Beginning next week, 1,500 to 2,000 underprivileged young people
who would not normally get dental care will visit a free clinic
at the University of British Columbia.
The clinic is funded by the Ministry of Health and is staffed by
third-year UBC dentistry students and dental hygienist and dental
assistant students from Vancouver Community and Douglas colleges.
“The kids attending this clinic have, for one reason or another,
fallen through the cracks in the social system,” says UBC Dental
Clinic manager James Stich.
The patients, chosen by public health staff in the Vancouver, Burnaby,
North Shore, Boundary and Simon Fraser health units, will be bussed
in from as far away as Mission and Abbotsford. There is no age limit,
but they must be attending public school to qualify.
Last year, the provincial government introduced its Healthy Kids
program, which pays for dental care for children up to age 12, and
this has changed the make-up of clinic patients, Stich says.
“Now we’re filling a need for older kids who require services not
covered by the Healthy Kids program. They are usually about 14 to
16 years old, and more often new immigrants who have never had proper
dental care before,” he says.
The clinic in the Macdonald Building runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday
to Friday, from April 21 to May 30.
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