[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 58 (Monday, April 14, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2249-H2250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       PRESIDENT SHOULD SIGN SCHIP BILL TO HELP WORKING AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Madam Speaker, I rise in the well today to talk about 
an event that occurred last weekend on Saturday in Tolland, 
Connecticut, which is a suburban town about 20 miles east of Hartford.
  The Connecticut State Dental Society held an open free clinic under a 
program called Mission of Mercy, which is a group of dentists around 
the country that organize operatories and equipment to go into 
communities and basically open the doors and say anybody who needs 
dental care, come and we will take care of you. The advertising for 
this event in Connecticut was modest. There were some TV public service 
announcements, there were some small notices in the press.
  The Dental Society had organized about 180 dentists, a number of 
hygienists and staff to be with the group that morning. Much to their 
amazement, people started lining up for this event at 6 o'clock the 
prior evening, Friday evening, and by 4 o'clock in the morning, when 
the dentists actually arrived to start setting up the operation, there 
were already 350 people waiting in line to get their care. By 5 o'clock 
in the morning, the crowd had grown to the point where the Connecticut 
State Police had to come out and actually turn people away.
  At about 5:30 in the morning, the heavens opened up. There was 
thunder, lightning, and it rained, it was pouring rain, hard rain on 
the crowd, and none would leave, because they were terrified of losing 
their place in line and being deprived of the opportunity to get an 
extraction, to get a filling, to get their teeth cleaned, because they 
were so desperate to get dental care. Looking at the pictures in the 
press the following day of people literally huddled in the rain waiting 
to try and get an opportunity to get their teeth taken care of, it 
really made you wonder what country are we living in.
  Tolland, Connecticut, where this is being held, is suburban 
Connecticut. This is not a distressed area. This is not an urban area 
with large pockets of chronic poverty. It is a suburban area with 
working families and working individuals who definitely earn a paycheck 
and provide a standard of living that would be described as middle 
class for themselves and their families. But when I joined the dental 
clinic later in the day around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, 800 people 
were at that point lined up to be served. They had turned away hundreds 
of others. People were waiting in the stands of a gymnasium, waiting 
for an opportunity to get their teeth taken care of.
  Now, why am I talking about this on the floor of the United States 
Congress? The reason is because there is

[[Page H2250]]

legislation that has been sitting on the President's desk, the SCHIP 
bill, the children's health insurance extension, over which there has 
been a lot of fighting and debating going on in this Chamber over the 
last few months or so.
  One of the overlooked parts of that legislation is that in addition 
to standardizing a 300 percent poverty threshold so that working 
families would have an opportunity to have their children covered by 
health insurance, it would also strengthen the dental coverage under 
the SCHIP program.
  If you talk to any dentist or any healthcare provider in this 
country, they will tell you that under the existing SCHIP program, the 
dental coverage is inadequate. That is why in those stands in that high 
school gymnasium there were families with children who have never had 
their teeth cleaned, who needed in some instances to have their teeth 
extracted because of the fact that they have no other type of decent 
coverage for their dental care.
  Unfortunately, President Bush has twice vetoed this legislation, 
legislation that has been endorsed by the March of Dimes, by the 
Catholic Hospital Association, by the American Medical Association, by 
the Pharmaceutical Association of America, a broad consensus of 
stakeholders in the healthcare system that have come together and said 
if there is one area of dispute that we ought to agree on as Americans, 
it is that children should have their health insurance covered. In 
particular, we should make that sure that oral and dental healthcare is 
done in a fashion to make sure they are going to have a lifetime of 
decent dental care. Because if you talk to anyone who is in pediatrics, 
they will tell you that dental care, dentistry care, is essential to 
making sure that a young person will grow and thrive.
  Well, what we saw in Connecticut on Saturday is I think a perfect 
example of how broken the system is. What is frustrating to me, and I 
think so many others, is that we have an opportunity with a piece of 
legislation to make a real difference in the lives of young children in 
America, to make sure that they will not be stuck in the pouring rain 
and in thunder and lightning, so they can get access to what I think 
almost any reasonable person would describe as basic, fundamental, 
decent healthcare.
  Madam Speaker, I have a copy of the Hartford Courant coverage of this 
extraordinary event that took place in Connecticut from the Sunday 
Hartford Courant edition which I am going to ask to be made part of the 
Record. I would just like to read the final passage of the article, 
which described a 67-year-old Stafford Springs woman, which is, again, 
a suburb of Connecticut.
  ``As she walked back to her parking lot with no umbrella, soaking wet 
from the rain, struggling to catch her breath from the walk, the woman 
said she had come to get her tooth pulled, but already knew she would 
never get in. Like the others, she can't afford dental insurance.'' 
When she was asked what she was going to do, she said, ``Just going to 
pray, I guess.''
  She should be able to ask for more than that. She should ask for real 
action by this Congress to pass healthcare legislation so that 
Americans will get the care they need.
  Madam Speaker, I include the article for the Record.

