December 15, 2004; FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kathie Norwood, CFO/Co-Director
“STEPHEN & TABITHA KING FOUNDATION GRANT”
Downeast Health Services Inc. is pleased to announce the receipt of an additional $50,000 grant award from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation to support continued development and expansion of the Maine Coast Community Dental Clinic. This grant will allow us to continue to provide comprehensive dental services to residents in Hancock and surrounding counties.
Open in February 2003, the Maine Coast Community Dental Clinic has served nearly 2500 unduplicated patients; 70% are less than 21 years old; 10% have private insurance, 50% have MaineCare insurance, and the remaining patients have no insurance. The federal government has designated our region as a “dentally under-served area”. Many area private practice dentists have referred their MaineCare patients to the Maine Coast Community Dental Clinic.
The Dental Clinic was created out of the vision of the Hancock County Dental Access Coalition in cooperation with Downeast Health Services. The Hancock County Dental Access Coalition began in the mid 1990’s as the community’s response to the lack of dental care available for low income families. The focus of the Coalition is to improve access to dental care for that population which is underserved.
Recognizing the need for our local community to continue to have access to dental services, Joan Crockett, Executive Director for the Harrington Health Center, has pledged her support for administrative guidance. Additional financial support will be forthcoming from the Maine Coast Memorial Hospital.
Downeast Health Services Inc. is a family of programs collaborating to improve community health through education, empowerment and provision of accessible services to the residents of Downeast Maine. Organized in 1972, the physicians of Hancock and Washington counties mobilized to create Downeast Health Services Inc., with the purpose of decreasing the counties’ infant mortality and adolescent pregnancy rates, which were the highest in the nation. In the years since, the agency has added programs that focus on promoting positive health and development for children and families throughout Downeast Maine. These programs include: Maternal & Child Health, Family Planning, Women, Infants & Children (WIC), Family Life Education & Outreach, Downeast Sexual Assault Services, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Maine, Hancock County Children’s Council, Ellsworth Area Communities for Children & Youth, Parents Are Teachers Too, Coastal Hancock Healthy Communities and the Maine Coast Community Dental Clinic.
In addition to insurance reimbursement, fees and donations, primary funding for the Maine Coast Community Dental Clinic has been provided by the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, the Maine Community Foundation, the Maine Health Access Foundation and the State of Maine, Bureau of Health grant support.
Please call 667-0293 to make a dental appointment at the Maine Coast Community Dental Clinic or visit our website at www.downeasthealth.org for additional information on programs and family resources available through the programs of Downeast Health Services Inc.
Candy Eaton, Program Director
Hancock County Children's Council, a program of
Downeast Health Services Inc., and the
Ellsworth Area Communities for Children & Youth
52 Christian Ridge Road, PO Box 1087
Ellsworth, ME 04605-1087
207-667-5304 ext. 261
children@downeasthealth.org