COMMUNITY
Dental clinic to open for
inexpensive and free care
By Vegar Stokset
Emerald Contnbutor
A dream of n dfiilnl dinit. for poor and
low mi ome-people in lame County mas
become reality within a year.
Janet Anderson of United Wav is jmrl of
a lame County coalition of organizations
working to provide in«xp«n»ive and free
dental care
"l.ack of dental i are is a serious prob
lem fm mg thousands id poor and low
income people m Lam- County. Ander
son said "For many of these people, a
toothache or embarrassment over unat
tractive teeth will even prevent them from
going to work or to si bool."
Responding to a large group of people
in need, the coalition of about 30 organi
zations plans to open a free-standing clin
ic for low ini ome [leoplu of all ages in Jan
uary 1804
United Way. the White llird C.linii . 4|
Si hoot District, area dental and medical
assoi iations. and other organizations are
involved in the coalition, which meets
monthh to plan the clinic.
They plan to operate the clinii with vol
unteer dentists and minimum wage staff.
Thu < lino is ill he built under the same
■ one opt as the White Hird Clinit. said Bob
Dritz. White Hird director The dental
clinic could treat up to 4.(Kid patients each
year.
A survey performed by United Way last
spring revealed that in Cine Counts more
than 20.080 people with low incomes,
mental disabilities or i hildren lai ked den
tal core services Most dentists in the area
would not see these people ac« ordmg to
the survey
Dritz has been heavily involved in the
project from the start Hr* said the problorn
intensified n year and n half ago, when
stale welfare payments stopped covering
denial services.
Dritz said staff at the emergency clinic
al Sacred Heart General Hospital report
ed an urgent need for dental care among
poor people
The Sacred Heart Hospital emergency
room each month sees more than 200 peo
ple who have no other way of getting den
tal services." Dritz said "Dentists in the
area simply do not treat indigent welfare
patients "
Dritz. said-even if welfare does reim
hurse the patients' costs, the dentists will
not treat them The dentists don’t feel that
the reimbursement is adequate, lit* said
Dentist Steven Thurn said the state gov
ernment, not the dentists, is to blame (or
the problem
"We hale to see these people hurting,
and (or two years we have treated emer
gent v i ases without being paid." Thurn
said. "Hut the state of Oregon eh« ided to
abandon these people. They cut reim
bursements and said that if you had no
insurance, you could not get any dental
treatment — not oven in on emergency."
Thurn said the state has never ade
quately reimbursed the costs for welfare
patients' dental care. And after July 1991.
when the state* stopped all but the reim
bursements lor children, the dentists
could not see these patients at all
Stephanie! Larson, state Kep Cynthia
Wooten's assistant, said the stale is now in
the process of cutting SI 2 billion from the
19ti:t-95 budget I.arson said this means
there arv no chances of changing the reim
bursement policies soon
Fan-tastic
PtKXo by Mfctumi
Heejae Chung, a University junior, performs the Korean fan dance
at the Asian Celebration Sunday at the Lane County Fairgrounds
Police say violent attacks and robbery doubled this year
By Vegar Stokset
EmeiaW Coninbuto*
Overall reported crime dropped hv 2 percent in
Eugene last veer, bill serious crimes such as violent
allai ks and robberies increased. o< cording to the Eugene
police department's 1 «»*>2 i rime report.
The police department's report, released last week,
reported t‘»7 aggravated assaults Inst year, almost twice
the number of the previous year Aggravated assaults are
violent attacks that often include a weapon and result in
physical iu|iir\
EPU Patrol Capt Jim Horton said polite have seen
more one on-one assaults in Eugene the past few
months.
"People seem to In* less tolerant toward one another,
toward those they view as different in some way." Hor
ton said.
Rohlierv. another serious offense, occurred 1‘) times in
Eugene last year, representing an 18 percent increase
compared to 1001 Less than 40 percent of those cases
have cleared.
The overwhelming majority of crimes in Eugene con
tinue to lie property crimes, according to the report. In
1002. burglaries increased by 0 percent from 1.570 in
1991, and thetts irom vehicles increased to i,»au. in
addition to the 2.931 other thefts.
Bicycle owners also were a vulnerable group in
Eugene. Stolen Inst year were 1,278 bikes. 20 percent
more than the previous year. Horton said police have «’
increased undercover and patrol activity in the Univer
sity area because that is where a majority of the thefts
occurred.
Horton encouraged students to get a solid lock for their
bikes, have them registered and keep the receipt.
On the whole, the Eugene police department handled
a total of 135.127 calls from service, traffic and persons
stops in 1992. about the same number as 1991.
TRIVIATIME:
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for 7 years in a
row.
Watch out tor a clue
next week...
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485-8226
1917
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342-3358
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Filler
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Tuesday Feb. 23 $4
Jolly Mon
Marshall Plan
Sunrunner
Wednesday icb :* $4
Tempest
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Music Starts at 10pm
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