On May 22, the new and expanded Children’s Dental Clinic in the SEARHC dental building in Juneau began seeing patients. The expansion has been in the planning stages since 2014 and was the logical next step in providing all children in the community, many of whom are recipients of Denali Kid Care, with access to dental care. With more space and more dentists, SEARHC can care for the oral health of more children in Juneau.
The SEARHC Children’s Dental Clinic in Juneau opened to all community members in April 2015. Up to that point, SEARHC pediatric dental services were solely available for Alaska Native/American Indian patients. To meet the already growing needs of their existing patients, as well as the community as a whole, SEARHC added two new pediatric dentists and made the decision to open their children’s dental services to the entire community.
To finance the expansion, SEARHC applied for various grants and received several generous awards, including significant contributions from the Rasmuson Foundation; the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust; Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Munson, LLP; and the State of Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs.
The open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on June 22.