Kansas Public Radio sponsoring town hall meeting on kids' health concerns

LAWRENCE -- Kansas Public Radio, which produces the award-winning series "Kansas Kids: A Prescription for Change," will hold a town hall meeting in Garden City to discuss the problems of children's access to dental care in southwest Kansas.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. Friday, May 2, at the studios of High Plains Public Radio, 210 N. Seventh St., in Garden City.

The "Kansas Kids" health series recently aired a report on an initiative to bring dental care to underserved areas of the state. KPR reporter Bryan Thompson, who will be a panelist at the town hall meeting, followed the Mission of Mercy dental clinic as its volunteers performed hundreds of oral health exams, fillings, tooth extractions and other dental procedures on children and their parents for free.

"The level of unmet dental needs in Kansas, as demonstrated by this free clinic, is staggering," Thompson said. "People were waiting in the parking lot at 1 a.m. the first day, even though the doors wouldn't open until 7. By 7:30, organizers were turning people away because they had already registered more people than could be served that day by this virtual army of dental professionals."

Other panelists at the town hall meeting are:

 • Kim Moore, president of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, which sponsors the statewide oral health initiative
 • Consuelo Sandoval, director of "Lifetime Smiles," a project of United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries
 • Kandee Klein, a Garden City dentist
 • Bob Day, director of Medicaid and medical policy for Kansas Social and Rehabilitation Services
 • Gordon Bassham, news director for High Plains Public Radio, will be the moderator

The meeting will be taped for later broadcast on High Plains Public Radio, KANZ 91.1-FM in Garden City and KZNA 90.5-FM in Hill City.

Health care professionals and advocates for the medically underserved say the problem of poor oral health is growing rapidly and has not been addressed by policymakers.

"Less than 30 percent of Medicaid children in Kansas receive any dental service in any given year, yet these are the children at the highest risk of oral disease," said Moore, of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. "Nationally, we know that 80 percent of oral disease in children is found in 20 to 25 percent of the children. There is a profound difference in oral health status of poor children and children of certain ethnic groups than children of wealthier families. The disease is almost unseen to policymakers. "Dental care is a cash-and-carry business. Without insurance or a government program, poor individuals are unlikely to be able to access dentists who expect cash payments and infrequently accept payment plans."

KPR's health series "Kansas Kids: A Prescription for Change" can be heard at:

 • 6:40 and 8:40 a.m. Mondays on KANU 91.5-FM in Lawrence, KANH 89.7-FM in Emporia, KANV 91.3-FM in Olsburg-Junction City-Manhattan and K210CR 89.9-FM in Atchison
 • 12:35 p.m. Saturdays on KSAL 1150-AM in Salina
 • 9:05 a.m. Sundays on KVGB 1590-AM in Great Bend
 • 8:49 a.m. Thursdays on KANZ 91.1-FM in Garden City and KZNA 90.5-FM in Hill City

All the stories in the children's health series can be heard online at the kids' health Web site, www.kansaskidshealth.org.