Category: News

Arcora Foundation awards $500,000 in grants to help address unmet dental care needs

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Child receives care from community health center dentist

Grants enable expanded access to essential dental care at two Puget Sound clinics, underscores value of community health centers.

Greater access to essential dental care will soon be available in Snohomish and Pierce counties. Residents who face barriers to preventive oral health care and dental treatments will have more options.

Arcora Foundation—which advances oral health across Washington state—awarded a total of $500,000 to two community health centers to help expand capacity and access to care. The two non-profits—Community Health Care in Pierce County and Community Health Center of Snohomish County—will help expand dental access in both regions for families with lower incomes, seniors on fixed incomes, veterans, Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, and rural residents.

“Communities across Washington state have unmet care needs,” said Arcora Foundation President and CEO Vanetta Abdellatif. “With partnerships like these, together we can help ensure more people reach their full potential for good oral and overall health with no one left behind.”

The $500,000 in grant funding is part of Arcora Foundation’s long-term, statewide effort to increase dental care access. Arcora has invested more than $10 million in grant funding to community health centers and nonprofit clinics throughout the state, including in King, Spokane, Clark, Clallam, Whatcom, Ferry, and Yakima counties.

Oral health is essential to overall health.

A healthy mouth is more than a nice smile. Good oral health is one of the most visible indicators of socioeconomic status and health equity. Poor oral health is linked to heart disease, diabetes, pregnancy complications, and other chronic conditions. Visible decay and tooth loss for adults can affect employment opportunities, nutrition, self-esteem, and how others perceive you. For children, painful cavities can affect school attendance, speech patterns, nutrition, self-confidence, and oral health in adulthood.

More care options and efficiency for patients.

Community Health Care in Pierce County will use their $250,000 grant from Arcora Foundation for a new clinic in downtown Puyallup. It will provide whole person care with integrated dental, medical, and behavioral health services. Once completed in spring of 2024, the new clinic will have 8 open and 4 closed dental operatories to accommodate an estimated 20,000 dental visits a year.

“Over the last 10 years, Arcora Foundation’s vital financial support has allowed us to treat 190,715 patients with 502,125 visits,” said Jeff Reynolds, DMD, Community Health Care dental director. “With this grant, we will continue to help more people with barriers access dental care.”

The $250,000 grant Community Health Center of Snohomish County received from Arcora Foundation will go toward the expansion of its Everett-Central Clinic. The redeveloped clinic will add dental services, eliminating the need for patients to make medical and dental appointments at multiple locations. The dental clinic will include 12 new dental operatories and provide approximately 13,100 new dental patient visits annually. The opening date is set for mid-August of 2022.

“Arcora’s grant allows us to connect more people to dental care when and where they need it,” said Sue Yoon, DMD, chief dental officer for Community Health Center of Snohomish County. “This is a major step in making patient access to dental and medical services easier, which benefits everyone.”

The importance of community health centers.

Community health centers are essential to providing quality medical, oral, and mental health care to communities that are underserved. Aug. 7-13 is National Health Center Week. This observance raises awareness of the accomplishments of health centers across the country each year.

Thanks to community health centers, people who might not otherwise have access to or afford it receive compassionate and comprehensive care. Throughout Washington state, more than 1.2 million patients receive care at more than 350 community health centers each year.

About Arcora Foundation

Arcora Foundation advances oral health across Washington state. We are the foundation of Delta Dental of Washington, and the state’s largest foundation dedicated to this cause. We center our work in equity to achieve good oral health for all. Through partnerships, we focus our prevention and access priorities on racial and ethnic communities—specifically Black, Indigenous, and People of Color—where disparities in oral disease and access to care are significant. Our mission is in our name: bending the arc of oral health toward equity. Learn more at ArcoraFoundation.org.

