CARECREDIT® PRESENTS FIFTH CONSECUTIVE $100,000 DONATION
TO GIVE KIDS A SMILE® FUND
CareCredit, the nation’s leading patient payment program, continued its support as founding donor of the American Dental Association Foundation Give Kids A Smile Fund with its fifth consecutive $100,000 donation. The donation was made at the Give Kids A Smile National Advisory Board meeting, February 23, 2011, in Chicago. The funding will help the American Dental Association Foundation continue to make grants that support the Give Kids A Smile Program.
The American Dental Association’s Give Kids A Smile program has several objectives:
- to raise awareness of the high level of oral disease suffered by children primarily from low income families;
- to demonstrate dentistry’s commitment to addressing access to care;
- to enable volunteer dental teams across the country to provide free dental care, screening, and education to children in need; and
- to urge policymakers to increase funding for children’s oral health.
In 2010, with the help of CareCredit’s contribution, the ADA Foundation awarded grants to the Hispanic Dental Association (HDA), the National Dental Association (NDA) and Oral Health America. The HDA is using its grant to fund local dental-student-led oral health programs in Los Angeles, San Antonio and Boston, to expand their mobile dental van program and participation in local health clinics. The NDA is enhancing the Deamonte Driver Dental Project, a memorial to a young boy who died from an infection in his brain that was caused by untreated dental decay, to reach more elementary schools and expand mobile dental van services. Oral Health America’s grant funds have been distributed to Smiles Across America sites in California, Minnesota and Nevada, which has enabled thousands of children to receive education, preventive care and restorative services.
“Dental disease among children is a serious issue in the United States. When a child has disease and pain, it makes it difficult for them to eat, sleep and learn. CareCredit became the Founding Donor of the American Dental Association Foundation Give Kids A Smile Fund to help increase children’s access to treatment throughout the year,” stated board member and Senior Vice President of Marketing at CareCredit, Cindy Hearn. “Each year we are so impressed with how the grant recipients use the funds to reach out in their community.”
“The ADA Foundation and its Give Kids A Smile Fund greatly appreciate CareCredit’s continuing support. CareCredit’s generosity will play a key role in helping Give Kids A Smile achieve its goal of cavity-free kids by 2020,” stated Dr. David A. Whiston, President, ADA Foundation.
Today, CareCredit is offered in more than 86,000 enrolled dental practices. CareCredit is exclusively selected for their members by most state and national dental associations, and is also recommended by leading practice management consultants. For more information on CareCredit, call 1-800-300-3046 ext. 4519 or visit www.carecredit.com/dental. Information on Give Kids A Smile® can be found at www.givekidsasmile.ada.org.
ADA is a registered trademark of the American Dental Association. ADA Business Resources is a service mark of the American Dental Association. ADA Business Resources is a program brought to you by ADA Business Enterprises, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Dental Association.
GKAS donation photo caption: CareCredit, founding donor of the ADA Foundation Give Kids A Smile Fund, presents a $100,000 donation during the GKAS National Advisory Board meeting Feb. 23 in Chicago. On hand for the presentation are, from left, Dr. William R. Calnon, ADA president-elect; Jeff Beutler, ADA Foundation interim CEO; Cindy Hearn, CareCredit senior vice president, Marketing; Steve Kess, Henry Schein, Inc. vice president, Global Professional Relations; and Dr. Raymond F. Gist, ADA president.
Photo provided courtesy of ADA News. Copyright © 2011 American Dental Association. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
