SUFFOLK, Va. — An expanded dental suite inside Western Tidewater Free Clinic in Suffolk is breaking down a long patient waitlist.
“Patients have to go through a process in order to become a patient in the clinic," said Dentist Fallon Berger. "We’ve had a waitlist for a while.”
Berger said she normally sees about 15 patients a day but that doesn’t include emergencies. With the help of additional staff and more space, she said they’re able to take in more patients faster.
"And see two times the amount of patients than we were able to before,” she said.
Berger said she and her team worked out of a mobile trailer for about eight months as crews built the new suite which came with its own set of challenges.
“There were only two chairs on that and it was a van that was made for kids,” she said.
Tuesday morning, clinic executives revealed the new space for the dental team.
“We went from two dental chairs to four," said Ashley Greene, the executive director of the clinic. "That gives us the capacity to serve as many as 200 patients more in the first year.”
The clinic currently serves about 700 dental patients per year. Greene said since opening the space back in December, they’ve already seen a 9% increase in patients served compared to this timeframe last year.
“It talks to you about the need," she said. "It also tells you about the capacity we now that we did not have before.”
Along with more space, Greene says patients have access to a new telehealth room for mental health services as well as a larger space for pharmacy technicians.
“Which is really critical to a chronic illness situation that many of our patients have to make sure that they have access to free medications for our uninsured patients.”
Greene hopes this facility becomes a health home for the people they serve.
Western Tidewater Free Clinic received funding in 2022 during its capital campaign by donors including the Obici Healthcare Foundation, Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation, Hampton Roads Community Foundation and the Violet Greco Foundation. City of Suffolk American Rescue Plan Act funding also contributed to this project. The clinic’s Board of Directors also committed capital reserves to fully fund the $1.1 million expansion project.
To become a patient at Western Tidewater Free Clinic individuals must live in the cities of Suffolk and Franklin and the counties of Isle of Wight, Southampton, Surry and Sussex, have no dental or medical insurance or Medicaid dental benefits, are not eligible for Medicare or VA benefits, and live at or below 300% of the Federal Poverty Level.