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707 East Main Street, Suite 1350  |  Richmond, VA 23219  | 
Phone:  (804) 828-5804  |  Fax:  (804) 828-4370  |  email:  info@vhcf.org
 

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For Immediate Release

Contact:

Debbie Oswalt, Executive Director

Virginia Health Care Foundation

(804) 828-5804

Virginia Health Care Foundation Helps Establish a Dental Clinic in Wytheville

Bland Ministry Center receives $100,000 grant to help provide dental care in Wythe County.

[Wytheville, Virginia, January 29, 2020] – The Virginia Health Care Foundation (VHCF) has awarded Bland Ministry Center (BMC) $100,000 to help fund a dentist at its new satellite dental clinic in Wytheville. BMC’s Big Walker Dentistry opened in late 2019 as the first, and only, dental safety net clinic in Wytheville and is already increasing the availability of dental services for Wythe County residents. As part of the clinic’s dental team, the VHCF-funded dentist will work full time at the Big Walker Dentistry practice, located in the lower level of the Brock Hughes Medical Center, to provide preventive and restorative visits to local residents. 

BMC, established in 1980, offers several services out of its main site in Bland. These include a dental clinic, food pantry, clothes closet, home repair assistance, and direct financial assistance. Big Walker Dentistry is BMC’s first satellite dental clinic. 

“We are thrilled to help establish the first dental safety net clinic in Wythe County,” said Deborah Oswalt, VHCF’s Executive Director. “This has been several years in the making. The talented dental team at Big Walker Dentistry will help ensure Wythe County residents have access to the dental services they need.”

This is one of 15 grants, totaling more than $1.1 million, recently awarded by VHCF to health safety net organizations throughout Virginia. Over $760,000 of these grants is dedicated to increasing access to dental services for uninsured and underserved Virginians.

The Virginia Health Care Foundation is a non-profit public/private partnership with a mission to increase access to primary health care for uninsured and medically underserved Virginians. The Foundation was initiated by the General Assembly and its Joint Commission on Health Care in 1992. Since its inception, it has funded 430 community-based projects across the Commonwealth, and its programs and partnerships have touched the lives of more than 700,000 uninsured Virginians.

For more information about VHCF and its programs, visit or call (804) 828-5804.