UMC posted the following story written by Kate Royals.
Dr.
Lake Garner, a 1996 alumnus of the University of Mississippi School of
Dentistry, is giving back in a big way to his school and the community
it serves.
Beginning
in February, Garner is committing $20,000 a year to help dental
students and faculty members provide free treatment for elementary
students in the Jackson Public School district. This will mark the 14th year of Give Kids a Smile, which makes up one day of the school’s annual Dental Mission Week.
The
American Dental Association began the national Give Kids a Smile
program in 2003 as a way for dentists to join with the community to
provide dental services to underserved children.
In
2017, the School of Dentistry incorporated Give Kids a Smile into a
new, weeklong effort providing care to underserved and uninsured adults
and veterans from across the state. In its third year, students and
faculty treated more than 1,300 – nearly 400 of them children – during
Dental Mission Week.
“Throughout
my career, I have treated a great amount of children, and adults, who
were not given access to proper dental care early on,” Garner, the chief
executive officer of Garner Dental Group, said. “To achieve a lifelong
health smile, children must understand the importance of good oral
hygiene and be offered the opportunity to achieve such at an early age.
Every child deserves the chance at a healthy smile.”
Hattiesburg-based Garner Dental Group operates 15 locations in Mississippi and one in Mobile, Alabama, and employs 200 people.
Dr.
David Felton, dean of the School of Dentistry, says Give Kids a Smile
is an integral part of the school, and he is extremely grateful for
Garner’s commitment to it.
“That
Dr. Garner has stepped up to help sponsor GKAS enables the school to
provide additional services to these children and help offset the
expense associated with the week’s events,” Felton said. “We are
extremely grateful to Dr. Garner for his support of the GKAS program and
of his support of the School of Dentistry. His visionary gift should
set the bar for future giving to the School of Dentistry and our
outreach programs.”
10 comments:
Nice gesture. I'm also impressed with simple things like buying a boy a sport coat for an interview and showing him how to tie a tie. Little things matter. Pride during an interview is a winner.
Rather they practice on them than me !
They bill the dental services of the JPS kids to Medicaid or Chips. Not free to taxpayers.
You have any evidence to support that claim, 10:11?
More free stuff to them, but not for us.
I doubt that, 10:11, but at minimum, it's a charitable deduction. In any event, they could make more money at work in the office or have more fun using this time for deer camp.
@10:11, when you don't know what you're talking about, do us all a favor and just refrain from commenting. Nothing about the Give Kids A Smile effort gets billed to any agency, person, government program, etc. It's FREE! Totally free. UMMC's dental school organizes their GKAS event and then many dentists throughout the state (and nation) hold events too. Dr. Garner chose to fund/provide dental services in conjunction with UMMC's event, which was smart of him because now the UMMC PR machine is publicizing his donation/volunteerism. In the spirit of the Christmas season, let's applaud this gift and not post stupid comments tearing it down.
"It's for the children." (Adolph Hitler, 1938)
I had a dental appointment this morning and asked my dentist about the claim that they (he volunteers his time) file medicare and medicaid claims. He laughed, and, in effect, said that's bullshit. He totally volunteers his time and the time of his staff who are also there. And he pays his staff for showing up for the volunteer services.
@4:17 You should be old enough to know that you should NOT believe everything (or possibly anything) your healthcare provider tells you related to billing or funding. It is NOT a subject 95% of them like to discuss AT ALL with anybody.....and probably never with patients.
Signed, a licensed healthcare practitioner of 30 years.
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