R Chris introduced Bev. Bev is not a stranger to Brighton Rotary having spoken to us several years ago about her determination to bring affordable dental prevention and care to all. She previously brought the Ambulance converted to a dental office to our bottle drive and our meeting. Chris expressed it as an honour to invite and have Bev share with us once again her passion and what she is up to.
Bev now has a Dental Clinic at 12 Alice Street in Brighton.
They have a new board from the area. Their mission remains to act as a non-profit to help people with basic dental care.
She shared about the numerous people who end up at Hospital emergency rooms with dental problems and that hospitals are not equipped to deal with them. They can only provide antibiotics and narcotics. Bev said about $38 million annually is spent in this way rather than providing proper dental treatment because people cannot afford it. 83% of Canadians say they cannot afford dental care.
Preventive maintenance of our teeth is the best method.
The clinic has one paid staff.
When she started Gift from the Heart in 2008 she had help from 16 hygienists. In 2023 they were at 250 locations across Canada. They have packing days to send out supplies to the various events to help and support them.
At the clinic, they ask for a $20 donation per visit to help pay for the space.
They are not taking work away from Dentists. They are a last resort for people. They do preventative care such as checkups, cleaning, extractions and fixing teeth.
They try and get dentists to help with limited success. She gets about 8 hours per month. They can only pay hygienists about $25/hour and dentist $75/hour.
They have provided about $40,000 of care provided since they opened earlier this spring.
Their mobile clinic should be back up and running next month. She is waiting on final repairs and upgrades to be completed. Then they can take their service to the people who need it like migrant farm workers.
As we age, our needs increase.
Our community is stronger as we support one another.
The Ontario Dental Plan and Federal plans are hard to navigate or don't exist. Most people need help. Bev believes it should be part of OHIP. People get lost in the system.
The clinic is only open by appointment.
Bev also goes to other countries to help with dental care.
R Daniel thanked Bev for attending and giving us this update