[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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