About Community Health Care

Community Health Care is a nonprofit healthcare system that has been serving the people of Pierce County since 1969. At Community Health Care, no one is denied care due to inability to pay. Uninsured and under-insured patients are billed on a sliding-fee scale based on income and family size. In 2021, a total of 46,337 patients were served through 167,149 patient visits, utilizing our 6 medical clinics, 4 dental clinics, 1 school-based clinic, and a mobile unit. Our mission: to provide the highest quality health care with compassionate service for all. To learn more, visit www.commhealth.org

About Community Health Center of Snohomish County

Community Health Center of Snohomish County (CHC) is a non-profit, Federally Qualified Community Health Center providing medical, dental, pharmacy, behavioral health, and additional ancillary services to nearly 70,000 individuals with 243,049 visits in 2021. For over 35 years, CHC has provided services to Snohomish County residents who face barriers to health care with the mission to provide our diverse community with access to high quality, affordable primary health care. CHC operates seven medical primary care clinics, two medical walk-in clinics, six dental clinics, and five pharmacies, located in convenient locations in Arlington, Edmonds, North Everett, Central Everett, South Everett, and Lynnwood. For information or to schedule an appointment, call 425-789-3789 or visit www.CHCsno.org.

Welcome to our refreshed website and new logo

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Arcora Foundation centers our work in equity and collaborates with partners to achieve good oral health for all. This strategic direction applies to not just our initiative work, but to how we share information and resources with partners like you. 

Equitable communications are clear, accessible, and designed with user needs in mind. We took this to heart when refreshing our look and digital presence. In updating our website, we had three goals in mind: 

  • Align content with our strategic plan. 
  • Improve the navigation and resource placement to better serve partners and the public. 
  • Update the look and feel in line with user experience best practices—like accessibility and readability. 

While the types of resources we share remain the same, the way you access them may have changed. Below are some improvements you’ll notice on the site. 

New logo with mission tagline. 

Did you see our new logo in the upper left corner? It includes our mission in the tagline: Bending the arc of oral health toward equity. We developed this version of our logo to better reflect our strategic direction and the work we do. 

Moving forward, this will be the primary logo in our communications. On our site, we included a page where you can download it and the other versions of our logo. You’ll also find our guidance on which logo to use depending on the situation.  

Download logo

Interactive homepage layout. 

The purpose of our website is to be a hub of relevant oral health resources for you. We’ve added several ways to access information that may be most valuable to you, including buttons and feeds, on our homepage.  

Screen grab of Arcora Foundation homepage.
Explore homepage

Language translation. 

Language is a common barrier to access oral health care—as well as oral health education. To make our content more accessible to non-English speakers, we’ve added a Google Translate tool to all pages of our website. 

Use the translate tool in the footer to translate any webpage into more than 130 languages. 

Screen grab of Arcora Foundation webpage translated into Korean. At the bottom of the image, the Google Translate menu is expanded with "Korean" highlighted in blue.

Simplified navigation.  

We’ve improved our top-level navigation, making it easier to find the pages partners use most. For example, you can now find content like Data and News in just one click. 

Screen grab of Arcora Foundation website. The cursor is hovering over the top menu item "Data and News." There is a green drop down menu below with white text. The three sub-menu items are "Data Dashboards" "Data Reports" and "News."

Latest Foundation information. 

We’ve updated and expanded content under Our Work and Who We Are to ensure you’re receiving the latest information on Arcora Foundation. Key page updates include topics like: 

Screen grab of the Initiatives webpage. The heading on the screen grab reads "Click the initiatives below to learn more about access additional resources." There are two columns below the heading. The left column has a green background with black text reading "Prevention Initiatives." The right column has a yellow background and black text reading "Access Initiatives."
Learn more about Arcora Foundation

New brochure order process.

Order free print materials for your organization through our online portal—which now saves your contact and shipping information to make reordering and record keeping simpler. Explore our robust library by visiting our Educational Materials page. 

Choose View Printed Materials to see all available materials and download PDFs. Once you are ready to order, the Order Printed Materials button will bring you to our portal login. 

Need an online ordering account? Choose Sign Up at the bottom left of the login, and we’ll walk you through the process of registering your organization. Find full directions on our how-to guide. 

How to: Navigating Arcora Foundation Educational Materials
Order free materials

Equitable communications also require continuous feedback and updates. We look to you to share any concerns or pain points you experience while using our website. Please share your feedback at info@arcorafoundation.org.

