ICHS receives grant from Arcora Foundation; ends testing in Shoreline

ICHS Shoreline Clinic
Photo by Steven H. Robinson

The Arcora Foundation announced grants totaling $4 million to safety net and tribal dental clinics throughout Washington to help prevent the loss of essential oral health care for tens of thousands of vulnerable people due to impacts from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Arcora Foundation is funded by not-for-profit Delta Dental of Washington (DDWA).

Community health centers (CHCs), tribal and Urban Indian dental programs and non-profit dental centers are at the front line of health care services for many at-risk individuals and families in the state, providing free, sliding fee and Medicaid reimbursed dental care to meet immediate and long-term oral health needs. 

CHCs alone serve 30% of the state’s Medicaid-enrolled children and 54% of Medicaid-enrolled adults who receive dental services. These clinics deliver more than 1 million dental visits annually.

Among the programs funded are the ICHS dental clinics, including the one in Shoreline. ICHS received a total of $300,000.

Lower-income people in Washington experience significant health disparities and the disparities are even more significant among Black, Indigenous and other people of color. Oral health disparities were a key consideration and priority for grant funding decisions.

ICHS has continued to stay open and serve their patients and communities during the Stay Home order. They are facing financial issues with a steep decline in patient visits due to COVID-19 but have been pivoting to telehealth visits and are slowly starting to see patient visits rise again.

We are so honored to have received the $300k grant. The grant is for 'fixed costs' so it will help keep our dental clinics open and ready for patients.

COVID-19 drive-thru testing ended at the ICHS Shoreline Clinic on Monday, June 22, 2020. This decision was made with their partners at King County Public Health because of the siting of the recently opened free testing site on Aurora. 12040 Aurora Ave N, 98133 (206) 684-2489 Interpretation available.

However, all community members can still call ICHS at 206-788-3700 for in-language assistance on where to get a COVID19 test.