Date and Time: Thu, Apr 29 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Dual Opening Celebrated in East Palo Alto
Ravenswood Family Dentistry & Center for Health Promotion
April 29th is a big day for East Palo Alto. Ravenswood Family Health Center is hosting a dual celebration with the opening of its Center for Health Promotion and its Ravenswood Family Dentistry. The two facilities are conjoined, sharing a common reception area that features a video display for educational videos and 5 smaller displays for kid video games, a diversion that works when kids feel anxious about going to the dentist.
The idea for the health education center came from one of Ravenswood’s board members-- Gordon Russell. Hearing that, for lack of space, the health education and insurance enrollment staff were packed into a “warren “ of little cubicles, he proposed RFHC build a new site –a Center for Health Promotion. Within a few months, the idea was on the drawing board, and Russell himself, who has a long history of support for nonprofit projects, committed a major gift to underwrite the lion’s share for internal construction of the building.
With 4,000 sq ft, the Center has room for the entire Health Education team, as well as a classroom and space for retinopathy screening. Another section accommodates insurance enrollment specialists who meet with families to determine their eligibility for public health coverage.
As the site was being constructed, Sharon Keating Beauregard, Director of Community Partnerships, said Stanford Hospital & Clinics wanted to put in a health library extension at the Center, making it the fifth in its network of health libraries. The Stanford Health Library is open as a resource to residents of the community. With the assistance of a bilingual librarian, people will have access to one of the most extensive online bilingual health information systems in the region.
To the right of the Center is the Ravenswood Family Dentistry, a beautifully designed state-of-the art, full service safety-net dental clinic, with 10 dental chairs, a special pediatric unit, a surgery unit, and the most advanced digital dental technology.
Access to dental care has been a major concern. “Our patients have significant dental health problems,” says CEO Luisa Buada. “The extent of the problem was confirmed when our staff screened Ravenswood City School District kindergarteners and 2nd graders several years ago and found an average of 32% had visible dental caries.” Pediatrician Janice Lowe, MD recalls, “In the first months I worked at RFHC I saw more children with abscesses than I had ever seen in my practice before.” An estimated 40% of adults need immediate access to oral health services–particularly those suffering from a chronic disease such as diabetes. “So, ignoring the need, says the CEO, “was never an option.”
The biggest problem has always been a lack of dentists in RFHC’s primary service area --East Palo Alto, Belle Haven in Menlo Park and east Redwood City. Only a handful of dentists in south San Mateo County area accept Medi-Cal/Denti-Cal patients or Healthy Families and Healthy Kids coverage.
According to the U.S. Health & Human Services Administration criteria, RFHC serves a “Dental Professional Shortage Area” which means the ratio of low-income population to dentists has to be greater than 3,000 to 1. In RFHC’s service area, the ratio is actually a stunning 81,521:1.
Necessity, in this case, became the mother of intention. CEO Buada went to David and Lucile Packard Foundation with a proposal to build a dental clinic. The Foundation agreed and with a grant of $1.5 million, the plans were drawn up. With additional funding from Bothin Foundation, Baxter International, California Dental Association and others, RFHC has been able to build a first class dental clinic that rivals the best in the County.
RFHC’s Dental Director Jack Luomanen, DMD who has set up many community dentistry clinics over the past 30 years, is incorporating best practices for early detection and prevention into RFHC’s dental program including a method designed at UCSF to detect bacterial condition in the month in young children under the age of three, treat it and thereby reduce/prevent future caries. “One of our main goals,” says Dr. Luomanen,“ is to prevent children from ever getting caries by applying fluoride varnish and educating parents about their role in protecting their children’s teeth.”
Given limited staffing, Ravenswood will only be able to accept its registered medical patients. It expects to see 1,800 patients in 4,500 visits, expanding to 3,000 patients in 8,500 visits in year two. At full capacity, the 10-operatory clinic will be able to see 6,000 to 8,000 unique patients annually.
To expand capacity, RFHC is exploring a partnership with the University of Pacific School of Dentistry to become a site for the National Dental Pipeline Program, offering community externships to dental students. “At school, they will be learning the latest techniques in dentistry and we will have the technology and staff to give them more clinical experience here in the community,” says Dr. Luomanen. RFHC is also exploring a partnership with the Foothill Colleges Dental Hygienist and Dental Assistant Program to provide externships and is working through the Mid-Peninsula Dental Society and the Santa Clara and San Mateo County chapters of the California Dental Hygiene Association to recruit dental professionals as volunteers to increase access for more patients.
Ravenswood Family Health Center invites the public to celebrate the Grand Opening of their new facilities Thursday, April 29th from 4 pm to 7 pm located at 1807 Bay Road in East Palo Alto. For directions, go to www.ravenswoodfhc.org.
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For more information contact:
Kathleen Alexander
Director, Communications & Marketing
Ravenswood Family Health Center
(650)330-7418
kalexander@ravenswoodfhc.org
Ravenswood Family Health Center, based in East Palo Alto, offers comprehensive coordinated health care including medical, health education and prevention, dental and behavioral health services to 10,000 patients annually, ensuring that uninsured, low income families have access to health care regardless of ability to pay.