In March of 2006, after overcoming zoning and financial barriers, Roselawn Lutheran Church and the Cincinnati Dental Society opened a free dental clinic for children. The clinic initially served the children at the adjacent Roselawn Condon School, a city elementary school where 65 percent of the children come from families whose incomes are below the federal poverty level. The clinic is now serving children from every neighborhood in the city. The clinic is staffed by volunteer pediatric dentists and assistants and other members of the Cincinnati Dental Society, as well as residents in the Pediatric Dentistry Program at Children's Hospital Medical Center. To make the clinic accessible to disabled children, Christ Cathedral Church provided $12,500 for a chair lift. Roselawn Lutheran Church provided $20,000 to get the clinic running and the Cincinnati Dental Society donated $75,000 of dental chairs, X-ray machines, darkroom equipment, sterilizers, dental utensils and supplies and office furniture. Local dentists have created a foundation to which tax-deductible donations for support of the clinic can be made. (Contact Vicki Nixon at 984-3443.) Thanks to: Dr. Frank Wright who proposed the clinic; to Susan Noonan, Roselawn youth mentor who brought Dr. Wright and Pastor Redder together; the center's Executive Director, Vicki Nixon; Dr. Dale Siemer, president of the Cincinnati Dental Society; Dr. Linda Smith, a leader in the project and a center volunteer; Mark Mullen, volunteer general contractor; Shawn Cleary, volunteer dental equipment designer; and project coordinator Barb Kley.
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