The Johnson Health Center is preparing to expand its dental care services with a mobile clinic that’s set to arrive in January and will help the center reach schoolchildren in Campbell County.
The nonprofit provider was awarded a $300,000 oral health grant last year from the Health Resources and Services Administration, according to COO Megan McCrickard. It’s a three-year grant, and she said Johnson had to dedicate its own money to help outfit the mobile dental unit.
Johnson Health CEO Gary Campbell said the vehicle should arrive in January 2021 and care providers will go through a period of training before it starts holding appointments outside the Rustburg Community Health Center, which provides primary care services to the area.
With the coronavirus pandemic an unknown factor in plans, Campbell said the goal is to eventually send the mobile unit to see children before classes start, like dental care providers already do for public school students in Lynchburg and the counties of Amherst and Bedford.
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“We wanted to take our dental practice primarily into communities where we don’t have practices right now,” he said. “…Our goal here is to make sure we have more access to these kids.”
The mobile dental unit will be a large vehicle with two different rooms for dental operations, a bathroom and check-in desk, McCrickard said. For simple cleaning visits, Campbell said the unit could see up to 25 patients in a two-hour period.
Beyond that, McCrickard said X-rays and more thorough evaluations can occur in the unit, along with follow-up appointments to treat any issues. She said providers have historically seen 6% of children return for those dental issues, some of which need intervention.
Campbell said the provider wants to start good dental health habits early in a child’s life, and give them information to take home to their parents.
Johnson Health has another mobile medical unit on the way in December — one paid for by supplemental COVID-19 funding from HRSA that will start out as a testing site and could provide vaccines once one is developed, according to Campbell.
Expansion into these mobile units is a move largely inspired by telehealth exploration that’s become necessary in the age of COVID-19, he said.
“Patients are getting accustomed to having care come to them,” he said. “…We really, truly believe this is going to change the landscape of how we deliver care.”