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Rural Health Network unveils ‘Dental Office on Wheels’

By Dollie Gull

CATSKILL — A brand new dental van to provide services for school children in Greene and Columbia counties was surveyed here Thursday by members of the Greene County Rural Health Network.

Parked at the Greene Medical Arts Center in Jefferson Heights, members of the Network climbed aboard and were given a first hand look at the van which recently provided dental services in Greene and Columbia counties.

The “Dental Office on Wheels” visited Catskill Elementary School here on Tuesday. Dr. Lidia Wegielnik, the van’s dentist, reported that 145 children had been seen at two schools at which a “high percentage of the kids we’re seeing have cavities, and some have even needed extractions and root canal work which we perform” in the mobile dental office.

The van will travel to all six school districts in Greene County, as well as to health clinics and other sites,

The mobile dental office became a reality through a partnership which includes the Greene County Rural Health Network, Columbia Memorial Hospital and the Columbia County Community HealthCare Consortium.

Just this week, New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer reported that he will push for legislation to ensure “Upstate kids have access to quality dental programs.

Schumer noted that “children across Upstate New York suffer from serious lack of access to adequate dental care,” a fact with which members of the Greene Rural Network concur wholeheartedly.

“As health care costs skyrocket across the state, parents struggle to afford adequate health care for their kids,” said Schumer as he announced this week his support for the Deamonte Driver Dental Care Access Improvement Act of 2008 which will work to combat barriers to dental care by providing federal support to community health centers to expand dental services, offering tax credits to dentists that treat Medicaid, CHIP and uninsured patients while also giving grants to dental programs that offer additional training to dentistry students.

Wegielnik cited problems parents have in providing adequate dental care for their children due to their being “under-insured,” or because of lack of dental insurance.

“Many children do not have adequate access to dental care,” said Dr. Mario Catalano, a Greene County dentist and chairman of the Network’s Committee on Dental Health. While the dental van has been funded under the Columbia-Greene partnership, “the van itself is owned by the hospital and provides the dental service,” according to Network President Michael Gelfand.

Funding for the van, its equipment and supplies and its operational expenses are partially covered by the Rural Health Network and the Consortium.

“We project the van will provide complete dental services to nearly 2,000 people in Greene and Columbia counties per year for the next several years,” said Gelfand. He noted that the van is just a part of the dental health care effort underway by the Network which also provides a sealant program and dental health education program, all of which combined “will significantly help improve dental health in our county.”

After the dental van has visited Catskill, it will travel to the Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School District.

For more information about the program, contact Ron Rouse at 674-8465 or visit www.greenehealthnetwork.com

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