{"id":1039,"date":"2017-08-31T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T16:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2017-09-10T15:20:58","modified_gmt":"2017-09-10T19:20:58","slug":"for-a-good-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1039","title":{"rendered":"For a Good Cause"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amaus Dental Services\u00a0<\/em><\/h1>\n

Photography by Ana Gil-Taylor<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

For the past three years, Amaus Dental Services has provided dental care for the poor and uninsured of Central New York, people who might not otherwise have an opportunity for dental care. This month, we sat down with their administrative director, Kathleen Komar, to talk about the organization\u2019s recent expansion and model of sustainable services. <\/em><\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. <\/em><\/p>\n

SWM: Since its founding by Dr. David Dasher, Amaus Dental Services has grown by leaps and bounds. Talk about that evolution. <\/em>
\nKathleen: We\u2019re just amazed at what has happened in three years, and the number of patients [we\u2019ve helped]. There\u2019s no sensation that compares with helping other people. There just isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

SWM: Who does Amaus Dental Services primarily serve? <\/em>
\nKathleen: You\u2019ll find out that the Affordable Care Act does not touch dental. And New York state does not have any safety net for dental, vision or a lot of hearing for adults. So this is the path that they have, if they have an infection. Typically, they\u2019ve neglected their dental care for a decade or more. So when they come to us, they have urgent needs.<\/p>\n

SWM: Talk about Amaus Dental Services’ stress on sustainable services. <\/em>
\nKathleen: Our work continues to have a positive impact long after Amaus Dental Services has finished with a patient. There are all these different areas in how that fits.
\nIf we have a patient who comes in for a cleaning, we will follow up with that patient. So after the initial cleaning, three months later, we will call them, and we\u2019ll get them booked for their six-month follow-up.
\nAnother way the sustainable service continues to give back is through our volunteers. Another thing that\u2019s really near and dear to our hearts is that we have become a training facility. We train [students] to be dental assistants, and they learn more here than they could have learned anywhere else.
\nOnce they get their degree and they set up their practice somewhere, we hope they\u2019ll remember their volunteer experience here. So whatever community they\u2019re in, they will in turn give back and they will help that population as well.<\/p>\n

SWM: Did you ever imagine that it would turn into a training facility? <\/em>
\nKathleen: [We] never did. Dr. Matthew Hall \u2014 he is in charge of the residents at St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital \u2014 he sends his residents down here, and they rotate through.
\nNot only are the residents getting a full education here on care from the head up; they will be exposed to a segment of the population they will need to know how to administer to.<\/p>\n

SWM: Talk about how Amaus Dental is funded. <\/em>
\nKathleen: We have approached national foundations, and they have given us quite a bit of money to continue what we do here. We do a lot of grant writing, and to date, we\u2019ve never had someone turn us away when applying for a grant.
\nAnd now we have another stream of revenue, which is so exciting. There are now these benefits that are in our honor. We\u2019ve received so many awards. What\u2019s going on here is definitely being acknowledged. It\u2019s amazing how people are just making this as vibrant as it can be.
\nWe were able to raise $150,000 in cash for this expansion. [In] total, it was about $229,000 with the equipment that was donated, and that\u2019s what it took to have what we have today.<\/p>\n

SWM: How do you get dentists involved?<\/em>
\nKathleen: Word of mouth. It was a calling for some of the dentists. They retired and they want to continue that patient interaction. And when you tell them, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to go to Haiti to really make a difference,\u201d they realize, \u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d The poverty in Syracuse is so high that we\u2019re really only scratching the surface of the need here. SWM<\/em><\/p>\n

To get involved or donate to Amaus Dental Services, visit amausdentalservices.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow Officially-Unofficial<\/a> for a video on Amaus Dental Services’ recent transformation!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amaus Dental Services\u00a0 Photography by Ana Gil-Taylor For the past three years, Amaus Dental Services has provided dental care for the poor and uninsured of Central New York, people who might not otherwise have an opportunity for dental care. This month, we sat down with their administrative director, Kathleen Komar, to talk about the organization\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[334,303,152,322],"class_list":["post-1039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-causes","tag-amaus-dental-services","tag-ana-gil-taylor","tag-for-a-good-cause","tag-september-2017"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cropped-SWM-logo-use-this-one.jpg?fit=930%2C448&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1431,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1431","url_meta":{"origin":1039,"position":0},"title":"New Year, New Smile","author":"Staff","date":"January 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"What Happens When Women Work Together Photography by Alice G. 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