HOW DID THE VETERAN DENTAL PROJECT GO?
Many people have been asking about how the Veteran’s Free day went here at McOmie Family Dentistry. So we thought we would give a brief re-cap.
Dr. Mark McOmie has wanted to do something special for Veterans for years. Not just something here or there, but to set aside a time where we could really make a difference for those Vets who are at a point in their life that they could use a hand. Maybe it is that they don’t have dental insurance right now but have dental needs. One day the doctors realized with Veteran’s Day fast approaching they could do something special. So it was decided that on the Thursday before Veteran’s day they would add a hygienist to the schedule. They would only put Vets on the hygienists’ schedules and no matter what was done there would be no charge. We decided to add fillings and extractions to the list as well. Both doctors would be here and would be able to provide services.
Our biggest fear was that no one would sign up. Our first line of advertising was to put it on Facebook and ask our friends to share it to get the word out. It worked; in the first 24 hours, we had the day completely full and had a waiting list.
Everyone here at the office was amazed with the response and all we could think about was how we could do more to help more Veterans. So we added a Friday. As this is usually a day off, we were able to completely devote the day to Veterans. The entire staff and both doctors were in for the day. We put a notice of the extra day back on Facebook. The response was immediate and great. We got everyone from the waiting list an appointment time and soon completely filled the second day, which had 4 times the capacity of the first day.
The people we met!
The veterans that signed up to come in were awesome! They were so very grateful for what we were able to offer them. Every single one of them thanked us over and over, which was ironic, as we were trying to thank them. They were such interesting individuals of all ages, but the two things they all had in common were serving this country and that we are grateful to them. We saw a bunch of people, men and women, some husband-wife couples, some older men brought by their families, some who came and left all alone. We learned a little about each one in the process. Some were war vets from Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, or Korea. Some were enlisted for shorter periods of time, 4 years, others served over 20 years. A very diverse group. It was great to meet them and hear their stories.
In the end, we provided over $11,000 dollars of free dental work and a total of 72 hours combined of work on the veterans of this great country.
Those to thank
The staff at McOmie Family Dentistry worked hard, specifically Scarlet RDH, Kristin RDH, Savannah RDA, Jamie RDA, Morgan RDA, Allie RDA. Each one of these people gave up a day off and came in to work that day for the veterans instead. Dr. Mark McOmie coordinated everything and worked on so many people in those days. They wanted to do as much as they possibly could for each person, but still see as many people as they could. They wanted to do as much good as possible, and show respect to these American heroes.
Thank you to all of those on Facebook that shared the information. This is the only way we advertised and it worked! Thanks to all our Facebook friends you contributed to the veterans as well by sharing our information.
Every single person from McOmie Family Dentistry who worked on those days left feeling very humbled at the gratitude expressed by the people who we were trying to thank. There is still a lot of good in this world. It is amazing when you do something to try and thank someone and all they can do is thank you back. It is a nice feeling. In this time of Christmas and giving, remember it isn’t always what you can buy or give monetarily to someone. The thing that could be of most value to another is some of your time.
Each and every vet that came in got a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, full x-rays, cleaning, fillings if needed, extractions if needed. It was a great day. We loved doing these service days. Look for more from us in the future. Our entire staff encourages each of you to find some sort of service to do for someone else, you will be glad you did.