                   [From Courant.com, April 13, 2008]

             Many Turned Away From Free Dental Care Clinic

                           (By Colin Poitras)

       The line of taillights glowing in the pre-dawn darkness 
     snaked back nearly a mile from the old Tolland High School on 
     Saturday.
       Closer to the school, people were walking along the side of 
     the road, a steady stream of dark silhouettes rising out of 
     the morning mist like refugees in a war zone.
       There were elderly couples clutching their canes, hunched-
     over veterans, single mothers with young children in tow. A 
     woman on crutches limping along.
       It was 5 a.m., and they came by the hundreds, a throng of 
     pilgrims with a common goal--free dental care.
       Some heard about it on the radio, others saw it on TV or 
     read about it in the newspaper. Connecticut's Mission of 
     Mercy, the first ever single, large-scale free dental clinic 
     to be offered in the state.
       ``This shows we have a broken system and have to find some 
     way to correct it,'' said Dr. Bob Schreibman, a Glastonbury 
     pediatric dentist and one of the Connecticut mission's 
     organizers. ``This is not a solution. This is a stop-gap 
     measure to address people's immediate needs. This points out 
     there is a huge need even in this, the richest state in the 
     country.''
       Inside the school, more than 190 volunteer dentists were 
     waiting along with 800 volunteers. Free fillings, check-ups, 
     extractions. No questions asked.
       The high school's cafeteria and gym were outfitted like a 
     field hospital, with 60 dental chairs shipped in from the 
     Midwest, portable X-ray machines and boxes upon boxes of 
     latex gloves and sterilized dental tools.
       The crush of patients was so large that by 7 a.m., people 
     were being turned away.
       When Carol Dingledey, executive director of the Connecticut 
     State Dental Association, arrived to set up at 4 a.m., there 
     were already 350 people outside the door. Some came the night 
     before and camped out. Others drove hours in the dark hoping 
     to be seen.
       ``It just goes to show you how many people don't have 
     dental insurance,'' said Mary, a 70-year-old woman, standing 
     in a line of about 100 people outside the school at 5:30 
     a.m.
       Leaning on her cane, Mary, who didn't want to give her last 
     name, said she spent her entire life working and raising nine 
     children and grandchildren. Now on limited income, she can't 
     afford dental insurance, never mind pay fees out of her 
     pocket. She hasn't been to a dentist in eight years. Her 
     teeth hurt. She needs a filling, and a cap had come off.
       ``I've never been on welfare; I've never had to struggle to 
     get by,'' Mary said. ``But here it is. This is the bottom of 
     the line. I'm just trying to get by.''
       About a half-mile away in the parking lot of the new 
     Tolland High School, where organizers had set up a shuttle 
     parking area, Rhonda Slattery, 54, sat in her motorized 
     wheelchair waiting for her husband, Joe. They had just 
     finished the hourlong ride from Barkhamsted and weren't sure 
     the school bus shuttling people to the make-shift clinic was 
     handicapped accessible.
       ``I'm just amazed at the number of people here at this hour 
     of the morning,'' said Rhonda Slattery, whose limited Social 
     Security disability income makes it difficult for her to 
     afford dental care.
       As she spoke, the sky opened up and it started to rain. 
     Hard.
       Inside the school at 7 a.m., what could be the largest 
     waiting room in Connecticut was packed to its 700- seat 
     capacity. The auditorium was full of people: more retirees, 
     working people, college kids, entire families. Some huddled 
     under blankets. Others sat quietly, waiting for their number 
     to be called, many of their faces swollen or creased in pain.
       In the triage area just outside the auditorium, dentists 
     peered into people's mouths with portable flashlights. Nurses 
     and dental assistants hustled about--checking blood 
     pressures, taking X-rays, injecting Novocain.
       In the gymnasium, down the hall the high-pitched whine of 
     dental drills floated above the crowd as dozens of dentists 
     treated patients. Those awaiting care sat in the bleachers, 
     then moved to metal folding chairs before reaching the dental 
     chairs. A squad of stand-by dentists stood off to the side, 
     scrubbed and ready, waiting to replace their peers when their 
     hands cramped and they needed a break.
       The two-day clinic opened at 5 and the work would not stop 
     until 5 p.m. Today it continues from 5 a.m. to noon.
       Sitting among the throng were Susan and Brian Boyce of 
     Eastford, both 41, who came to the clinic with their seven 
     children--from age 12 down to 11 months. (The baby was just 
     along for the ride.) Brian is an executive director at the 
     Porter and Chester Institute. Susan is a registered nurse who 
     stays home with the kids.
       But they don't have dental insurance and with annual dental 
     check-ups costing more than $1,000 a year, paying for even 
     routine dental care is difficult, they said.
       ``The dentists don't take payment plans, they want the 
     money up front, and that's a big chunk of money when you try 
     to go every year,'' Susan said.
       Shortly after 7 a.m. the clinic was maxed out. Organizers 
     began turning people away at the door. The backlog was so 
     deep that it would take the rest of the day just to treat 
     those already there. Later in the morning, the clinic 
     reopened briefly, and another 100 or so patients were let in. 
     It abruptly closed again by 10 a.m.
       For some, the clinic is a blessing, a reprieve from their 
     aches and pain. But for those who didn't get inside, the 
     struggle continues. Many in the pre-dawn dark turned back 
     upon seeing the long line.
       ``It's pretty bad,'' said one 67-year-old Stafford Springs 
     woman, as she walked back to the parking lot with no 
     umbrella, soaking wet from the rain. Struggling to catch her 
     breath from the walk, the woman said she had come to get her 
     tooth pulled at 5 a.m. but already knew she'd never get in. 
     Like the others, she can't afford dental insurance.
       As she climbed into her car, the woman was asked what she 
     was going to do. Water dripped off her hair as she wearily 
     shook her head.
       ``Just going to pray, I guess.''

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