Community-focused Care for Improved Lives and Equitable Health Outcomes
Every child deserves to receive top quality health care. When children are healthy, the entire community is strengthened – healthy children are in a better position to learn and thrive in school and are set up for a better quality of life into the future.
As a community-minded, federally qualified health center, Family First Health is open and accessible to all, extending its care beyond the confines of the doctor’s office.
Family First Health, which first opened its doors in 1970, created a mobile, comprehensive pediatric dental program in 2014 to give children in Family First Health’s service areas a place to receive dental care.
The program includes Family First Health’s dental offices and 40 partners who host Family First Health’s six-chair mobile dental team up to three or four times each year. Community partners include schools, childcare centers, Head Start programs and a residential facility for adjudicated youth.
Louis Appell, Jr. held a deep belief in helping nonprofits do meaningful work and consistently invested in programs to enrich the lives of York City residents. The Powder Mill Foundation continues his passion for helping others by helping to fund programs like the mobile dental program. During the 2021-22 school year, foundation contributions helped Family First Health’s dental team visit 40 schools and care for 1,827 patients during 3,744 visits.
It has been our pleasure and honor to work with the Powder Mill Foundation on this project. President Michael Hady took the time to visit the program in action, demonstrating authentic interest in understanding appreciating the work of our mobile team. The financial support provided for our mobile school dentist program has been instrumental in expanding impact. Family First Health appreciates the investment in the oral health of the children in York City and beyond.
Jenny Englerth, Family First Health president and CEO
The pediatric dental program supports the health of each individual child while strengthening the health of the entire York community. The Mobile School Dentist Program minimizes the barriers that often prohibit children from receiving the oral health care they deserve and often desperately need. During a mobile dental event, Family Fist Health’s dental team provides children with exams, x-rays, cleaning, sealants, topical fluoride treatment, and oral hygiene education.
A long-standing participating school district is the School District of the City of York. This past year, the West York School District became a new partner in the program, joining York Suburban and South Eastern School Districts as York County partners. Additionally, the program cares for young children in the following early learning settings: HeadStart, Crispus Attucks Early Learning Center, York Day Early Learning, and York Learning Center.
