Arlington Free Clinic is looking for a few good dentists to join their volunteer team.
The clinic, which is located just off Columbia Pike at 2921 11th Street S., wants to serve more patients than its current paid dental team can handle, and is seeking volunteers to help out.
Arlington Free Clinic is a nonprofit that provides medical care to low-income adults who do not have health insurance. The clinic is volunteer driven and a majority of its funds are donated by people and businesses from the community. It provides primary care, mental health services, physical therapy, and a pharmacy for its patients.
“About five years ago we started a modest dental program,” said Alicia Nieves, the Director of Development and Communications at the clinic. “We gradually filled out our new space using a grant from the Virginia Health Care foundation to increase our staff, dig into dental and truly meet our patient’s needs.”
The clinic also received a $250,000 donation for dental care from a retired Arlington special education teacher in 2018.
More from a press release:
Arlington Free Clinic (AFC) is the only nonprofit providing free, high-quality medical and dental care to low-income, uninsured Arlington adults.
AFC has been caring for Arlingtonians in need for over 25 years. In 2015, AFC expanded beyond medical care and launched a dental program. For the first three years, AFC delivered dental services 24 hours per week using space donated by Arlington County.
AFC took its early success in dental – and the knowledge that patient needs far outstripped the capacity of the modest, offsite program – to make a case for successfully raising the $1.5M needed to grow our dental program and move it onsite.
Since January 2019, Arlington Free Clinic has been ramping up operations in its new, onsite, three-chair dental clinic. We added Dentist and Dental Assistant hours, hired a Dental Hygienist, and began integrating Hygienist Students and Dentist Volunteers.
Currently, operating at maximum paid staffing levels, we are able to provide 250 dental visits per month. The only way we will be able to add additional visits and see more patients is by supplementing the paid dental team with volunteers.
On the medical side of our organization, the majority of care is delivered pro bono by providers who come onsite to see patients or agree to see patients for free in their private offices throughout the community. We have had over 25 years to establish and solidify connections within the medical community, but we are just beginning to form relationships with local dentists.
If you or a dentist you know is interested in learning more about volunteering with Arlington Free Clinic’s Dental Program, we encourage you to get in touch. The commitment can be anywhere from four hours once/week to every other month. We have daytime, afternoon, and evening hours, and are open Saturday mornings in the dental clinic, and would welcome volunteer dentists any time.
- To get involved as a volunteer dentist, call Jody Steiner Kelly at 703-979-1425, ext. 124
- To learn more about becoming a patient, call 703-979-1400
- To support financially, call the development department at 703-979-1425, ext. 121