Essential Nonprofit Dental Services
Why Are These Clinics Essential:
People who experience homelessness often face daily struggles to find food or a place to sleep, making it extremely difficult to navigate the healthcare system and access quality care. "Without adequate housing, individuals are at greater risk of poor health outcomes, including complications of chronic illness and substance use disorders and mental, and behavioral health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Underrepresented populations in Multnomah County experience the deleterious consequences of homelessness at a disproportionate rate." Providing these health clinics helps to save the lives of those experiencing homelessness and hopefully helps to uplift them and help them transition out of homelessness.
Local Programs:
A local Portland program called Bridges Collaborative Care Clinic is a nonprofit student-run homeless clinic offering a multitude of healthcare services which somewhat recently expanded to include dental health. This clinic's volunteers consist of local students from Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon State University, and Portland State University. "Student volunteers identified dental services as a top need for Portland’s homeless community early on, while conducting a needs assessment prior to opening." Since then the Bridges Collaborative Care Clinic has been able to open multiple locations.
"The medical clinic is located in the lobby of The Clark Center Annex in inner Southeast Portland, just across from The Clark Center - a transitional housing shelter for clients of Bridges partner Transition Projects, which helps people transition out of homelessness." These clinics are essential to the homeless community they serve and provide real-world hands-on dentistry experience for the students running the clinic. Supporting local programs like these helps not only the houseless community who benefit from their services but additionally helps to train future healthcare workers and instill the importance of community outreach on behalf of the healthcare services.
https://news.ohsu.edu/2018/10/11/free-student-run-homeless-clinic-expanding-to-offer-dental-care
Find Upcoming Clinics:
https://www.medicalteams.org/emergency-dental-clinics/
How can you donate?
https://www.medicalteams.org/donations/
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