Crusader Earns $100,000 Wisdom Tooth Award
Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation
grants $100,000 Wisdom Tooth Award
to Crusader Community Health
Grant to expand dental services for children in Rock River Valley area
Present for the Delta Dental Foundation of Illinois check presentation were (l to r) Lora Vitek, Executive Director, Delta Dental Foundation of IL; Craig Gannon, Board Chair DDFIL; Kathy Olson, Crusader Dental Director; Gordon Eggers, Jr., Crusader President & CEO; Sean Norton, Auburn HS Athletic Director; Stacy Bonn Chief Administrative Officer, DDFIL; and Scott Veil, Rockford Public School Health Services Specialist
Crusader Community Health received the $100,000 Wisdom Tooth Award from The Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation on September 30th , at a ceremony held at the clinic’s Auburn Campus School Based Health Center. The award to Crusader Community Health will help expand dental services for children in the Rock River Valley area. This grant will impact access to dental care for 3,000 school children on the Auburn campus and throughout Rockford, particularly those from the highest need areas on the west side of Rockford.
With five locations in Rockford, Loves Park and Belvidere, Crusader Community Health is a not-for-profit health center with a mission to serve the Rock River Valley area with quality primary health care for all, regardless of their ability to pay. The organization will use the Wisdom Tooth Award to expand and enhance the oral health care it provides through the hiring of an additional full-time dentist. The new dentist will work at both the Auburn High School (AHS) School-Based Health Center and Crusader Community Health’s West State Street location. A portion of the Wisdom Tooth grant will also fund the purchase of a digital sensor RVG6200 for the organization’s Kodak digital x-ray system, which will allow for better dental X-rays for children ages ten and older. With these additions, Crusader Community Health expects to serve 400 more children each month. Dental care is provided at all five Crusader locations. Eleven dentists and two dental hygienists provided dental care to 12,375 individual patients last year.
“We are honored to present the 2016 Wisdom Tooth Award to an organization that shares our mission to improve children’s oral health in Illinois,” said Bernie Glossy, president of the Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation Board of Directors and president and CEO of Delta Dental of Illinois. “Crusader Community Health has proven its commitment to improving the oral health of thousands of children with services ranging from preventive care to procedures to address tooth decay and dental problems, and we are thrilled to support them as they work to provide care to even more children, especially those who are most in need.”
Each year, the Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation (DDIF) grants the Wisdom Tooth Award to an organization that significantly improves the oral health of Illinois children, in keeping with its mission to improve oral health in Illinois through education, awareness and improved access to care. This year, the Foundation selected Crusader Community Health for its fourth annual $100,000 Wisdom Tooth Award from 18 applicants. The DDIF is a 501(c)(3) charitable arm of Delta Dental of Illinois.
“Improving oral health has been a major initiative for Crusader and without a doubt this Wisdom Tooth Award will support that initiative. The grant dollars will allow us to expand access to oral health care for children at the Crusader Auburn High School Based Health Center and our Crusader on West State Street dental programs” said Kathy Olson, dental director of Crusader Community Health. “Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation’s support will help us reach many more children who have few options for seeking dental care outside of Crusader. We are truly grateful to the Foundation as this grant will make a huge impact on expanding access to dental care to all children, but especially to those children living on the west side experiencing high levels of poverty.”
About Delta Dental of Illinois
Delta Dental of Illinois (DDIL) is a not-for-profit dental service corporation that provides dental benefit programs to individuals and more than 5,000 employee groups throughout Illinois. DDIL covers 2 million individuals, employees and family members nationwide. DDIL is based in Naperville, Illinois and offers single-site administration and client services.
About Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation
The Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation was formed in March 2008 by Delta Dental of Illinois, a not-for-profit dental service corporation with a mission to improve the oral health of the communities it serves. Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation is the 501(c)(3) charitable arm of Delta Dental of Illinois and works to support and improve the oral health of people in Illinois. In the past decade, combined efforts of Delta Dental of Illinois and Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation have provided more than $3 million to programs and organizations in Illinois that improve the oral health of the residents of Illinois. For more information about the Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation Wisdom Tooth Award or to support the Foundation, visit deltadentalil.com/ddilfoundation.
About Crusader Community Health
For 44 years, Crusader Community Health has been a major part of the Rock River Valley community’s ‘health care safety net’, providing excellent medical and dental care one patient at a time. Crusader has been providing “Care Within Reach” to one in five area residents. In 2015, 48,234 individual patients were served from five clinic locations in northern Illinois. Crusader provides healthcare for all, regardless of their ability to pay, on an affordable sliding discount basis.