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Scenic Bluffs Community Health Centers Holds Dental Center Grand Re-Opening on June 10, 2008

Scenic Bluffs Community Health Centers celebrated a 50% expansion in dental treatment at its Cashton location with a Grand Re-Opening event on Tuesday, June 10, 2008. “People to see the new facilities, meet our staff, and to celebrate this milestone for our communities,” says Scenic Bluffs CHC Executive Director Mari Freiberg.

“With this expansion from 10 to 14 operatories, we’ve been able to take a big bite out of our waiting list,” Freiberg reports. “Just since February, 125 children and 100 adults have been able to get their smiles taken care of by one of our five dentists and two hygienists in their new treatment space.” But, she reveals, there’s still an incredible need for dental care – 600 people from Monroe, La Crosse and Vernon counties still waiting on the list for care.

Recognizing the length of the wait list and that in 2007 alone, 3,254 patients had 9,135appointments, dental care is a strategic focus for the Health Center, emphasizes Freiberg. “We have three dental goals: to continue to offer easy access to all of our services to all of our current patients; reduce the time on the waiting list; and make sure all of our partners know about our services.”

Success is already apparent, she notes, “Since April, we have implemented a quality improvement measure to track the number of days a patient is on our waiting list. Our goal is to get that to 90 days from the current 502.”

Since the expansion, the Board of Directors has made children's access to services a priority and the Center is already conducting an outreach effort to area schools, and health and human services agencies to explain services and systems.

Providers at Scenic Bluffs include: hygienists Tricia Pfaff, RDH and Joni Mellem, RDH; and dentists Tamar Diamond, DMD; William Lowe, DDS; Brian Serres, DDS; James Sueppel, DDS and David Townsend, DDS.

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