Inadequate health care often means living with pain. Good deeds by a Florence dentist and the Canna Care Docs clinic in Northampton are easing that pain in a lasting way.
Dr. Sue Keller is concluding the first year of a program she calls “Sharing Smiles” that provides free services for up to five patients who otherwise could not afford dental care. “It’s nice to have the opportunity to work with some folks where you can actually help them out and make a difference,” said Keller, who has had her Strong & Healthy Smiles practice at 40 Main St. in Florence since 2007.
Among those benefiting is 67-year-old retired nurse Diane Greenwood, of Florence, who has lived for years with gum disease and constant pain in her mouth. Greenwood said after she retired she did not have enough money to pay for the treatment needed as her gums receded, bone dissolved and teeth started falling out. “My mouth has always been in pain. There wasn’t a day when my mouth didn’t hurt,” she said.
That has improved after nearly a year of visits to Keller’s office, and Greenwood was pleasantly surprised to learn that a number of her teeth could be saved. “I feel very fortunate. I feel very blessed,” she said.
Keller previously had a dental practice in Greenfield, and she remembers being called more than a decade ago by a doctor who asked if she would see a man in his 80s with broken teeth. She donated her services and made him more comfortable by removing the teeth that were hurting. “That made a real difference to him,” Keller recalls.
After her move to Florence, she decided to help people who do not qualify for state assistance, yet are struggling financially. She received nine nominations from family, friends and co-workers, selected five patients and three have received regular care this year. Keller also gives them advice about practicing good oral hygiene to help prevent recurring problems.
She is taking applications through Dec. 19 for a second “Sharing Smiles” group in 2017. Keller said she plans to take on between three and five new patients each year. “It’s a simple thing I can do.”
Another simple yet lasting service was offered when Canna Care Docs waived its $200 fee for 60 veterans who visited the clinic at 243 King St. on Nov. 19 for consultations needed to qualify for medical marijuana cards. Canna Care does the same at all its clinics in Massachusetts and Maine as a way of “giving back to the community like any good business,” said director of operations Kathleen McKinnon.
Canna Care offers the free consultations to veterans because many suffer pain resulting from physical injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder, and medicinal marijuana is an alternative to addictive opioids.
Among the veterans at the Canna Care clinic last month in Northampton was Stephen Mandile, of Uxbridge, a U.S. Army veteran who was wounded in 2005 while serving in Iraq. He returned with a fused spine and brain injury, as well as PTSD, and said he was taking an array of painkillers, including morphine, oxycodone, Xanax and fentanyl. The opioids left him living dose-to-dose and rarely leaving his home.
That changed in 2015 when Mandile began using medicinal marijuana and eventually stopped taking the opioids. Though he still feels the effects of his injuries, Mandile said he is a different man: “I went from being dead inside to waking up again.”
McKinnon said Canna Care Docs has provided free consultations valued at $300,000 in its seven clinics since May 2014, and she expects the program will continue indefinitely.
Keller and Canna Care Docs are models among health-care professionals in finding ways to have a lasting impact to help reduce discomfort for people who otherwise would have trouble affording proper care. We hope others in the health professions consider how they might join that relief mission.