[Vista, CA] – Vista Community Clinic (VCC) is proud to announce that it has been selected as one of only ten organizations nationwide to receive a $125,000 grant from the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health’s Community & Care Transformation program. This prestigious grant will support VCC’s mission to improve access to dental care, with a special focus on pediatrics patients.
The goal of this groundbreaking program is to make it easier for children and families in San Diego County to get the dental care they need. Records reveal that only about 23% of pediatric patients receive dental visits in the same year. VCC believes this grant will help find solutions to this important issue, increasing annual dental visits and the quality of life for children across the county.
The program will be based at VCC: Vale Terrace, a place that serves over 10,000 children alone. At this location, dental and pediatric services are conveniently located in the same building. This close proximity will allow VCC to enhance the coordination of care between doctors and dentists, making it simpler for families to prioritize their children’s oral health. Dental intervention during childhood has been shown to prevent many of the serious dental problem so often found later in adults, making this program that much more important to the long-term health of our county’s residents.
The proposed program will also establish a critical link between medical and dental services by introducing an Integration Coordinator; a new position at the organization made possible by grant funds. This dedicated professional will be the bridge connecting pediatric patients and parents with dental care. Their responsibilities will include facilitating warm handoffs between medical and dental departments, reminding parents of the importance of oral health, identifying new patients in need, and much more.
VCC is grateful to the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health for this generous grant opportunity, and is excited to work towards better dental care for our community’s children and families.
You can visit www.vcc.org to learn more about the programs and services they provide. You can also follow them on social media @VistaCommunityClinic.
About Vista Community Clinic
With twelve state-of-the-art locations in North San Diego, Orange and Riverside Counties, VCC provides affordable, high quality health care to more than 70,000 community residents. Services offered by VCC include primary care, pediatrics, prenatal and women’s health, optometry, chiropractic care, dental health, podiatry, acupuncture and behavioral health services. VCC also offers a wide array of community health education programs which are free and open to all community residents. VCC is recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Level 3 (highest) Patient-Centered Medical Home, and is the recipient of the HRSA National Quality Leader Seal for exceeding national clinical quality benchmarks. For more information call 760.631.5000 or visit www.vcc.org.
