Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh\u2019s ninth annual free dental and hearing clinic saw hundreds of patients on its first day, transforming the first floor of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center into a hub for those in need of care.<\/p>\n
The two-day clinic is Pittsburgh-based nonprofit A Call to Care\u2019s biggest event and one that Mission of Mercy board member Keith Young said helps an array of patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe communities that are here as patients are some unhoused individuals but also people that don\u2019t have health insurance benefits,\u201d Young said. \u201cPeople that are working multiple jobs or just don\u2019t have good work benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Young, 60% of the patients who came to the clinic last year did not have insurance, and 30% of them were in pain.<\/p>\n
\u201c(And) 61% of those patients that had dental pain had had it for a month, or a year,\u201d Young said. \u201cThat impacts them and their life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The clinic offers a variety of dental services carried out by volunteer clinicians from throughout Pittsburgh. Free cleanings, root canals, fillings, extractions, partial dentures and pediatric care are all available to those in need.<\/p>\n
Amanda Dickson, executive director of Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh, said patient ages range from 2 to 92.<\/p>\n
As of Friday morning, Dickson said they had made 806 appointments on their first day of operations.<\/p>\n
Mission of Mercy can treat hundreds of patients because of its large volunteer staff \u2014 this year\u2019s staff size being about 1,940 people \u2014 whose specialties, ages and backgrounds are \u201cdiverse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s this love \u2026 that I believe really happens here,\u201d Young said. \u201cMany volunteers do this every year because they love their neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deeatre Allen, 31 of Millvale said this is her third time coming to the clinic \u2014 and her first time being seen.<\/p>\n
Allen, who uses a wheelchair, said while she has good health benefits working in human resources for a bank, her benefits never seem to cover all of her health needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always go over,\u201d she said. \u201cI had one root canal, and I didn\u2019t even get the crown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Allen was able get treatment for other teeth in need of root canals, and she received referrals to clinics and healthcare providers partnered with Pittsburgh Mercy to provide aftercare services.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very organized,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n
Her girlfriend, Kari Wehrkamp, 35, said the staff was \u201cwarm and welcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m grateful that this exists,\u201d Wehrkamp said. \u201cThere are very few \u2026 who can afford healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patient capacity at the clinic depends on the severity of patients\u2019 conditions and the number of people who can treat them, Dickson said.<\/p>\n
Those seeking care can make appointments in person when the doors open at 6 a.m. and during clinic hours, which start at 7 a.m. Services usually last until 3 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh\u2019s ninth annual free dental and hearing clinic saw hundreds of patients on its first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-308702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}