|
Dr. Bill Milner has been working slowly but surely for over 15 years to develop a program in North Carolina modeled after
Apple Tree Dental. On August 7, 2000, a new nonprofit organization, called Access Dental Care officially began services
in Greensboro, North Carolina. Access Dental Care shares the mission of bringing dental care to patients lacking access
to regular dental care. At Access, services are provided 4 days a week to 15 facilities, including nursing homes, a hospital,
and comfortable surroundings.
Dr. Milner has had 25 years of experience treating elderly patients and patients with disabilities at the Randolph County Health
Department. Besides practicing dentistry, Dr. Milner has been busy lobbying legislators, foundation grant officers, dental
organizations, health advocacy groups, and anyone else who will listen about the importance of developing a nonprofit mobile
dental program. Dr. Milner maintains that one of the keys to treating patients with special needs is to bring dentistry to
where they live. “Familiar surroundings comfort patients and make things go easier. It is important to treat people in an
environment that lets them feel safe.”
A start-up grant of $376,000 from the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation made the program possible. The grant
enabled Access Dental Care to purchase an Apple Tree Multi-Site Delivery Vehicle that delivers two complete mobile dental offices.
The grant also provided funding for initial training and support services from Apple Tree and for operational cash flow needs
during the program’s start-up period. The program was designed to be self-supporting from patient and facility fees after an
initial start-up phase, but changes to Medicaid reimbursement policies have created challenges for the program.
In spite of these challenges, Dr. Milner and his hygienist Betsy Lee are determined to make the program successful and expand the
program from Greensboro to other parts of North Carolina. Dr. Milner is one of the few dentists who happened to be born with the
“special care gene”. As he puts it, “I just love this work. This is what I was meant to do.”
For more information, visit their website at:
www.accessdentalcare.org |
Dr. Bill Milner brings dentistry
to comfortable surroundings
Dr. Bill Milner, Executive Director,
and Betsy Lee, Hygienist
|