Dr. Ryan Van Moorlehem, DMD

 

 

 Community Health Connect has a long list of talented, generous, and friendly providers, and we have a Dental Specialty provider who has exceeded all our expectations. Dr. Ryan Van Moorlehem is a Utah native. He started his undergraduate degree at Dixie State and completed it at the University of Utah. He attended dental school at Boston University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude, and made the Dean’s list all four years. After practicing general dentistry for a couple of years in Salt Lake City, he decided his talents could be better utilized if he went back to school to specialize.  After completing his training in Boston, he returned to practice in Utah as an endodontist. In March of 2009, Dr. Ryan Van Moorlehem opened Alpine Endodontics in Spanish Fork.  Prior to this time the south end of Utah Valley had no endodontist.  “Alleviating pain and keeping the natural teeth are usually what my patients are most interested in and that is definitely top of my list,” says Dr. Van Moorlehem.

 Dr. Van Moorlehem has been anxious to help the less fortunate in the community from day one. He has already donated well over $2,000 of  dental care. Dr. Van Moorlehem feels it is important to give back to the community that has supported him in his business. “It isn’t just about the money, it is also about helping others and providing quality care to those less fortunate” states Dr. Van Moorlehem. It is tough to find such quality care givers who are as selfless as Dr. Van Moorlehem. We are extremely grateful and fortunate to have such a talented and caring provider for our ever expanding list of patients.

A Grateful Patient

The care coordinator over general surgery had been scheduling appointments and had asked a few of the patients to come in to apply for hospital financial assistance prior to their surgery. LeeRoy Lozano was scheduled to have surgery on a painful hernia that had been bothering him for over a year. He had been on the waitlist for quite some time, but walked in our doors with a smile on his face on the day of his entry appointment. He also brought his darling family with him and his two young daughters seemed very excited for their dad to have surgery and to be out of pain.

 

LeeRoy and his wife were very appreciative of Community Health Connect’s services and of Dr. Jennifer Tittensor for donating to his case. He said that he was very grateful for our help and the generosity of the doctor because without that assistance he would have had to live in his painful condition for many more years. He understood the importance and value of the gift that Dr. Tittensor was giving him and was eager to be the best patient he could. His wife too was very thankful for the surgeon’s willingness to donate to his case because his condition occasionally affected his ability to work and he was the sole provider for their family. She was anxious for her husband to feel well again. 

LeeRoy and his family were wonderful individuals to work with and it was a pleasure getting to know them. He quickly recovered from his surgery and is no longer in pain or discomfort. Many of the patients we work with on a daily basis express sincere gratitude for the services they are receiving and it is a humbling experience to work with them. We want to express our appreciation for Dr. Jennifer Tittensor and the rest of the wonderful surgeons at Utah County Surgical Associates for their generosity towards our patients each month. They are truly making a difference in the lives of individuals like LeeRoy and we are grateful for their service in the community.

Dr. Jennifer Tittensor

 

Dr. Jennifer Tittensor is a general surgeon who works with a wonderful team of surgeons and ancillary providers at Utah County Surgical Associates in American Fork.  She performs a wide variety of surgeries ranging from hernia repair to gallbladder removal. She has volunteered regularly with Community Health Connect for over five years and has helped over forty patients through our program alone.  One patient recalled Dr. Tittensor as the kindest doctor she had ever known. With her skills as a surgeon she has saved people from pain, heartache and literally saved lives.  Her main interest the last few years has been helping patients who are suffering from breast cancer. She and her husband Zach, an avid cycler have even started their own organization “Mountains for Mammograms” to help raise awareness about breast cancer and donate mammograms to women in need.  We appreciate the great surgeon she is, and recognize the asset she is to our community.  Thank you, Dr. Tittensor for your dedication and service.

Angus Dental Lab

A critical part of dental care is the hardware that is used in a patient’s mouth such as crowns, bridges, and dentures. Community Health Connect has several dental labs that volunteer with their program, working in tandem with the volunteer dentists to provide complete care to patients in need.  Angus Dental Lab is a family-owned and run operation.  Father and son team Rod and Aaron Angus are generous in the products and services they donate through Community Health Connect. The Angus’ are equal parts experienced craftsmen and cutting edge. They offer quality work with a name and a face. They are proud to stand behind their work and truly care about each client’s needs. When we asked Rod Angus why he decided to start donating, he replied, “This business has been so good to me; it’s my turn to give back.” True to his word, he has continued to donate generously.  He is always willing to take extra cases to help clients with desperate dental needs.

Thank you Angus Dental Lab for your generosity and commitment to helping put a smile on the faces of Utah County.

Francisco Sees Again

At Community Health Connect we have the privilege of seeing the lives of our clients blessed daily through the kindness of our volunteer providers and their staff.  One of the first miracles we saw came via Francisco Salas.  Francisco came to our office in June of 2009 with a referral to see an ophthalmologist.  He had been having some serious problems related to his vision, and he had been for some time. Francisco suffered from cataracts on both eyes that had slowly clouded his vision until he could barely see.  Unfortunately the need for ophthalmology services supersedes the available providers, so Francisco had to wait five months before we could get him an appointment with a volunteer ophthalmologist.

