LISLE, Ill., Dec. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Seven community service organizations throughout Illinois will begin the New Year on a positive note as recipients of grants from Delta Dental of Illinois.
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The seven grants, for a total of $62,400, are intended to help promote oral health education and access to care. DDIL makes grants three times a year; this round is the last for 2007.
The oral health grants are a key component of Delta Dental of Illinois' community benefit program. Part of Delta Dental of Illinois' mission is to improve the oral health of the communities it serves. As such, Delta Dental of Illinois supports organizations and projects that help improve oral health access or promote oral health education in the state.
Recipients of the Delta Dental of Illinois grants include:
-- The Infant Welfare Society of Chicago received a $7,500 grant to
support ongoing pediatric dentistry services for the Hispanic and
Polish immigrant communities on the Northwest side of Chicago. The
Infant Welfare Society successfully manages the challenges of the
target population by responding to the cultural and linguistic needs of
their patients and will provide 16,000 oral health visits in the
current fiscal year. The agency provides comprehensive oral health care
for children, including restorative and advanced pediatric dental care
often not available elsewhere.
-- Adams County Health Department -- Community Dental Clinic in Quincy
received a $10,000 grant to increase access to care. The clinic
provides a full array of dental services, including endodontic, oral
surgery, dentures and orthodontia, and expects to serve 9,000 eligible
adults and children.
-- DuPage County Health Department in Wheaton was granted $8,000 to fund
full-service dental care to low-income residents in the county who use
the mobile dentistry unit called the Smile Squad. The Smile Squad
provides exams, pulpotomies, crowns and extractions during visits to
schools, neighborhood resource centers and county health centers and
serves 200 patients each month in targeted areas of the county.
-- Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago received an $8,500 grant for
its Division of Dentistry to purchase additional intra-oral cameras.
These cameras will help both the dental patients and the pediatric
dental residents at the hospital. They will be used to allow patients
and parents to view dental problems as the dentist sees them. Working
together, the dentist and patient are better able to identify a problem
and eradicate it. The Division of Dentistry serves 450 patients a month
from throughout the Chicago area.
-- Walk in Ministry of Hope in Downers Grove was granted $8,400 to
establish an immediate needs fund for oral health issues and to
supplement this service with a well-established referral system to
social service agencies that can provide more direct help with specific
situations. The organization of volunteers provides immediate and long-
term assistance to the working poor, unemployed and homeless. The
ministry collaborates with local churches, businesses and other
non-profit community agencies. This grant will allow them to add oral
health support, as needed; to the 2,000 clients they serve annually.
-- St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center in Chicago received a grant
of $10,000 to serve the children of Englewood in a dental clinic that
opened in January of 2007. This is one of the neediest and least served
populations in the state. The clinic expects to serve 1,200 people in
this, its first year, and already has expanded its staff.
-- Alivio Medical Center in Chicago was granted $10,000 to assist with a
new bilingual, bicultural dental clinic committed to providing access
to quality, cost-effective dental care to the Latino community in the
Pilsen neighborhood. The patients who receive services at Alivio's
dental clinic have historically not received any type of healthcare due
to language and cultural barriers and little awareness of available
resources. An estimated 1,400 children will be served by the dental
clinic.
"Part of Delta Dental of Illinois' mission is to continually seek ways for residents of Illinois to have access to quality oral health care and education," said Robert Dennison, D.M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Delta Dental of Illinois. "Through our grant program we are able to assist a number of community-focused organizations in their missions to provide beneficial health programs for the entire state. We are honored to be part of this joint, positive endeavor."
Delta Dental of Illinois (DDIL) is a not-for-profit dental service corporation specializing in providing comprehensive, easy-to-use and cost-effective benefits to over one million employees and family members in more than 3,200 employee groups throughout Illinois. Based in Lisle, Ill., DDIL offers an array of extensive nationwide network-based managed fee-for-service, PPO and dental HMO plans.
Contact: Tim Woods
Director of Public Responsibility
630-724-4122
Twoods@deltadentalil.com
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