Page 7 - Dentistry Magazine 2022

Campus Connections 7
Collaborating for Outreach at Hibbing Community College Dental Clinic
On a sunny day in mid-June, Amy Ahnefeld brings her two children into the Hibbing Community College Dental Clinic for oral health care. A single mother to Finn and Hannah, she knows what is important to her: community, efficiency and excellence in care. She gets all those things and more at Hibbing—and that is why she has continued to return for nine years.
Founded in 2001 as a partnership between the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State College, the Hibbing Community College Dental Clinic serves more than 2,000 patients per year from eight counties in Minnesota. Often a space for patients on Medicaid or without insurance, the clinic functions as
an outreach site for School of Dentistry students in their final year of studies.
Ahnefeld did not intentionally seek out a clinic
where she and her children would receive care
from students—but when she moved from Chicago to
the small town of Virginia, Minnesota, she found herself limited by her options and facing long delays to have her children seen. Based on a recommendation from a friend, she gave Hibbing a try.
“After that fist visit, they became my dental family,” she said. “We’ve been here ever since. I wouldn’t think of going any- where else.”
For Ahnefeld, the empathetic and comforting care she and her children receive reassures her that she is in the right place—and the quality of that care has proven to be excel- lent. “These students are at their most professional, paying the most critical attention to every detail, because they’re preparing to go out into the professional world,” she said. “That actually gave me extra confidence.” Ahnefeld also knows that every procedure is double- and triple-checked by adjunct clinical faculty and John Zupancic, DDS, the clinic’s director.
On this particular day, Ahnefeld is in the clinic for her daughter Hannah’s first tooth extraction. Hannah and her mom are nervous, but confident—and they feel comforted by the way their clinicians walk them through every step of the process.
Hannah is seen by Alexi Wenzel, BSDH ’14, RDH, DDS ’22, as she completes her out- reach experience as a requirement for
graduation. Wenzel appreciates the opportunity to work with children on a
case she likely would not see back at school. “On outreach, I get to use skills that I learned
in school, but working with a community I don’t normally see on a daily basis,” she explained. “It showed me more about the need for dental care, and it gave me more time for one-on-one interaction with my faculty that I might not get at school.”
At the end of the day, Hannah emerges with one less tooth and with a smile on her face. Though the procedure was not easy, it has been completed well, and the Ahnefelds are grateful for Wenzel’s hard work.
“We’re not ever treated like a number or a case here,” Ahnefeld reflected. “The care we get here has been wonderful, and everything that comes next will go a lot smoother because of that comfort. These students are really ready to go out and be dentists.”
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