Juneteenth celebrates freedom

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The holiday points to need for continued work toward oral health equity.

Juneteenth—or June 19—is this weekend. It commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. I hope your celebrations are filled with joy, community, and remembrance. 

The legacy of slavery in our country is long, complex, and painful. Racism and other systems have created barriers and disparities—especially for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC)—in education, housing, income, and health care. These and other social, economic, and environmental factors—known as social determinants of health—have major effects on overall health and health outcomes. 

Disparities show the need for equity. 

When it comes to oral health in Washington state, research shows some residents—BIPOC people in particular—have opportunities for healthier smiles. For example, among second and third graders, Black children experience untreated tooth decay at a rate of 18 percent. That is nearly twice the rate among white children—10%. Among people 18 and older, 41% of Black adults had at least one permanent tooth removed compared to 36% of white adults. And among people 55 and older, 74% of Black adults had at least one permanent tooth removed compared to roughly 50% of white adults.  

At Arcora, we center our work in equity to achieve good oral health for all. We work with partners to ensure everyone can enjoy good oral and overall health with no one left behind. 

Support for communities through partnerships.  

We are excited to partner with Women of Wisdom Tri-Cities to raise awareness about good oral health at a Juneteenth celebration in Eastern Washington this year. Women of Wisdom is a charitable human services organization in Richland that serves BIPOC people in the region. 

“Women of Wisdom is partnering with Arcora Foundation to bring social justice and equity surrounding oral health care to Eastern Washington,” said Chauné Fitzgerald, CEO of Women of Wisdom Tri-Cities. “Our goal is to change the trajectory of oral health so that, in the future, everyone can enjoy the benefits of good oral health,” she said. 

Arcora is supplying Women of Wisdom with oral hygiene kits—which include toothbrushes, toothpaste, and dental floss—to distribute for free at the Juneteenth event. The focus is to provide oral health and other resources—like vaccinations, grocery cards, and health education—to people who are low income and underserved. 

“We are working with Arcora Foundation to bring access and awareness to oral health care and oral disease prevention,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re striving for 100% access and no disparities,” she said.  

Freedom is a bedrock principle of our country. For Black people, Juneteenth represents the difficult journey toward freedom that continues to this day. Freedom includes the ability to reach your full health potential. Arcora is proud to support our partners who continue this journey. They help make our communities more equitable for everyone—especially BIPOC people—where they live, learn, work, worship, and play. 

Vanetta Abdellatif
President and CEO, Arcora Foundation

Culturally appropriate care helps expand dental access

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During May, we’re celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In a post earlier this month, we showed you how we collaborate with health leaders to advance oral and overall health for Washington’s AAPI populations. In this post, dentist and Arcora Foundation Board Trustee Dr. Ji Hyung Choi shows you how he expanded access to care with the Foundation’s support.  

Lived experience influences quality of care.

I am a first generation Asian American who grew up in Eastern Washington. I have experienced first-hand the difficulties our Asian American and Pacific Islander populations face in accessing culturally competent dental care in some counties. These access barriers are especially challenging for our Pacific Islander neighbors.

My ability to speak Korean and understand the culture helped many Asian patients seek care at the locations I served. Knowing they were receiving treatment from someone who understood their culture and could communicate in their native language put them at ease. 

As a clinician, I attended numerous AAPI health fairs and local events. The aim of these events was to: 

  • Promote good oral health and diet. 
  • Offer information on how to access care where the patients live. 
  • Provide oral health screenings. 
  • Assess any oral health needs they might have.

Breaking down barriers: Arcora advances oral and overall health for all.

Arcora Foundation has always supported many of these events. Through oral health prevention and access initiatives, the Foundation is on a mission to bend the arc of oral health toward equity across Washington state. As with AAPI people, oral health care disparities exist for others. Data from the Foundation helps tell that story, so we know who needs additional resources to reach their full health potential:

  • Access to oral health care across the state and who faces barriers.  
  • Percent of people with dental insurance. 
  • Health disparities in the state’s racial/ethnic groups like AAPI populations; for example, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 2nd and 3rd graders experience decay at a rate of 75%—the highest of any racial/ethnic group in the region. 

