Clinic makes medical and dental care accessible to adolescents

The woman pushed her baby stroller over to the table at the health fair, looked down at the banner and said, "I know you guys. You guys saved my life."

Steve Williams, executive director of the Huntridge Teen Clinic, 2100 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 1, says it was that chance meeting that made him realize what a long-reaching impact the clinic has made on Las Vegas since it was established in 1994.

"She remembered us as being a very important factor in her growing up and being healthy. Now some of these kids have teens of their own," said Williams, a Green Valley resident and retired vice president of General Electric Capital Corporation.

The Huntridge Teen Clinic's mission is to provide medical and dental care to uninsured and at-risk adolescents ages 12 to 18 who are ineligible or unable to obtain services available through Clark County agencies. The clinic provides low-cost or free tests and procedures for acute illness, health education and counseling, PAP, pregnancy testing, testing and/or treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, family planning and sports physicals.

The Dental Clinic, 2100 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 5, was added in 1998 and is run by Spring Valley resident Annette Lincicome, a registered dental hygienist with a Public Health Endorsement and a College of Southern Nevada graduate.

Lincicome provides initial X-rays, dental cleanings, sealants and oral health education. A $20 fee is charged for each visit but may be reduced or waived according to the patient's ability to pay. Dental work is provided by volunteer dentists and UNLV School of Dental Medicine students.

Lincicome says Nevada Oral and Facial Surgery's involvement with Huntridge "changed this program." Before it came on board, kids in pain would have to wait for a volunteer dentist. "They changed our ability to get people out of pain quickly," she said.

She remembers the time a pregnant girl came with a broken and badly infected tooth. The only other option would have been to send her to a UMC hospital emergency room. Williams said, "I don't think that Nevada Oral and Facial Surgery ever turned us down."

Health has direct and indirect effects on school dropout rates, according to an October 2007 policy paper on Reframing School Dropout as a Public Health Issue, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Interventions that have the potential to improve school achievement and reduce school dropout rates by improving the health of students are of particular interest to health professions (and communities).

Knowing that Las Vegas has one of the highest dropout rates in the country, Williams strongly agrees with the CDC.

"Our long-term goal is to keep them in school by treating their maladies," he said. "We are going to give them a shot that they might not have had."

Lincicome tells the story of her first patient on her first day of work at the Dental Clinic in 2001. She met a 15-year-old girl who was unrecognizable as a female. Hiding behind a knit hat pulled low over her forehead and baggy clothes, Monique wouldn't make eye contact. Her mother had recently died. She was brought to the clinic by her father, a laid-off mechanic. He knew his child needed help.

"Her teeth were so horrible that it hurt to talk," Lincicome said. "Her gums bled spontaneously. She was cut off from the world."

After months of treatment from Lincicome and generous local dentists who volunteered to repair her teeth, she bounced into the clinic dressed in shorts, a bright top and with a broad smile. She said, "Hi, Annette! Look at my gums!" She was a changed young woman.

Williams, who has chosen not to draw a salary for more than a year, said, "I need one nurse practitioner for one or two afternoons a week (for the medical clinic). If I could get just one -- I don't need 20 -- I'd be happy."

The former financial executive keeps the operating overhead of the clinic at 14 percent. After a recent heart attack, he knows that at some point a sustainable source of funding must be found to pay a salary to his eventual successor.

"We used to get federal money from the state of Nevada, around $60,000 a year, but the state needed to match the money, and because of budget cuts, we don't get anything from them now," he said.

The clinic is looking for an organization or individuals to make a yearly commitment to the youth of Las Vegas.

On the dental side, Lincicome is hoping for a volunteer to help at the front desk, answer phones and nurture the existing pool of dentists and recruit new ones. She also is in need several experienced dental assistants for a part-time paid position to assist dentists on a rotating variable schedule.

At some time during their course of treatment, Lincicome always asks, "So what do you want to do when you grow up? What do you want to do with your life?" She is no longer surprised to find out that most of them don't have dreams. "They are so down in the realities of life," she said. "They are just trying to get by day to day."

She sees the clinic as a stable atmosphere -- a medical and dental home where young people can be helped and nurtured and maybe even start to dream about a future. "If you don't have a dream when you are a teenager, when are you ever going to have a dream?"

For inquiries or to make a donation to the 501(c)(3) organizations, contact:

n Huntridge Teen Clinic, 2100 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 1, Las Vegas, NV 89104, attention Steve Williams, Executive Director. Call 732-8776 or visit huntridge.org.

n Huntridge Teen Dental Clinic, 2100 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 5, Las Vegas, NV 89104, attention Annette Lincicome, RDH. Call 575-0866.