Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Free dental clinic coming to Hartford after all

  • Health
  • by Arielle Levin Becker and CTMirror Contributor
  • January 29, 2014
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"
A picture of a row of patients receiving dental care at last year's Mission of Mercy free dental clinic in Bridgeport.

Arielle Levin Becker / CT Mirror

More than 1,700 people received free dental care at last year's Connecticut Mission of Mercy clinic in Bridgeport.

Although it seemed unlikely months ago, the Connecticut Mission of Mercy free dental clinic is coming to Hartford this spring, with plans to provide free care to more than 2,200 people.

Organizers had tried in the past to hold a clinic in Hartford but couldn’t find a venue they could afford. But after news coverage and intervention from city officials and a U.S. senator, clinic organizers reached an agreement with the publicly owned XL Center to rent the facility at a discounted rate.

“This will be our biggest clinic,” said Dr. Bruce Tandy, co-chairman of the annual two-day clinic. It will be held April 25 and 26.

The clinic has dual purposes: Providing treatment and showcasing the need for better access to dental care in Connecticut. Many of the clinic’s patients wait in line overnight for free care, providing a striking visual image of need in what is by some measures the richest state in the nation.

Because of that, organizers had hoped to hold a clinic in Hartford, where it would be visible to lawmakers and accessible to people in a city with a high rate of uninsured residents.

But while they had been able to find venues for past clinics in Tolland, New Haven, Middletown, Waterbury, Danbury and Bridgeport, clinic organizers were not optimistic about reaching a deal with either of the Hartford facilities they considered suitable, the XL Center and the Connecticut Convention Center. Terryl Mitchell Smith, a spokeswoman for the Capital Region Development Authority, which oversees both facilities, said last year that there wasn’t a way to waive costs for particular groups.

A particular stumbling block was food. Typically, local restaurants and chains donate much of the food for the clinic’s more than 1,500 volunteers. Groups including the Red Cross also provide food and drinks to people waiting in line. But Tandy said the clinic would have been unable to bring outside food into the convention center, which has its own catering contract. He said holding the event there would have required paying around $150,000.

The Mirror reported on the situation last June. Shortly after, the Hartford mayor’s office got involved. A representative from U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy’s office was also involved in talks about the venue.

The result: The clinic will rent the XL center at a discounted rate, paying about a third of what they originally had been quoted for the convention center, Tandy said.

“We did what we could do,” Smith, the Capital Region Development Authority’s director of marketing and public relations, said Wednesday.

Although the authority doesn’t have a policy for waiving costs, she said it worked with the city to arrange for the clinic. “You take it case by case,” she said. “They are paying for it. It’s just at a discounted rate.”

Tandy said the clinic will be able to bring in donated food and has also received what he called a “terrific proposal” from the XL Center’s caterer for some of the food and drinks.

Patients will be able to park free at the city-owned Morgan Street Garage, Tandy said, and the Hilton Hartford is making rooms available at discounted prices for volunteers who stay overnight.

This year’s clinic will have about 136 dental chairs, Tandy said, including 10 dedicated for pregnant women, who research suggests often don’t get the oral health care they need.

Organizers are considering making Hartford the clinic’s home base, holding it there every two years and holding it in different parts of the state during the other years.

The clinic falls during the legislative session, and Tandy hopes lawmakers will visit. The dentists who staff the clinic say every year that their real goal is for the Mission of Mercy to be unnecessary.

“We’re not a solution to the problem,” Tandy said. “This is a charitable dental event that tries to help those who need our help and want our help within the context of what we can actually provide. So if you see that there’s a problem, and you want to help these people in another way, there’s ways within the system to do that.”

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arielle Levin Becker Arielle Levin Becker covers health care for The Connecticut Mirror. She previously worked for The Hartford Courant, most recently as its health reporter, and has also covered small towns, courts and education in Connecticut and New Jersey. She was a finalist in 2009 for the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists and a recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the National Health Journalism Fellowship. She is a graduate of Yale University.

CTMirror Contributor

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Biden moves to overturn Trump birth control rules
by Julie Rovner | Kaiser Health News

The Biden administration has formally proposed the repeal of Trump-era regulations barring abortion referrals.

New Britain residents weren’t getting vaccinated. So city officials got creative.
by Dave Altimari

The city's efforts are a microcosm of what is happening across the country as officials struggle to vaccinate vulnerable residents.

Can independent primary care doctors survive dominance of hospital health systems?
by Peggy McCarthy | C-HIT.ORG

hospital systems and private businesses are increasingly buying private medical practices and taking over their business operations.

Nearly three quarters of eligible CT residents expected to be vaccinated by end of April
by Jenna Carlesso

Since Thursday, 50,000 residents age 16 to 44 – the newest group granted access – received a first dose of the vaccine.

With demand for community health workers rising, so does need for sustainable funding
by Cara Rosner | C-HIT.ORG

New Haven Community Health Worker (CHW) Katia Astudillo helps dozens of her clients navigate the logistics of getting vaccinated and connects them with other health services. She even helps them find rental assistance. In and around New London, CHW Lizbeth Polo-Smith hands out flyers about COVID-19 safety and vaccinations at churches, laundromats, stores, warming centers […]

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion College students in Connecticut should be vaccinated now
by Dayna Vadala

If the state of Connecticut wants its institutions of higher learning to return to normal in the fall, it’s going to have to get shots into the arms of the students.

Opinion Connecticut, be a International leader against hair discrimination among children
by Faith D. Crittenden, Jade A. Anderson, MD, and Whitney L. Stuard

On March 1, 2020, Connecticut became the eighth state to pass the Crown Act, a national legislative movement that recognizes natural hair and cultural headwear discrimination as a form of racial discrimination in the workplace. While we are  in strong support and advocate for this law, it is important to recognize the limitations of the Crown Act and how it can be improved upon in future policy.

Opinion Three lessons for schools across America from Secretary Cardona’s hometown
by Mark Benigni

Over the past decade, Meriden Public Schools -- where U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona served as assistant superintendent -- has become a unique laboratory for new ideas that push the boundaries of what is possible in public education. And many of those ideas have paid off.

Opinion A healthcare system too broken to fix
by Sosena Kedebe MD

On March 25, the White house announced that it was going to invest over $6 billion in health centers that are funded through the Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in order to expand COVID-19 vaccinations and other health services provided to vulnerable populations. As a chief medical officer for a health center that is strained to reach some of the most disenfranchised patient population in Hartford, this was great news. Yet there was a part of me that took the news with a deep concern. Why you might ask?

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO