Medical Teams' mobile dental clinic treats 200,000th patient

     PORTLAND — Since 1989, Tigard-based Medical Teams International has helped hundreds of thousands of people who have not had any other means of obtaining life-changing dental care. The 200,000th U.S. dental patient was treated Tuesday morning, Nov. 29.
     The patient was a young man from Portland’s Transitional Youth program, an organization that works to provide at-risk and homeless youth the opportunity and skills to achieve independent living. Transitional Youth and Medical Teams International have recently partnered to provide monthly mobile dental clinics for homeless youth in Portland and southwest Washington.
     Imago Dei Community Church, 1302 S.E. Ankeny, provided the location that day for the dental van and a waiting and recovery area for the patients. Dr. Bill Weiller, who started volunteering this fall, and Terri Erickson, an assistant who volunteers nearly 15 hours a week as well as overseas, provided their services at the historic clinic on Nov. 29. Bill Stuber, who has been an employee of Medical Teams International for 18 years, managed the van.
     Bert Waugh, who founded Transitional Youth and has served as a former chairman of the board for Medical Teams Inter-national, was on hand to congratulate the volunteers and patient.
      Medical Teams International staffs 11 mobile dental units in the Northwest with volunteer dentists, hygienists and assistants. The program serves more than 17,000 patients a year and provides more than $8 million in free services.
      Medical Teams recently received a $10,000 grant from Trust Management Services, LLC to support mobile dental clinics in Douglas County, Oregon. The majority of the county has been designated by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber as a “health care shortage area” where needs overwhelm healthcare providers.
     In related news, Charity Navigator, the premier charity watchdog group in the U.S., placed Medical Teams in its 2011 list of “10 Top-Notch Charities.” It was selected from 5,000 non-profits in the watchdog group’s annual ratings.
      Ministry Watch, which rates hundreds of Christian faith-based groups, also placed Medical Teams International on its list of “30 Shining Light Charities” for 2011.
       In addition, Forbes magazine placed Medical Teams International on its Top 200 list of charities this past fall.