Jordan Valley Community Health Center is among more the 420 centers nationwide the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded nearly $156 million in funding to support expanded oral health services.
Organized under Advocates for a Healthy Community Inc., Jordan Valley will receive $350,000 of the more than $7.4 million earmarked for 20 Missouri clinics. The funding would enable health centers to expand integrated oral health care services and increase the number of patients served.
According to the HHS, the awards from the Health Resources and Services Administration would help health centers across the country increase their oral health service capacity by hiring approximately 1,600 new dentists, dental hygienists, assistants, aides and technicians to treat nearly 785,000 new patients.
“Oral health is an important part of our overall physical health and well-being,” said HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, in a news release. “The funding we are awarding will reduce barriers to quality dental care for hundreds of thousands of Americans.”
Today, nearly 1,400 health centers operate approximately 9,800 service delivery sites in every U.S. state, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Pacific basin, according to the release. These health centers employ more than 170,000 staff who provide care to nearly 23 million patients. In 2014, health centers employed over 3,700 dentists, more than 1,600 dental hygienists and over 7,400 dental assistants, technicians and aides. They served about 4.7 million dental patients and provided nearly 12 million oral health visits.
Springfield event venue Belamour LLC gained new ownership; The Wok on West Bypass opened; and Hawk Barber & Shop closed on a business purchase that expanded its footprint to Ozark.