In addition to providing these important data, Arcora Foundation has invested heavily to advance oral health. Since 2017, community, nonprofit, and tribal clinics received $10 million in grant funds to support dental care and oral health projects at to serve more patients—particularly Black, Indigenous and People of Color who experience oral health disparities and face challenges accessing dental care.

This funding supported health centers across the state, including the one where I worked. It also resulted in nearly 108,000 patient visits since 2017. Community and tribal dental clinics affected by COVID-19 received an additional $4.5 million in 2020.

Oral disease is mostly preventable. The work of organizations like Arcora Foundation makes more healthy smiles possible.

Headshot of Dr. Ji Hyung Choi
Dr. Ji Hyung Choi

Dr. Choi is a dental educator and the Chief Dental Officer at Columbia Basin Health Association—a Federally Qualified Health Center providing care to financially and socioeconomically underserved populations.

Meet Arcora Foundation’s new vice president

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For Sunshine Monastrial, work is more than a job. She has dedicated her career to work that aligns with her personal commitment to social justice and health equity. In her role as Arcora Foundation’s new vice president, she’ll focus that same commitment on the Foundation’s mission to bend the arc of oral health toward equity.

“Oral health is a critical part of our overall health. Untreated oral disease has critical consequences on chronic conditions, including diabetes, stroke, and pregnancy complications,” said Arcora Foundation Vice President Sunshine Monastrial. “Prevention and early identification and treatment of oral diseases are foundational elements to improve health equity across Washington state,” she said.

Collaboration to advance oral health equity.

In her new role, Monastrial will  oversee the Foundation’s operations as well as provide strategic thought leadership to Arcora President and CEO Vanetta Abdellatif. In collaboration with senior leaders and program managers, Monastrial will help transform ideas into initiatives.

“I am excited to partner with Vanetta and the senior leadership team to drive progress across the various access and prevention initiatives outlined in the strategic plan to achieve our mission” Monastrial said.

Monastrial joins Arcora in June 2022. The recruitment process that led to her selection as our new vice president began in February of 2022 and included many exceptional candidates.

“Sunshine stood out for her proven strategic leadership and intimate understanding of large-scale, long-term improvements in health outcomes,” said Arcora President and CEO Vanetta Abdellatif. “Her addition to our leadership team will position us to better advance good oral and overall health for more people,  especially Black, Indigenous, and People of Color,” she said.

Leadership through life lessons.

Monastrial’s lived experience gives her unique insights into Arcora’s equity-centered strategic direction described in our 2022-2024 strategic plan. Arcora advances oral health across Washington state with an emphasis on BIPOC people—who historically face significant disparities. As an immigrant to the U.S. from the Philippines, Monastrial knows how important culturally appropriate care is to achieve good oral and overall health for all.

“I know first-hand how critical it is to provide care in a way that reaches people where they are, in the language they speak, and with an understanding of their culture and history,” Monastrial said. “This is particularly true for immigrants who come from countries where primary and preventive care—especially for oral health—is not the norm,” she said.

A commitment to improve access to care.

For the last 13 years, Monastrial has worked as a public health professional with progressively more senior leadership roles at community health centers. Most recently, she was the chief of staff and vice president of strategic initiatives at International Community Health Services—a Federally Qualified Health Center in Washington state’s Puget Sound Region. There she oversaw the work of 2 divisions:

Planning, development, and evaluation

  • Organizational and strategic planning.
  • Proposal development and grants management.
  • Policy and advocacy.
  • Performance management.
  • Data and analytics.

Community health services

  • Mobile dental clinic that serves schools and community partners primarily in King County, Washington.
  • 2 school-based health centers.
  • Community-based pop-up vaccination clinics.
  • Insurance education and enrollment assistance.
  • Community outreach.
  • The Hepatitis B Coalition of Washington.
  • Patient navigators who addressed patients’ social determinants of health barriers.

Monastrial holds a Master of Public Health degree in health policy and management from the University of California, Berkeley. She earned a Bachelor of Science in public health and a Bachelor of Arts in international studies from the University of Washington.

Welcome to Arcora, Sunshine!