Mission of Mercy- M.O.M.

Remember to brush

This past weekend my hygienist friend Lynn and I participated again in Wisconsin's free dental clinic.  WDA- Wisconsin's Dental Association is responsible for the Mission of Mercy which began in La Crosse and each year goes to another city. (this year in Green Bay and previous years in Lake Geneva, Madison, Wausau, Sheboygan, and La Crosse)   I have been fortunate enough to have been able to volunteer interpret at all six and Lynn's only missed one. 

 Each of the 2 clinic days lines  of patients grew longer for those awaiting doors to open at Green Bay's KI convention center. Almost 2,000 patient visits resulting in almost $1.5 million dollars of care in the mash like set up set up clinic. 

The patient numbers served were a bit lower than last year's clinic in Lake Geneva but this had nothing to do with need. This lower number unfortunately was due to social services not being contacted ( yeah oops) so the first day the lower numbers of patients just insured those present more services. You see each patient goes through triage upon arrival. This means their dental needs are assessed.  As each need in order of importance is serviced, the patient restarts

the process waiting in another waiting area- cleaning, fillings, extractions, etc... It's amazing how smoothly it all works.


At 12:30pm on Saturday all the appointment spots had been filled and there were still patients being seen past 5 pm unlike previous years. 

No questions are asked regarding need. If they are there, they obviously have a need. There are the employed/ unemployed, some w/wo insurance and some patients who have never seen a dentist.  

Dental care instruction is provided in the process and each patient goes home with a tooth brush, tooth paste and floss. 

All this happens due to donations of time and supplies. Some 

  1200 volunteers enable this all to happen. Besides dental professionals giving of their time, dental students come in on busses to gain experience and help. There are shifts of volunteers doing everything from escorting patients to picking up to the feeding of volunteers.

And in the patient's exit survey the question relating to their happiness on a scale of 1 to 5( 5 being the highest) the number 5 is  accompanied by stories, the patients are so appreciative. There are tears of joys and heartfelt hugs for being able to leave with a cleaner mouth... 

Next year's M.O.M. is already in the planning. Thanks to all the big hearts and I hope that one day all dental needs can be met every day of the year... 

Some of our Saturday interpreters, we were kept very busy...