GOOD SHEPHERD DURING A PANDEMIC By: Jeanie Bath, DDS, Dental Director, Good Shepherd Ministries When the pandemic hit, Good Shepherd already had an extraction phone line in place. We were ready to impact vulnerable members of our community at a time of their great need early in the pandemic. Many people with low income (or no income due to the pandemic) did not know where else to turn. Here are deidentified excerpts from a few patient notes during that time:
• Can’t do anything with the debilitating pain, can`t work, the pain is constant. • When it hurts, pain shoots up side of face and eye. “I cry: It hurts that bad, I cry.” Our numbers were down, but our care was intense. We saw patients with so much pain they • stayed awake many nights
• Pain was excruciating, worse than getting shot (and patient reports he`s been shot 3 times).
• tried to pull their own teeth
• Terrified of getting this virus so did not want to go to dentist, but couldn`t bear it any longer. Ran out of ibuprofen two days ago; scared to go buy more bc of the pandemic.
• blamed and hated themselves for letting their teeth get like this
• The only thing that makes it feel better is rinsing with mouthwash, which patient carries in his pocket. • Pain for a few days, then yesterday’s pain “so bad I thought I was gonna die.” • Patient took antibiotics from feed store and pain went away, then pain returned, then antibiotics from feed store again, then pain returned again.
• nearly overdosed on ibuprofen and/or tylenol and/or alcohol
• wondered how much longer they could take it before completely giving up. Ms. C told us she was evicted from her apartment shortly before the non-eviction rules. Two days later, her car broke down. Then her mom from out-of-state was in a nearly fatal car accident. She found an overhang to sleep under during a storm, but was sent away because the overhang was on private property. Pandemic closures meant she couldn’t find public restrooms. One bright spot: a local church welcomed her to
GOOD SHEPHERD CLINIC AWARDED $20,000 CHALLENGE GRANT FROM DELTA DENTAL OF OKLAHOMA FOUNDATION Good Shepherd Clinic was awarded a $20,000 grant from the Delta Dental Of Oklahoma Foundation to provide access to oral health care to assist low-income, uninsured residents of Oklahoma City to receive dental care they would otherwise go without. Delta Dental of Oklahoma Foundation is a not-for-profit dental benefits company. It is the mission of Delta Dental of Oklahoma (DDOK) to improve the oral health of all Oklahomans. DDOK strives to accomplish this mission by providing quality dental benefits plans to more than one million Oklahomans, and by donating 50 percent of annual contribution to reserves to its Foundation to advance dental education and access to care. The grant funds will be used to provide comprehensive mouth stabilization to all medical patients and urgent mouth care to any vulnerable member in the community. “We are honored to receive this grant allowing us to serve even more in our community who
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otherwise may go without desperately-needed care,” Good Shepherd Clinic’s Executive Director Pam Timmons said. “The funding will enable our organization to bring essential medical and dental services to uninsured Oklahomans while serving as a teaching clinic to hundreds of medical and dental students each year and relieving the burden on other community services.” Good Shepherd has remained on the frontlines and continues on by providing life-saving medical, dental, vision, and prescription medication to the working poor who are living in poverty. Our volunteer doctors, dentists, staff and hundreds of medical students have been continuing to make sure our community remains healthy and productive citizens. Good Shepherd is a charitable clinic in the heart of midtown Oklahoma City. We do not receive any insurance, federal, or state funding and rely on volunteers and donors to provide for those living in need.
sleep there while they were closed. Then her tooth abscessed. She has extreme dental anxiety and cried while preparing for her treatment. Her tooth came out without complication, and we thanked God together for this! Meanwhile, our Good Shepherd Dental Strategic Plan provides measures for keeping the purpose on track through this pandemic disruption. Prevention of mouth disease for our comprehensive care patients is intentional and measured. We are still early in this process but working toward larger impact goals. Pandemic restrictions on student activity required a massive increase in volunteer dentists, and WOW, Good Shepherd dentists have volunteered like never before! THANK YOU to many ODA member dentists who have cared so well for our community in this time of great need!
