The Community Health Care Connections is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization connecting uninsured and underinsured vulnerable individuals to urgent medical care and basic health navigation, referral and advocacy services.

Located in Battle Creek, Community HealthCare Connections is the umbrella organization resulting from the merger of the Nursing Clinic of Battle Creek and Calhoun Health Plan. CHC strives to meet the health goals of its community where the need is greatest and to reach out to populations that are underserved (such as the newly unemployed and the underinsured). CHC also collaborates with local organizations like Dentists Partnership and Preventative Dental Services Initiatives.

The Dentists Partnership is a pay-it forward initiative that coordinates volunteer work of local community dentists to serve the needs of the community’s most vulnerable citizens. Those who receive donated dental care “pay it forward” by volunteering in their own time at local community nonprofit organizations.

Importantly, this program also seeks to educate each patient. Each patient receives one-hour of classroom instruction on proper oral hygiene, diet, and nutrition to improve oral health behaviors for a lifetime.

In 2010 the Dentists Partnership provided care to 780 people through 1,159 donated dental treatments. These patients, in return, served 14,724 hours of volunteer service at 67 local non-profit organizations. Through this initiative, local emergency room visits for dental pain has been reduced by 69.4 percent.

The care provided through the Dentist’s Partnership is provided at no charge to the patient. The expense in coordinating the program lies with staff and supplies. The Michigan Dental Association Foundation grant will be used to help support and continue the initiative.

In addition, the partnership is teaching the community about the importance and power of truly collaborative work, the relevance of good relationships to good outcomes, and the importance of recognizing the value and ability of contribution by every human being, regardless of income or social circumstance.

“We provide the foundation for lasting oral health in patients we serve and their immediate families,” says Samantha Pearl, executive director of Community HealthCare Connections. “We improve the utilization of community resources by shifting utilization from emergent and expensive to preventive and relatively inexpensive. We change the way the uninsured access care. We change our community through reliable support of local nonprofit organizations. We intervene and provide treatment and relief for patients with crisis dental pain and jaw disease. We introduce volunteerism to many who have never experienced it before.”  

The Community Health Care Connections is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization connecting uninsured and underinsured vulnerable individuals to urgent medical care and basic health navigation, referral and advocacy services.

Located in Battle Creek, Community HealthCare Connections is the umbrella organization resulting from the merger of the Nursing Clinic of Battle Creek and Calhoun Health Plan. CHC strives to meet the health goals of its community where the need is greatest and to reach out to populations that are underserved (such as the newly unemployed and the underinsured). CHC also collaborates with local organizations like Dentists Partnership and Preventative Dental Services Initiatives.

The Dentists Partnership is a pay-it forward initiative that coordinates volunteer work of local community dentists to serve the needs of the community’s most vulnerable citizens. Those who receive donated dental care “pay it forward” by volunteering in their own time at local community nonprofit organizations.

Importantly, this program also seeks to educate each patient. Each patient receives one-hour of classroom instruction on proper oral hygiene, diet, and nutrition to improve oral health behaviors for a lifetime.

In 2010 the Dentists Partnership provided care to 780 people through 1,159 donated dental treatments. These patients, in return, served 14,724 hours of volunteer service at 67 local non-profit organizations. Through this initiative, local emergency room visits for dental pain has been reduced by 69.4 percent.

The care provided through the Dentist’s Partnership is provided at no charge to the patient. The expense in coordinating the program lies with staff and supplies. The Michigan Dental Association Foundation grant will be used to help support and continue the initiative.

In addition, the partnership is teaching the community about the importance and power of truly collaborative work, the relevance of good relationships to good outcomes, and the importance of recognizing the value and ability of contribution by every human being, regardless of income or social circumstance.

“We provide the foundation for lasting oral health in patients we serve and their immediate families,” says Samantha Pearl, executive director of Community HealthCare Connections. “We improve the utilization of community resources by shifting utilization from emergent and expensive to preventive and relatively inexpensive. We change the way the uninsured access care. We change our community through reliable support of local nonprofit organizations. We intervene and provide treatment and relief for patients with crisis dental pain and jaw disease. We introduce volunteerism to many who have never experienced it before.”