Free clinic provides dental care this weekend in Chatham County

CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - Remote Area Medical provided a free dental care pop-up clinic on Saturday for Chatham County residents at the Garden City Recreation Center. Throughout the weekend, Remote Area Medical officials expect to serve hundreds of underserved and uninsured people in the community.

“It’s a wonderful thing. I think it’s great to have this out here for the people,” said patient Deborrah Weathers.

Remote Area Medical is a major nonprofit provider with a mission to give people in need high-quality health care.

“I call it my heart therapy because it’s just so rewarding,” said Heather Rhodes, Clinic Coordinator with Remote Area Medical.

For the first time, Remote Area Medical was invited by the Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council. Council members say they spent about a year getting this weekend planned and they surveyed 600 people to see if a clinic like this was something people needed.

“They found that there were quite a bit of people that didn’t have access to dental care and therefore their total health was suffering,” said Rhodes.

She says anyone is welcome to come to the clinic and the services they’re offering include cleanings, fillings, extractions and dental x-rays. Deborrah Weathers says she doesn’t have good dental insurance right now and that it means a lot to her to have this opportunity.

“I’m very grateful and I think a lot of other people are grateful,” she said.

Remote Area Medical is making sure the patients are safe by having various COVID-19 precautions in place, which include enhanced cleaning measures in between patients.

“We have a HEPA filtration system that runs through all of the tents and that cleans almost everything out of the air,” said Rhodes.

Rhodes says all of the dentists at the clinic are volunteers from both near and far. To help with the cost, several entities including the City of Savannah gave grants. Folks, like Weathers, say they’re already ready for the next time Remote Area Medical comes to town.

“I would very much like them to come back, but sooner than later,” she said.

If you didn’t get a chance to make it out to the clinic on Saturday, it will be open Sunday from 5:00 a.m. to noon. Service is on a first-come-first-served basis and no ID is required.

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