Courtesy of Burgetta Wheeler
Linda Williams, a child-care worker for Raleigh's Parks and Recreation Department, signs release forms.
RALEIGH -- More than a decade had passed since Linda Williams last visited a dentist, so even with a numb mouth and a looming tooth extraction, she was grateful to be sitting in a dental chair inside a bus in the parking lot of Alliance Medical Ministry.
Alliance, which provides medical care on a sliding scale to the working uninsured, recently rented a fully equipped mobile dental unit from the N.C. Baptist Men to give its patients' mouths some sorely needed attention.
The sad part was that the bus could have accommodated twice the patients if four dentists and four hygienists had volunteered. Instead, two dentists and one hygienist were willing to spend four hours on a Saturday seeing some of the ministry's 8,000 patients.
Alliance, one of the nonprofits seeking help in The N&O's Guide to Giving ( http:// bit .ly /givingguide ), also desperately needs volunteer ophthalmologists and optometrists to help its low-income patients manage chronic diseases, such as diabetes.
"The largest insurance gap is not children or seniors," said Mendi Nieters, Alliance's director of development. "It's those who are working individuals in our community, whose employer cannot afford to provide care or who can't afford to get it on their own."
At the ministry's property off New Bern Avenue near WakeMed, Dr. Ryan Galligan was the dentist who worked on Williams, a child care worker for the City of Raleigh's Parks and Recreation Department.
"They do help folks fill that gap, people who are working," Galligan said. "I appreciate that and want to honor that. They're providing a lot of services to people who are really trying in life and who really value professionals, so it should draw physicians and dentists here."
Angie Muhammad, who goes to Alliance for help managing diabetes and high blood pressure, received a needed filling from Galligan.
"He was excellent," she said. "The worst part was that shot, but we worked through it."
Muhammad perfectly illustrates the painful way the economic dominoes fall these days. She used to provide in-home child care for five children, but the parents of three got laid off and no longer need her. She had been buying her own health insurance but can't afford the $299 a month now.
Avoiding ER visits
Keeping people with chronic diseases, such as Muhammad, from having to make expensive ER trips is one of the ministry's main missions - a mission that saves us all money in the long run.
"It's very important, No. 1, in terms of costs, and No. 2, in terms of continuity of care. We teach people to take care of themselves," said Dr. Anne McLaurin, the former Wake school board member who joined Alliance's staff more than two years ago. "No. 3, I think prevention is a key part of what we do here."
Providing dental care is a critical component that the ministry is able to manage only a couple of times a year. With more volunteers, the bus could come quarterly, although McLaurin said Alliance could fill the bus with patients every other week.
"This dental clinic is incredibly important," she said. "Anybody who has ongoing illnesses, to have dental disease aggravates that. Pain raises your blood pressure, making it harder to control. Infections make heart conditions harder to control."
'So much strength'
The ministry has a long waiting list and needs more volunteers of all kinds - doctors, nurses, physician's assistants, translators.
"A lot of people come to the door, and not everybody can get in, which is a shame," said McLaurin, who called the mission her saving grace.
"This is really very rewarding because the people have so much strength," she said. "They give you back more than you give. It's been a wonderful experience."
