Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have awarded more than $805,000 to 13 nonprofit organizations for their dedication to the state of Wisconsin. Through its State Giving program, the Walmart Foundation presented grants to nonprofits dedicated to serving residents through its core areas of giving including hunger relief and healthy eating, sustainability, career opportunity and women’s economic empowerment.
Receiving one of these grants from the Walmart Foundation will allow CHS to expand its current dental clinic from two to four chairs to provide needed dental care to adults and children (ages 3-100+) who are in the income range of 101-200% of federal poverty level on a sliding scale fee schedule, as well as those on Medicaid. Susan Osteen, CHS Executive Director says “The availability of additional dental services will help to greatly improve a person’s overall physical health and well-being. This will set them on a better path to personal health and success.”
With a dentist to patient ratio of 1 to 4000 in the Dodge County area, the need for dental care is great. Additionally, the Affordable Care Act does not cover dental services, Veterans do not have a dental benefit from the VA and those on a limited income cannot afford dental services. A year ago, Church Health Services (CHS) was able to open a two chair dental clinic to increase the availability of preventative and restorative dental care to those members of our community and surrounding areas who are of low income, uninsured or underinsured.
Osteen concludes, “We are very grateful to the Walmart Foundation for its continued support and commitment to our mission to help the underserved in our area.”
