03.17.08

By NELSON MORAIS

Staff Writer

Greeneville Sun

The annual Free Dental and Visual Clinic held Saturday and Sunday at Trinity United Methodist Church's fellowship hall helped 186 low-income area residents.

Visual and dental services were free-of-charge for those who had qualified earlier and been given appointments for care during the clinic.

Richard Perdue, 52, had 22 of his teeth extracted in about an hour at the clinic on Saturday.

"They pulled all of my remain­ing teeth, top and bottom," Per­due said shortly after his den­tal work was completed.

"I'm very happy. I didn't have the money right now to do this, so I probably would not" have had what he called his "rot­ted" teeth removed so soon, he added.

Before his dental care on Sat­urday, "I didn't want to smile because of my bad teeth," said Perdue. He added that a friend would likely help him finan­cially to get false teeth.

     Before leaving, he shook hands with Betty Weemes, executive director of Laughlin Health Care Foundation. "I really appreciate it. Thank you very much," Perdue said to Weemes.

Dr. Craig Shepherd, of Tus­culum Dental Care, chaired the 2008 dental effort. He told a reporter on Saturday afternoon, ''It's going very, very well. In fact, we've had more dentists involved this year than ever in the past."

Visual Examinations

The community's eyecare professionals volunteered their time for the visual examinations. Those were completed in the offices of the ophthalmologists and optometrists in preparation for frame selection and fitting on Saturday at Trinity United Methodist Church.

Many dental offices, in addi­tion to seeing patients, provided x-rays for those seeking dental care during the clinic.

Both the visual and prima­ry dental care, which included cleanings, fillings and extrac­tions, were made available on a first-come basis to those who qualified as low-income.

Free Food Donated

Second Harvest Food Bank, of Gray, also donated a package of free food with other items.  Plus toothbrushes and paste was donated from Seneca.

The clinic was a joint effort by the Greene County Health Department, Laughlin Health Care Foundation, Knoxville­ based Remote Area Medical, area and out-of-town dental and visual professionals and hun­dreds of volunteers.

It was made possible by funds from the Blanche W Grady Com­munity Service Award Endow­ment, a fund within the Laugh­lin Health Care Foundation.

The Blanche W Grady Com­munity Service Award was established with the Laughlin Health Care Foundation in 1996 by The Scott Niswonger Family to honor Mr. Niswonger's mother, Sharon Niswonger, and to rec­ognize their good and faithful friend, Blanche Grady.

The clinic is one of the largest free health-care events in the community.

Several local restaurants sup­ported the program with food for the volunteers: Zaxby's, Fatz Café, Peggy Ann Bakery, Central Park, Pizza Inn, Brick Oven, the Food City bakery, Laughlin Memorial Hospital, McDonald’s, Professional Caterers, and Papa John’s.

In addition, several local area motels, Jameson Inn, Comfort Inn, and Hampton Inn, supported the program with overnight accommodations for the volunteers who were at the clinic representing Remote Area Medical, a Knoxville-based health care team that travels throughout the world providing free care.

Drs. Brad Emde and Shelly Shaw of East View Eye Care served as co-chairs of this year’s visual program.

Jackie Neas, RN, of the Greene County Health Department, and Weemes expressed gratitude to Trinity Church’s congregation for use of its fellowship hall by the Dental and Visual Clinic.

35 Professionals Assisted

     Thirty-five health-care professionals volunteered their time for the clinic.  They were:

Dr. Andrew K. Armbrister, Dr. Amy Armstrong, Dr. Dan Bottomley, Dr. Maria Bryan, Dr. Chris Bullington, Dr. Jeffery Clark, Dr. David Dykes, Dr. Randall Ford, Dr. Kevin G. Hartman, Dr. Ben Haws, Dr. David Jones, Dr. Nathaniel Renner, Dr. Jon Rogers, and Dr. Michael J. Rogers.

Also, Dr. Craig Shepherd, Dr. Brian D. Smith, Dr. James R. Williams, Dr. Ben Birdwell, Dr. T.R. Patel, Dr. Beth Forgey, and Dr. Fernando Ochoa.

Also, Dr. Dale Brown, Jr., Dr. Thomas Brown, Dr. John Clement, and Dr. Luke L. Ellenburg, Jr., Dr. Bradford M. Emde, Dr. Dale J. Grant, Dr. Robert A. Helm, Dr. Kristen Pumphrey, Dr. Shelly Shaw, Dr. William J. Smead, Dr. Laura L. Urban, Drs. Pete and Marietta T. Vestal, and Dr. Allen Yandell.

Total # of volunteers                              106

Total # of volunteer hours                      717

TOTAL NUMBER OF PATIENTS SEEN SATURDAY/SUNDAY       186    

Dental:                    83 patients   (302 different procedures) valued at $45,225.00

Vision:                     103 exams and glasses valued at $15,450.00

X-Rays:                   65 patients at $5300.

Total value of services:  $66,000.00.

This dollar amount does not include qualified patients who will be seen at local dental offices in the coming months.

Approximately $5,000 worth of donated food from Second Harvest Food Bank was distributed to qualified participants.