Dentists Who Care - a partnership of Weslaco FUMC
Dentists Who Care is a private, non-profit charitable organization that was created in 1996 to help solve the problem of poor oral health among children in the Rio Grande Valley. Their mission is to improve and enhance the quality of life for low-income families who have no dental insurance through access to oral health care.
To accomplish their goal, the organization directs the volunteer efforts of over 200 dentists and their dental assistants who donate their services on board a mobile dental unit. If the children need additional treatments, they are issued a voucher. As part of the Charity Dental Voucher Program, this allows for the children to receive comprehensive treatments from the comfort of the dentists’ offices at no cost to their families.
We were a partner in ministry with Dentists Who Care from November 2017 through January 2020 under the leadership of our Wesley Nurse, Omar Chavez, Jr. DWC is currently in a transition phase and we hope to resume our partnership with them in the near future.
To date, the organization has provided over $9.5 million dollars in charitable care to over 27,000 children (and adults). The work done in Weslaco since November 2017 totals over $225,000 plus another $75,000 in specialty work done by referral vouchers!