community news
A CAPITAL
IDEA
The Campaign to Save
Dental Health Arlington
by Nancy Blinn, Executive Director DHA
We are being forced out and have to relocate in the
next four months. We are working to save DHA by
raising $350,000 to finish out an office space and
turn it into a dental space so we can relocate.
very morning people line up on the sidewalk to get into
our clinic. They are in pain, and some haven’t slept or
eaten in days. They can’t think, they can’t work, they can’t
concentrate on schoolwork. They often fight over who was first in
line. They don’t want to miss their opportunity to be seen by a dentist. They have very little money and cannot afford to go to the dentist. If it comes to putting food on the table or getting their teeth
fixed, they will choose food on the table and endure, often ending
up in the emergency room where they may receive some medication, but no long term relief. An infection will reoccur until the
tooth is removed. Our clinic is a beacon of hope for many people
in this situation.
E
ilization room, and needs administrative office space and large
rooms to accommodate the patients and their extended families
who often come along. We recently kicked off a Capital Campaign
and we’re engaging the community to help us fund this urgent
need. It’s working – we have received donations of cabinetry, an
x-ray machine, and disposable supplies and we have secured a new
place here in Arlington at a partnering agency. Our campaign has
raised approximately $20,000 towards our goal and we are heartened by the response, but clearly, we still have a long way to go.
Reaching our Capital Campaign goal will allow us to purchase new
dental equipment, add comfortable waiting room chairs and buy
computers. It will allow us to fulfill the new mandate for every dental office to move to electronic dental records. Our goal is to be a
resource for people where there often is none. We would like to
offer our low income residents a nice place to come, to have a
pleasant dental experience, and to be treated with dignity.
Dental Health Arlington has been in operation since 1992. We
started as a low-cost dental clinic with an all-volunteer staff and
have grown to a full-time staff supplemented by volunteers. We
provide care for approximately 2,500 Tarrant County residents
every year. We also have a school based program, SMILES (Sealing
Molars Improves the Lives of Every Student), and that is exactly
what DHA does with almost 9,000 students a year. We have a staff
that provides screenings, sealants and fluoride along with oral
hygiene education to 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade students in 30 Title I
schools all completely free to the students. Our partnership with
United Way of Tarrant County helps support the SMILES program. We will also be expanding to serve an additional 3,000 children this year, thanks to a grant funded by Women Inspiring
Philanthropy, a relatively new foundation in the Arlington area
formed by women who wanted to make a difference in their community. This exciting new opportunity means Dental Health
Arlington will be able to serve over 14,000 people in need
next year!
But there’s a problem
We are in danger of losing our clinic. We work in the shadow of
the Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium and here, progress is more important
than low cost dental care to the underserved. We are being forced
out and have to relocate in the next four months. As a nonprofit
organization our income is fixed, and it is costly to finish out
another space for a dental clinic. The move will require time and
money our organization does not have.
Here’s what we’re doing about it
We are working to raise $350,000 to finish out an office space and
turn it into a dental space. Dental equipment and facility construction are very expensive. We currently have aging equipment in disrepair. We don’t want anything extravagant, but we are moving
into a space that needs plumbing where there is none, needs a ster18 NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY | www.northtexasdentistry.com
Could you spare
$100, $1,000, $5,000 or $10,000?
Your generous donation
will help us save DHA!
Please donate via our website at:
www.dentalhealtharlington.org
or mail a check to: Dental Health Arlington
P.O. Box 1542
Arlington, Texas 76004