On Francisco’s first visit to Dr. Paul Olson’s office he was informed with little surprise that he was legally blind.  Dr. Olson decided that cataract removal surgery could help Francisco get his vision back, and we quickly went to work on making arrangements for the surgery.  Our network of providers includes doctors as well as facilities and ancillary care providers making it easier to connect patients to all of the services they need. With help from the devoted staff at Central Utah Surgical Center, Francisco was able to get the services at the surgical center and the anesthesia donated.  Dr. Olson, who also donated his time and services, was masterful in surgery and the procedure was a success. 

When Francisco returned to Dr. Olson’s office eight days post surgery, he had gone from being legally blind to having 20/40-20/30 vision. The remaining deficiencies in his sight could now be easily corrected with glasses.Many witnessed the miracle of a blind man seeing again. This amazing change was possible thanks to all of the many volunteers that assisted along the way.  From the office staff at Community Health Connect, the volunteer interpreters that helped Francisco and the doctors and staff effectively communicate, to the staff and anesthesiologist at Central Utah Surgical Center and Dr. Olson and his staff.  From Community Health Connect we send out a big thank you to all those who participated in helping Francisco get his vision back.  With the gift of sight, his quality of life will surely improve. Francisco looked forward to returning to work, enjoying reading, and watching his grandchildren play.  We are so happy for Francisco and grateful to be part of such a generous community.

 

Dr. Steven Call

Community Health Connect relies completely on goodwill of the doctors in our Volunteer Provider Network. Without their tireless contributions, we would be useless to the medically underserved community we are trying to empower.  We are particularly grateful to our one Rheumatologist, Dr. Steven Call.

Dr. Call has worked endlessly with his patients to get them the assistance they need.  He has been donating with Community Health Connect since January of 2009, and has continued the excellent charity care started by his father, Dr. Richard Call, in 2005. When his father recently retired, Stephen Call took on his father’s load of patients which has kept him very busy. With a recent influx of clients needing a rheumatologist, his service as the sole rheumatologist in our Volunteer Provider Network has been indispensable to our program.

One case that stands out as an exemplary model of Dr. Call’s tireless service is the woman he helped who was suffering from arthralgia of the lower back.  Arthralgia literally means joint pain. The pain she experienced as a result of her condition greatly decreased her ability to do everyday activities that were essential to taking care of her home and family.  Dr. Call not only donated her medical care, but he helped her receive the financial assistance necessary for her to be able to afford her medication.  This patient’s quality of life has greatly improved since she has received this treatment.  Thank you Dr. Call for your service to your community—it is greatly appreciated.          

Fluoride Varnishing Program Reaches Over 4,000 Children

According to an article by Amschler in the Journal of School Health, approximately 25% of US school-aged children have 75% of all dental decay, and almost 20% of children aged 2-4 have dental caries or cavities.  There have been studies that have shown that negative effects from oral health can affect the short-term and long-term life of a person.  Some of these effects can result in lasting physical, psychological, and developmental damage and lead to poor school attendance, lost productivity, worsened job prospects, and impaired nutrition. 

 

The dental varnishing campaign that is put on by Intermountain Healthcare and Community Health Connect (CHC) occurs twice a year in Utah County’s title one schools.  This campaign targets children with dental health needs and prevents dental decay through our semi-annual fluoride varnish program.  Dental assisting students from surrounding Mountainland Applied Technology College (MATC) schools come into the elementary schools to apply the varnish to the children’s teeth.  There are also Utah Valley University and Brigham Young University Pre-Medical students that come and volunteer during the vanishings as well.  In previous years we have had a school assembly where the UVU and BYU students perform educational skits for the entire elementary school.  Due to the time constraints and other issues we decided to hold off on the assemblies this year and just do the varnishing.  We still had the BYU and UVU volunteers educate the children as they waited in line. This year we made special efforts to utilize the school nurses at each varnishing.  We had the school nurse check suspected level 3’s and 4’s.  This helped us pinpoint the children that were in the most need of dental attention, and cut down on falsely identified level 3’s and 4’s.  In many schools we cut the list of children that needed continued dental care in half. This gave school nurses the ability to give more attention to the children that were really in need of additional dental care. Because of this, more correctly-identified children enrolled at Community Health Connect and will receive care from a dentist than ever before. 
 

The success of this year’s dental varnishing was facilitated by our partnerships with Intermountain Healthcare, MATC, school nurses, the local health department, and the Utah Migrant Farms. Worker Program. Together, we provided supplies and materials that were used during each varnishing session.  In addition, we donated dental hygiene kits (including a toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss) to every student in each school; the kits ensured that each child had the necessary tools to care for their teeth and use the skills they learned from the volunteers and in the dental assemblies.   We appreciate the generosity of our many partners in our continuing effort to improve the dental care of our county’s children.