Has Compassion, Will Drill
By: Carole Fleck; Source: AARP Bulletin Date Posted: 2006-09-15 14:52:00-04:00
In the decade that Shirley Boykin went without dental care, she lost more teeth than she cares to admit.
Then she found the Free People's Clinic in Chicago, one of the few community clinics nationwide that offer free medical and dental care to working poor, unemployed and older clients, the "people who fall through the cracks," says clinic director Edward Schaaf.
"What we often find is that people who've not had access to dental care walk around with a mouthful of abscesses or bad teeth," says Schaaf, 74, who started the clinic's all-volunteer dental program more than 20 years ago. "For every call we get for medical care, we get 10 calls for dental care."
When Boykin, 64, went to the clinic, Schaaf told her he wanted to help. "I told him I didn't have any money, and he said, 'I didn't ask you for anything.' He wanted to help the needy," she says. "He's an angel."
Many patients at Schaaf's clinic get by with a small pension or Social Security. "They're barely eking out an existence," he says. "Where are they going to come up with $1,200 for new dentures?"
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