Grant will allow more dental help for McHenry County needy

McHenry County officials say they hope to double their ability to provide free dental care to low-income families after the county board Tuesday formally accepted a $255,000 grant to fund a long-sought expansion of services.

The Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation grant will allow the county to turn its part-time dental clinic into a five-days-a-week operation next year, a move officials said they believe will allow it to take on 3,000 to 5,000 more appointments a year, about twice what it handled this year.

"The need for dental services is huge," said Patrick McNulty, administrator of the McHenry County Department of Health. "We've been looking to expand our services and this gives us a leg up on that."

The county plans to use most of the funding, about $195,000, to pay salary and benefits for a full-time dentist and full-time dental assistant to staff its free clinic.

Although the grant funds are intended primarily for children's health, officials said they expect a trickle-down effect for older patients.

"We get criticism that we don't do enough for adults," said Virginia Peschke, chairman of the county board's public health and human services committee. "The nice thing about this is it is going to free up money to make care available for more adults."

The downside of the grant is that it is a one-year award. McNulty said the county wants to renew it next year or will seek other funding sources to maintain the clinic's full-time staffing beyond 2008.