A Minnesota dental clinic has only been able to open for a total of seven days so far this year because of staff turnover and a lack of volunteers, the Post Bulletin reported March 3.
Four notes:
1. The Salvation Army Good Samaritan Health Clinic in Rochester, Minn., includes Salvation Army staff members and volunteer dental professionals to serve patients.
2. The clinic can serve patients four days a week for three hours each day with a full staff, but a shortage of staff and volunteers led the clinic to only be open for three days in January and four days in February.
3. After losing several staff members and volunteers in recent months, the clinic added new staff and is working on training them to return to their usual clinical capacity. The clinic has also hired a new clinic coordinator.
4. The clinic is currently searching for a new hygienist and additional volunteers, and also plans to relaunch its dental consultancy committee to support the clinic.