Restoring Shortages Due to Dentists Donations to Hospitals in Beginning of Pandemic
Tigard, Oregon (June 1, 2020) – Back in early March, Washington County Dentists closed their dental offices in compliance with Oregon State orders due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The dental community of Washington County quickly responded, closed their doors to patients, and for the most part, turned over their existing personal protective equipment (PPE) to local hospitals, paying it forward to help with the shortage.
Now that Governor, Kate Brown has allowed dental offices to start serving their patients again, many dentists must limit staff and hours due to PPE shortages of their own. As a response, the Washington County Dental Society (WCDS) Executive Director, Becky Peterson, Secretary-Treasurer, Dr. Alex Marrero and, President, Dr. Susan Weinberg, made the decision to use WCDS funds to purchase PPE gowns for their dental community. WCDS purchased 5,500 protective gowns to be distributed to local dentists, free of charge to the dentists.
The WCDS worked with Nicholle Kennedy of BioSkin, an Oregon based company in Medford, OR, to secure the PPE quickly and efficiently. President of WCDS, Dr. Weinberg stated, “Our dental community here in Washington County stepped up in a big way to offer help when PPE was very much needed in our hospitals. WCDS honors its local dentists for their donations and wants to donate back in kind by providing PPE to help dentists protect themselves and their patients is something we can do”.
The objective of the Washington County Dental Society is to encourage the improvement of dental health to the public, and to promote the art and science of dentistry, encourage dental health education, and provide a safe secure environment for the support of dental professionals.
For more information please contact the Washington County Dental Society. Phone: (503) 848-5605
or Email: contact@wacountydental.org