Training for students, relief for patients
Felicia Rickels was in pain.
She’d had a cavity for a year, and finally on Friday it was time for her appointment at the Volunteers in Medicine dental clinic at Central Oregon Community College.
Rickels, 20, lay in the dental chair and giggled nervously while COCC dental assisting students moved in and out of her cubicle looking at X-rays and getting ready to help her.
“I’m nervous,” she said. “I haven’t been to the dentist for a long time because I didn’t have any insurance.”
What Rickels really wanted, she said, was for her mouth to stop hurting so much.
That’s the goal of the VIM clinic, which COCC puts on about twice each month to give students the opportunity to assist on various procedures like tooth extractions and fillings.
“It’s for procedures that are emergencies, but not really,” said Deb Davies, an instructor in the college’s dental assisting program. “Most of these people have not had proper dental care in years.”
The clinic is by appointment only, but Davies said whenever the college puts up signs about the clinic it gets drop-ins looking for help.
Volunteers in Medicine Clinic of the Cascades is a nonprofit medical clinic that serves Deschutes County’s low-income, uninsured families.
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