Grottoes brings smiles to special needs children
Gahanna, Ohio鈥擜t age 13, Vinnie has had “plenty of challenges” in his life, explains his mother Shirlee Serafin.
“His special needs come from cerebral palsy at birth and being diagnosed with autism at age 6. Physically, he’s in good shape and participates in Special Olympics. Still, his needs require extra special care from his dentist.” And he receives that attention, she says, at Make a Smile Children’s Dental in Folsom, Calif.
The office also provided unexpected treatment for Ms. Serafin and her husband Steve: An introduction to the Grottoes of North America Humanitarian Foundation, a registered, not-for-profit organization dedicated to funding dental care for children with special needs, headquartered in Gahanna, Ohio.
The Humanitarian Foundation was established in 1949 by the Grottoes of North America, a fraternal organization affiliated with the Masons. The Foundation’s Dental Care for Children with Special Needs program, established in 1970, helps cover the costs of dental treatment, including hospital and anesthesia costs when needed, for children under age 18 with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy (and related neuromuscular disorders), organ transplant recipients or those with mental retardation. In addition to providing funding, the program’s volunteers can help to connect special needs children and their families with trained dental professionals.
Ms. Serafin explains that “it was always a struggle for the dentist and hygienist to do any work or cleaning with Vinnie because of his anxiety and inability to relax his tongue.” The solution was sedation, at a cost of $1,500, which she says was not covered by the family’s dental or medical insurance. Vinnie’s dental procedure itself totaled $1,800, and “our share after insurance was $825,” she reports.
Make a Smile’s office administrator, Nilda Bernard, responded to Ms. Serafin’s comment about already facing costly medical bills for the family’s 11-year-old daughter, Lyndsee, also born with CP. “Nilda said she had heard about an organization that helps families with dental costs and would research it for me. We then applied for support from the Grottoes and were approved. The Grottoes generously covered everything that our insurance didn’t cover鈥攎ore than $2,000,” Ms. Serafin reports.
Important partnerships
Last year, the Grottoes’ Humanitarian Foundation paid $895,000 to assist 1,428 special needs children, says Dianna Bristle, administrative director. Since 1985 the Humanitarian Foundation has paid out $6.7 million, with more than $4 million distributed over just the last 10 years. The program does not place a limit on the amount of support per child, but Ms. Bristle says there are maximum fees for allowable dental procedures. The only stipulation is that patients not be enrolled in Medicaid.
Most donations come from members of the Grottoes of North America, their families and friends, and through gifts, wills and bequests, she says.
Participating practitioners and hospitals are as crucial as donations to DCCSN’s success, says Ms. Bristle. Tens of thousands of patients have been treated at partner institutions, starting with Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, since the program’s inception in 1970, and at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. Recently, the Foundation joined with the Shriners Hospitals for Children to provide dental care for young patients preparing for cleft lip and palate surgery at Shriners.
In addition to relying on hospitals as regional treatment centers, the DCCSN depends on partnerships with “hundreds of dentists” across the United States and Canada who are trained to treat children with special needs in their local offices, sparing families from travel time and housing expenses.
“There are many unsung heroes who daily give more than 100 percent for the sake of their patients with disabilities. This goes on across the nation and in Canada,” says Dr. David E. Shapter who practices in Erie, Pa., and recently appointed a trustee for the Humanitarian Foundation.
Vital connections
Key to raising awareness about the Foundation’s program among practitioners and families of special needs children are the local Masons who volunteer as “Doctors of Smiles.” “Many times, families who have special needs children are unable to find a dentist interested in or capable of providing dental services to these patients. The local Grotto can help parents find dentists who want to care for these special children or who may already have these children in their practice,” Dr. Shapter explains.
Although some experience and specialty training in treating special needs children is necessary for complicated cases, he says, the “only requirement for the vast majority of cases is compassion and patience. Our program wants patients to continue with their own dentists. There is no reason to disrupt an existing doctor/patient relationship that is working.”
Ms. Bristle says the Foundation strives to simplify steps for participation by both families and practitioners. The necessary forms, available on the Foundation Web site, must be completed and submitted to the local Grotto representative who typically handles paperwork for parents and dental offices, and serves as an ongoing liaison. The Humanitarian Foundation manages applications in areas where there are no local Grottoes.
“We want to let dentists across the United States and Canada know about our mission to improve the quality of life for special needs children one smile at a time. There’s nothing better than to see the before and after photos of children鈥攖hose new smiles are amazing,” says Charles Ferguson, chairman of the Foundation. He says that efforts will continue to both recruit dentists who can treat children鈥攁nd “seek their donations.”
When asked what the Grottoes program has meant to her family, Ms. Serafin says, “This really pulls at my heart strings. It is impossible to describe the feeling we had when some caring, compassionate folks, who don’t even know us, went to some extra special lengths to help us in our time of need. We are humbled and grateful.”
For more information about the Dental Care for Children with Special Needs program, contact the Grottoes of North America Humanitarian Foundation, 430 Beecher Road, Gahanna, Ohio 43230; call 1-614-933-0711; e-mail humanitarian.foundation@hfgrotto.org; or visit www.hfgrotto.org.
How the dentist became a ‘doctor of smiles’
As a practitioner and a newly appointed trustee for the Humanitarian Foundation, Dr. David E. Shapter relates how his professional and philanthropic interests converged on the mission of providing dental care to special needs children:
“My interest in treating special needs children started with my dental school training at The Ohio State University at the Nisonger Center under the guidance of Dr. Ed Sterling, who currently serves as the dental coordinator for the Humanitarian Foundation. As dental students, we were just fulfilling our requirements, but the experience stuck with me. I was next exposed to pediatric dentistry while caring for the dependent children of military families while serving with the U.S. Army Dental Corps.
“It was no surprise that I chose to specialize in pediatric dentistry when I started my private practice in Erie, Pa. After a while, I was approached by the ‘Doctor of Smiles’ for the local Grotto chapter, who was looking for a dentist to take care of a Down syndrome child. He recruited me to participate in the Grottoes of North America’s program. Basically, all I had to do was submit a written treatment proposal to be approved and submit one claim form when it was done. It was simple and straightforward. No hassles! I loved it!
“The Doctor of Smiles, who was a Realtor by profession, invited me to speak to the local Grotto, and the members welcomed me like a local hero for taking care of ‘their kids.’ The rest, as they say, is history: I joined the Masons and went on to join the Grotto, eventually taking over the job for the retiring Doctor of Smiles.
“I continued to treat my patients, recruit additional dentists, and to seek more qualifying children in neighboring communities. I also monitor several other dental providers currently participating in the program and help them as a liaison. I have progressed in the organization to serve twice as the Monarch of the local Grotto in Erie. I also have aspired to do more on the national and international level as a member of the Humanitarian Foundation, which administers the Grottoes of North America dental care program. In fall 2009, I was fortunate to be appointed as trustee to the Humanitarian Foundation.”