LYNNWOOD — The Puget Sound Christian Clinic started by providing low-cost health care from a medical van that made stops in Snohomish and Edmonds.
Now it plans to open a $725,000 dental clinic here in a building it will be share with Northwest Church, which purchased the property at 19825 Scriber Lake Road.
The goal is to open the dental office in a year, said Diane Steward, Puget Sound Christian Clinic’s executive director.
The nonprofit health-care organization hopes to raise about $265,000 to pay for building the dental clinic and other expenses related to opening, she said.
A dental clinic has been a long-term goal for the organization for at least a decade. “Basically, the board and I had given up,” she said.
“Dental care was always clearly needed,” Steward said.
Lynnwood’s nonprofit Verdant Health Commission had provided donations to help support the clinic’s mobile medical van in Edmonds. It makes weekly stops on Tuesdays at the Edmonds United Methodist Church. The suggested donation is $10.
When Verdant looked at the health needs of south Snohomish County, dental care for low-income people was a high priority, Steward said.
Steward asked the commission for money to pay for a dentist at the planned-for clinic. It approved $150,000 for start-up costs and $200,000 for each of the first three years, said Jennifer Piplic, a Verdant spokeswoman.
Puget Sound Christian Clinic’s plans to start a dental clinic coincided with Northwest Church’s move from Shoreline to Lynnwood, Steward said. She asked the church if they would be interested in having the dental clinic based at their new Lynnwood site. “Within a month it was pretty clear it would work out,” Steward said.
The Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound recently presented the clinic with a check for $275,000, which will be used for dental equipment, office equipment and furniture.
The dental clinic expects about 1,800 appointments in the first 12 months after opening and hopes to increase that to about 3,500 in the third year, Steward said. Services will be provided for a sliding fee, based on a patient’s ability to pay.
In addition to the mobile medical van program, Puget Sound Christian Clinic operates a clinic at the North Seattle Alliance Church in Seattle. Founded in 2003, the clinic offers medical, dental and professional counseling services.
The mobile medical van makes trips to Bellevue, Shoreline and Seattle’s Green Lake areas in addition to the stops in Edmonds and Snohomish.
Sharon Salyer: 425-33-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
How to help
Donations to help the Puget Sound Christian Clinic establish a dental office in Lynnwood may be made through its website at pschristianclinic.org/give or by mailing a check to 2150 N. 122nd St., Seattle, WA 98133.
For more information, call 206-363-4105 or email info@pschristianclinic.org.
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