Washington Dental Service Foundation Awards $120K in Grants to ICHS for Dental Clinic Expansion

SEATTLE - Dec. 23, 2013 - PRLog -- Four more dental chairs will be added to the International Community Health Services (ICHS) clinic in the International District, thanks to a $120,000 grant from the Washington Dental Service Foundation (WDSF), a non-profit funded by Delta Dental, committed to lasting approaches to improving the oral health of Washington's residents.

"This is great news for us at ICHS," says Dr. Ji Choi, ICHS Dental Director. "The need for our dental services in the International District clinic has been steadily growing and has reached a point where there's a 7-week wait time. And, with the anticipated increase as a result of Medicaid expansion, this grant couldn't have come at a better time."

With four new operatories and two additional x-ray machines, the grant enables ICHS to reduce the current wait time and significantly increase the number of patients served in its International District clinic; not to mention the jobs it will create to staff the additional dental chairs.

WDSF awarded a separate grant to ICHS in 2012 amounting to $150,000 to fund the 10-chair dental clinic in the ICHS Shoreline clinic slated to open in the fall of 2014.

Additionally, ICHS launched its own mobile dental clinic this month, and is scheduled to move from AkiKuroseMiddle School, ClevelandHigh School, FranklinHigh School, IngrahamHigh School, NathanHaleHigh School, NovaHigh School, RainierBeachHigh School, SeattleWorldSchool, SouthLakeHigh School, to WashingtonMiddle School throughout the school year. ICHS will work closely with these schools to develop a service delivery system that maximizes the clinic’s ability to serve those students with the greatest need.

For more than four decades, ICHS has been at the forefront in providing affordable and accessible health services to a broad range of vulnerable and neglected Asian-Pacific islanders, refugees and immigrants. ICHS continues to expand its services to meet the evolving and growing demands of the community it serves. Two more clinics are slated to open in 2014 in Bellevue and Shoreline, Washington.