[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_image _id=”4″ ][/cs_element_column][cs_element_column _id=”5″ ][cs_element_image _id=”6″ ][/cs_element_column][/cs_element_row][cs_element_row _id=”7″ ][cs_element_column _id=”8″ ][cs_text]
Rotary Club of Springfield President Tamera Jahnke and Past-President Dwayne Fulk, with Betsy Fogle, Jordan Valley director of Program Advancement and Dr. Nick Pfannenstiel, vice president of Oral Health Services at Jordan Valley.
[/cs_text][/cs_element_column][/cs_element_row][/cs_element_section][cs_element_section _id=”10″ ][cs_element_row _id=”11″ ][cs_element_column _id=”12″ ][cs_text]The Rotary Club of Springfield awarded Jordan Valley $109,402.77 towards the purchase of a new dental mobile unit, with contributions from members of several area Rotary Clubs.
Jordan Valley Community Health Center can expand oral health care services to hundreds more children in 20+ schools in southwest Missouri with this recent addition of a second mobile dental unit.
The mobile dental unit funding from the Rotary Club of Springfield was given in honor of its centennial celebration. The club was founded in 1919 and was the first Rotary Club in the Springfield area. There are now five Springfield Rotary Clubs and a Rotaract Club for young professionals.
Rotarians chose to support the dental mobile unit funding as its centennial gift to reflect one of Rotary International’s primary concerns of child and maternal health care.
“The addition of our new mobile unit allows us to provide vital oral health services to more children in the southwest Missouri region. We are so thankful for this opportunity to serve even more kids in a non-traditional way,” said Dr. Nick Pfannenstiel, vice president of Oral Health Services at Jordan Valley.
Children, teens and adults live with dental pain every day because they don’t have access to care. It’s one of the leading reasons for hospital emergency room visits, missed school days, missed work, speech and eating difficulties, along with a lifetime of poor oral health.
“In the first six weeks of the mobile unit being in operation, the oral health team made 116 visits,” said Betsy Fogle, director of Program Advancement with Jordan Valley. “We were so excited to take our beautiful new mobile unit out to the community. The kids absolutely love the colorful jungle theme.” To date, it has served six different schools/organizations, providing on-site, comprehensive dental services to students. “We expect to reach even more as children with unmet dental needs return to school.”
The new dental unit, the second operated by Jordan Valley, reduces the barriers to dental care in powerful ways, delivering care directly to those who need it most. This unit includes two dental operatories to allow treatment to multiple patients at the same time. The dental operatories house state-of-the art equipment and technologies to allow comprehensive treatment in the most efficient manner. Dr. John Bentley, a Rotarian who led the medical team at Jordan Valley Community Health Center for many years, provided the leadership gift to launch the Rotary campaign.
Rotary is a global network of more than 1.2 million members, business, professional and civic leaders representing different professions. Its motto is Service Above Self. Through international projects, Rotarians support efforts to protect communities from preventable disease, keep women and children healthy and create safe water and sanitation. In local service, Rotarians focus on their specific community’s needs with public and private community partners.[/cs_text][/cs_element_column][/cs_element_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]
