Joe Kennedy

Joe Kennedy is routinely named the region's best writer by readers of The Roanoker magazine.

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Dr. Terry Dickinson will have a simple message for the organizers of Roanoke's first Mission of Mercy dental outreach project when he speaks to them Thursday evening.

The message is, "Be prepared for chaos."

Fortunately, Dickinson, the executive director of the Virginia Dental Association, will assure them that everything will settle down a few hours after the program begins the next day.

At 5:30 a.m. or earlier on Friday and Saturday, underserved, uninsured adults in the Roanoke Valley will form a first come, first served line outside the Roanoke Civic Center and wait for the doors to open at 6:30 a.m.

From then until noon, they'll have their teeth and gums evaluated and be sent over to the complex's Special Events Center, where some 50 dental chairs will await them.

Those still waiting at the cutoff will have to come back the next day.

Talent abounds

A total of 75 general dentists and dental specialists, 70 dental assistants, 37 dental hygienists and 80 students from the VCU School of Dentistry in Richmond will volunteer their skills.

They will be assisted by 37 volunteer nurses and other medical staffers and more than 300 nondental volunteers.

Free medical tests will be administered as well.

The work is expected to continue until about 6 p.m. each day.

Relatively few dental professionals provide comprehensive, affordable care to underserved adults who don't have dental insurance.

They include the elderly, the disabled, the unemployed and anyone who earns too little to qualify for other programs.

The dental mission is aimed at adults over age 18.

Since it made its debut in Wise in 2000, more than 21,000 patients in Virginia have received more than $9 million worth of free dental care.

Worth the wait

In Wise, people line up the night before the gates open.

In Roanoke, dental procedures will include cleanings, fillings and extractions.

On Friday only, people in need of root canals will be taken to a dental office for the procedure and brought back.

The VDA designed the model for the missions and will provide the Roanoke event with management and logistical support and supplies.

Local people and organizations have raised $42,500 in cash and thousands more in noncash contributions from churches, agencies and businesses.

Roanoke's municipal administration has pitched in with free use of the civic center, among other things.

About 18 months of work have brought the project to this point, said Robin Haldiman, chairwoman of the Community Based Health Care Coalition.

The list of participating agencies, clubs, organizations and individuals is too long to print.

(It is not too late to volunteer. Just call Betty Whittaker of the American Red Cross at 985-3546.)

Haldiman called the event "quite the undertaking" and said the planning may have been more complicated than anyone imagined.

Luckily, she said, "We're all very detail-oriented."

A thousand patients or more may be served over the two days.

The civic center's gates will open at 4 a.m.

When the doors open at 6:30 a.m., prospective patients will wait inside, where free breakfasts and lunches will be available.

"We'll solve every problem that comes up," Dickinson said, on behalf of the team, "and take care of every issue that needs to be taken care of."

When Haldiman took part in a Mission of Mercy in Grundy, she saw "a bunch of very grateful people that were so thankful to get care."

The volunteers benefited, too.

"At the end of the day," she said, "there's nothing that feels better. You're helping people that can't get help any other way."

Joe Kennedy's column runs Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.