R.I., Mass. agencies receive federal funds to expand oral health services

PROVIDENCE – Two Rhode Island health centers will share $771,607 in funding to expand oral health services and increase the number of patients served, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said in a news release Thursday.
Northwest Community Health Care in the Pascoag section of Burrillville received $246,608 in funding, while Providence Community Health Centers Inc. received $524,999 in funding.
Massachusetts also received 15 awards, including several in Bristol County. Fall River’s Healthfirst Family Care Center Inc. and New Bedford’s Greater New Bedford Community Health Center Inc. each received $350,000.
Nearly $156 million in funding, from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, was awarded to support 420 health centers in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The funding will allow the health centers to increase their oral health service capacity by hiring approximately 1,600 new dentists, dental hygienists, assistants, aides and technicians to treat nearly 785,000 new patients, according to a news release.

Said Burwell, “The funding we are awarding will reduce barriers to quality dental care for hundreds of thousands of Americans by bringing new oral health providers to health centers across the country.”

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