
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 30, 1994                   TAG: 9408020026
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

NEW PUBLIC DENTAL CLINIC SET FOR OCT.

Youngsters from Radford who take advantage of the New River Health District's free or reduced-cost dental services will be able to visit the dentist a bit closer to home starting this fall.

A new public health dental clinic on the Belle Heth Elementary School campus is set to open in a 10-by-30 mobile home by Oct 1. Radford School Board approved Dr. Larry McCoy's request Thursday to locate the clinic there and agreed to cover the $1,400 cost of sewer and water hookups.

An estimated 400 youngsters and 75 adults from Radford saw the public health dentist last year.

Dental patients from Giles County and possibly Floyd County also will use the new Radford clinic, said McCoy, who, because of budget cutbacks, has been the region's lone full-time public health dentist since last summer. He's managed with part-time help and is hoping to have another full-time dentist by fall.

"We treat mainly children," McCoy said Friday. "Our big emphasis is on sealants, cleaning and fluoride treatments."

The clinic also handles emergency extractions for adults. Services are free for youngsters eligible for free school lunches or for Medicaid. There's a sliding fee scale for those who qualify for reduced-price lunches.

As a one-man band, McCoy stays busy, especially during the school year when he treats an average of 15 youngsters a day, and sometimes as many as 25.

Until March, public health dental patients from Radford and Giles County were transported to a clinic at Elliston-Lafayette Elementary School. After that clinic closed, operations were consolidated at the Christiansburg clinic, which will continue to serve Montgomery County clients. The Radford clinic replaces the one in Elliston, and McCoy sees the more central location as a plus.

"Even when things are free, people don't travel 30 or 40 miles to get them," he said.

The new clinic will not serve Pulaski County, McCoy said, because the county's Board of Supervisors has not approved its share of funding a clinic there. A clinic at Riverlawn Elementary School in Fairlawn was shut down last summer. Public health funding is split approximately 50-50 between the state and localities.

by CNB