Smile!

To the point:

I am raising money to pay for dental treatment and transportation to dental providers for some of our community's newest neighbors, including refugees and humanitarian parolees who are still figuring out their immigration situation. There are currently two families with nearly 20 family members, many of whom have complex dental dilemmas not covered by Medicaid and no realistic way to obtain the necessary treatment on their own. Three local dental providers have committed to undertaking this colossal endeavor and are providing their services completely pro-bono. Money from this fundraiser will cover the cost of procedures that cannot be done or made in-house (caps/crowns, and dentures.) An outside lab has negotiated a very reasonable at-cost price and any extra funds collected will be put towards metro fare/transportation or other incidentals and unforeseen costs that arise in the process of facilitating the dental care for these newly arrived immigrants.

To the heart:

If you have a moment, I'd like to share how this all came together. Some details are omitted for brevity, names have been changed for privacy.

Earlier this year, I met two new neighbors from Afghanistan with complex dental issues and no insurance at the time. People in this situation often have little option but to go to the closest ER when the pain becomes unbearable. Not ideal. I exhausted various avenues to identify dental providers who could and would help. I specifically needed to find a dentist who could speak Persian (Farsi/Dari) and would also be willing to provide what I knew would likely be very expensive dental services...pro bono or super-low bono. It couldn't hurt to ask, right?

My original aim was to find out what treatments they needed and then ask various providers for one service at a time to spread the burden and reduce the cost to any one provider. Along the way, I met some great providers, and I want to give a special shout-out to MCC https://www.mccclinic.org/, which is doing amazing things for our community members in need. Around the same time, I went to my own routine dental appointment. As Leeanne, the hygienist, was finishing up, I asked if she knew of a dentist who fit the bill and may be willing to help. It was a long shot but with her encouragement, I wrote a little note along with my contact information and she said she would give it to the owner of the practice. Fast forward... It just so happened that one of the owners of my general dentistry practice is a periodontist with her own separate practice. (Oh, and she speaks Farsi and has a heart of absolute gold!)

Fast forward again...I was finally able to meet her when I brought one of the young men to her for a tooth extraction. While the young man was having his x-rays taken, she sat with me and listened patiently as I explained the curious details of the situation. I told her of all the providers I had already called and those that I'd already taken them to, as well as the upcoming appointments I'd made for them with hope but also with uncertainty as to whether the appointments would result in their needs being met. She assured me that she would thoroughly assess/diagnose the young man I'd brought that day. She said that any of the necessary treatments she could complete herself, she would, that same day! Afterward, she said that she would do her best to help me find an endodontist who would be able to help with the complex root canal retreatments that the young man needed. She would take care of the implant, no biggie... The following week, I received a voicemail from her asking if I'd "let" her take over the dental care of the two young men as well as the dental care of ALL their additional family members!

Fast forward a few weeks more. One by one, Dr. Amazing (I don't want to break her internet without her permission) has now examined and treated 13 of our new neighbors and there are another 4 in the queue. One by one, as needed, she has referred them to an incredibly generous endodontist that I'll call Dr. Wonderful, who has treated/retreated all of the complicated root canals. Dr. Amazing also connected the family members to Dr. Marvelous, a kind and very talented general dentist, for all their complicated dentistry needs including cleanings, fillings, crowns/caps, dentures, etc.

Dr. Amazing, Dr. Wonderful and Dr. Marvelous along with their phenomenal office staff Maria, Rita, Stephanie, Luisa and Maria and Shanae, among others, are providing ALL of the periodontic, endodontic, general dentistry services (not to mention all the time it takes to schedule all of this for every member of these two large families) completely pro bono. Talk about being the change, walking the walk, creating a stronger Community... This is what the hard work of that looks like!

Please share this story with others who need a pick-me-up or a break from the current news cycle. There are amazing, wonderful, marvelous things going on in our community right under our noses!