hospital federal funding. According to Perotti, Springfield is the first southern Vermont school district to take part in the Ronald McDonald House Charities program.
“It’s free full-service dental work,” he said. “It’s a traveling mobile unit that comes once or twice a month for two to three days. Right now they are at Union Street but they will soon go to Elm Hill Primary School and possibly Riverside Middle School or the high school. It’s an awesome program.”
Perotti said it was a stroke of luck that made the program possible. A representative from Ronald McDonald Charities in Burlington called Perotti and Springfield Hospital.
Perotti said Ronald McDonald Charities was looking to expand its programs in southern Vermont and the district and the hospital accepted the offer.
“We were working with Springfield Hospital to establish health clinics in middle school and high school. That fell on hard times because the hospital needed grant money for reconditioning and rebuilding work and that has been on hold. So when they said they could do this with the mobile unit, we jumped on it,” Perotti said.
School district and Springfield Hospital officials met with Ronald McDonald House Charities representatives and they set up the program within a matter of months.
Perotti said many students do not have a family dentist and will use the program.
“Most of our children depend on Medicaid to help them and very few dentists will take Medicaid patients, so they essentially go without the necessary care,” he said. “We need kids ready for school ... and with this dental program and Dr. Dynosaur, we should be able to cover a lot of our bases for kids. They’ll be healthy, they’ll be ready, and they won’t have to worry about bad teeth.”
The mobile unit is a 40-foot, 26,000-pound traveling dental clinic donated by Ronald McDonald House Charities. The mobile unit that appeared at the Union Elementary School consisted of two dental offices, a laboratory and a waiting area for patients. The mobile unit staffs up to five employees and only needs a 220-volt hookup and access to water in order to operate.
The school district plans to send notices to students and parents through the mail about the new dental program. School nurses are also acting as conduits and they can answer any questions about the program.
“When we think about the kids in our schools and how many have regular dental appointments, it’s really very few. Our free reduced lunch group has climbed into 60 percent of the school district’s population. I suspect all of those kids were vulnerable to not having good dental health care. I think it could potentially help an awful lot of kids,” Perotti said.
The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Burlington is a temporary home for families with children receiving treatment at Vermont Children’s Hospital at the Fletcher Allen Health Care Facility of Burlington. Springfield Hospital is a critical access hospital serving the greater Springfield area.
You know a town has reached a new low when it becomes a beneficiary of Ronald McDonald House Charities! Send in the missionaries! And the bureaucrats all take their bows for having fostered even greater dependency. Now smile and say cheese!
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