QueensCare Mobile Dental Unit Ribbon Cutting
Principal Brad Rumble and the students from Esperanza Elementary, located in the heart of Los Angeles, were on hand on February 1 at the QueensCare unveiling and ribbon cutting of its new state-of-the art Mobile Dental Unit (MDU). It was a very festive atmosphere that included presentations to QueensCare by Luis Gonzalez, Field Deputy from Los Angeles Councilman Gil Cedillo’s office and David Juarez, Field Representative for Assembly Member Miguel Santiago and a warm welcome by Barbara Hines, QueensCare President & CEO.
Student body president, Esmeralda, also gave a heart-warming speech thanking both the entire QueensCare team and the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC dentists for providing much needed services to her fellow Esperanza students. As students gathered for the ceremony, they placed thank-you notes they had each prepared on a fence near the MDU.
In advance of the event, the Esperanza Elementary students were invited to help in naming the new MDU and participate in a dental-inspired art contest. Whitening McQueen was the name selected as the winner of the contest (we love the name!) and the class that submitted it was awarded a prize of $500 to be used toward a field trip of their choice. The lucky winner of the art contest received four (4) tickets to a Los Angeles Kings game and a signed puck! Donna Anderson, Mobile Dental Programs Manager, in presenting the awards said, “We at QueensCare are very grateful to all of you for making the unveiling of our new MDU such a wonderful success and we look forward to serving many more thousands of children in our community.”
Students and parents in attendance were able to tour the new MDU and meet with QueensCare staff to learn about and sign up for a variety of QueensCare and QueensCare Health Center programs. They received dental kits, water bottles and other cool gifts for their family members in addition to snacks and drinks. The event was topped off by a visit from Laker girls who signed photos for their adoring fans.
As the largest medical unit in the nation, with a total of 960 sq. ft. of space, Whitening McQueen has a total of six dental chairs and an x-ray room. The mobile dental program is one of QueensCare’s highly successful annual community health programs, which last year served more than 2,000 children, with 14,763 procedures performed at eleven Los Angeles area schools.