Chestnut Health Systems plans to open a dental clinic in Bloomington, Ill., to serve people who are uninsured or under Medicaid, WGLT reported Sept. 27.
Chestnut Health Systems is a nonprofit offering behavioral health and human services in Illinois and Missouri.
The organization was given $430,000 in federal funds for the facility, but it's estimated that the clinic will cost a total of $1.3 million. The nonprofit will rely on the John M. Scott Commission from the city of Bloomington, the Delta Dental Foundation and the state-funded Medicaid Innovation Collaborative to fund the rest of the project.
The new clinic will help relieve Bloomington-Normal hospital of patients with dental emergencies. The hospital emergency rooms already see 1,500 patients in need of dental care each year, Chestnut CEO Dave Sharar, PhD, said.