Your support helps families stay healthy...

Oscar is one of SBNC¹s young dental patients who desperately needed dental care and was in a lot of pain.

His parents couldn¹t take him to a dentist because they had no insurance and could barely feed or house their family. The welcoming staff at SBNC Eastside Family Dental Clinic explained to Oscar¹s parents that we could provide dental care for Oscar without financial or language barriers. Convincing Oscar to be brave was a different story! He sat in a dentist chair at the Eastside Family Dental Clinic for the first time in his young life, afraid to open his mouth! He was offered a "Smiles Kit" if he¹d let the dentist ex- amine him, which was too colorful and enticing to pass up! Oliver was given his very own toothbrush, brush cover, toothpaste, dental floss, educational activity booklet and an egg timer to teach him to brush longer. This gift proved to be the key to unlock the Oliver¹s fear and his mouth!

Now Oscar brushes and flosses every night. "Going to SBNC¹s Eastside Family Dental Clinic turned out to be a good experience for our family. The dentist was so warm and caring and taught all of us how to take better care of our teeth. Plus, the cost of the visit was affordable!" explained Oscar¹s mother. "Oscar won¹t be so scared next time," said Lupe, "and neither will I!" What did Oscar have to say about his visit to the East- side Family Dental Clinic? "Now I can chew on rocks!" he announced happily.

Oscar is just one of hundreds of low-income children who come to SBNC¹s Eastside Family Dental Clinic each month. Dental care for these residents of Santa Barbara County is identified as the highest unmet health need in our community! Because of this urgent need, the SBNC family is working hard to better serve the uninsured and underserved of our community. Your financial support toward this effort is crucial to our mission and we thank you for taking the time to read Oscar¹s story.

In the last 24 months alone, our Eastside, Westside and Isla Vista Medical Clinics and the Eastside Family Dental Clinic have been responsible for the health care of more than 17,000 low-income residents. Last year, there were over 11,000 patient education contacts made.

Shockingly, almost 70% of our patients report incomes below the Federal Poverty Level and the children in these families suffer the most.

The families we see have many health challenges, and 65% of them are the working-poor between the ages of 20 and 64 with little or no health insurance. They also are not eligible for MediCal or Medicare benefits. Even healthy families need ongoing and preventative care in order to stay healthy and prevent serious health conditions like obesity and diabetes. Typically, children need medical attention twice a year to cover a well visit and one illness visit, at a minimum. These children also need to see a dentist twice a year for cleanings, evaluations, and possible follow-up treatments. The same is true for their mother and father.

These Santa Barbara County families let medical and dental care take a back seat to other necessities like food and housing. Please give generously, using the enclosed envelope, so that low-income families in Santa Barbara can get the medical services they so desperately need. Your help will be greatly appreciated and be put to im- mediate good use right here in the neighborhoods of Santa Barbara!