Community Health and Emergency Services, Inc. is one of several organizations receiving grant money to help provide dental services during the coronavirus pandemic.
The money will be used to bring on additional staff. CEO Fred Bernstein said they are expecting the extra help will be needed to handle back-to-school dental appointments.
“These are the checkups that are required to re-enter school. It’s a dental physical if you would, it functions he same way a medical physical would. You’re looking for possible problems that will interfere with the child’s ability to go to school, to be receptive, to learn, and you want to make sure above all that nobody’s suffering from infections or pain,” he said.
During the early stages of the pandemic, most dental visits were cancelled due to a risk of transmitting the coronavirus because of the tools used and close proximity required. Some of the grant money will also be used to provide personal protective equipment necessary to make visits as safe as possible.
