NC Missions of Mercy: May 30 and May 31, 2014

The North Carolina Missions of Mercy (NCMOM) portable free dental program is an outreach program of the North Carolina Dental Society.  NCMOM is a grassroots effort, dependent on volunteers, with funding from grants and donations. 

Currently, NCMOM has enough equipment to set up a 80 chair full dental clinic including digital x-ray, sterilization, and all instrumentation and supplies.  The volunteers include dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, laboratory technicians and scores of professional and general volunteers across the state.  Since its founding in 2003, the program has provided more than $19 million dollars in free dental care to over 45,000 Carolinians.  Please take a look at the NCMOM website at  http://www.ncmom.info .

I participated in the NC Missions of Mercy outreach dental program on May 30 and May 31, 2014.  This activity was in collaboration with my service learning hours with the Cone Health System Congregational Health Ministry Program. 

I arrived at the campus of Rockingham Community College at 5:30 am on Friday and Saturday mornings to find hundreds of people lined up and wrapped around the gymnasium.  Many of these people spent the night in the parking lot in cars and in sleeping bags on the RCC campus.

My role included pre-assessment checks including a health questionnaire and blood pressure monitoring prior to sending the clients for dental x-rays.  A team of volunteer physicians located in our assessment rooms examined those clients with elevated blood pressures and/or blood sugars.

This was such a humbling event and I truly appreciate the opportunity to work with this exceptional team of nurses, physicians, dentists, administrators, allied health workers, and volunteers to provide these services to a grateful population of indigent clients in our county.  A total of 630 patients were seen and almost $350,000 was given in care!

One young man (somewhere in his 20s) told me he “started walking from Reidsville, NC at 3 am to get in line for the dental services” arriving at 5:30 am!

(A total of 14 well-spent service hours for this event)