Lani's Photos
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3/31: Jenny wrote... "Lani, What a Godsend you will be to these children. My heartfelt congratulations!"

3/31: Damon wrote... "Congrats, Lani! Wow, you're really doing some incredible work in Montana. So many children will be helped with the free sealant program, and they'll have you thank for it."

3/31: Anthony wrote... "Lani this is sooo cool. I have always been one to have not soo good teeth and with no insurance I just have to grin and bear it. So I think this money for theese childrens teeth is really gonna help boost their self esteem- and put brand new smiles on their faces."

4/01: Terri wrote... "Hi Lani, I admire you first for doing the job you do, and for going the extra mile for all those kids in need. You are making a huge difference in their lives. Congratulations!"

4/02: Kimberly D. wrote... "Great job Lani! As a pediatric social worker I know too well, that dental care comes last for needy families. Thank you for your concern altruism for your community! What a wonderful gift for underserved children of Bozeman!"

4/23: Robin C. wrote... "Lani, I always wonder how some of our less fortunate children do get dental care that is so desperately needed. Now I know! There are people like you out there. Thank you so much for helping our children in this way.
A fellow Montanan in Harlem."

Meet Lani from Bozeman, Montana
Our newest hero, Lani McLane works as a community dentist in Bozeman, Montana. The best way to describe her dream is to include her application request below…

As a community health dentist, I witness first-hand the ravaging effects of early childhood dental decay. My clinic in rural Montana serves primarily young children and pregnant mothers, although with only one dentist (myself) and limited resources, we can only scratch the surface of the need for early preventive dental treatment in our most vulernable population segment: children. Sealants are easy, pain-free, and provide invaluable protection against cavities. I would love to establish a free sealant program that targets low-income children in our community without access to dental care.

Lani is the only community health dentist to serve two counties in Southwestern Montana (Gallatin and Park counties… a geographical area that covers over 5400 square miles). Park county in particular is sparsely populated (6 people/sq. mile), with almost 16,000 residents. Of these residents, 21% of children live at 100% or lower of the poverty level. Children who live at or below the poverty level are at an increased risk of developing cavities as their access to dental care is greatly limited.

Our grant of $25,000 will allow Lani to purchase everything she needs, including sealant material, portable dental chairs, portable sealant units, and disposable protective gear. Lani and her team will be traveling to schools and other locations, so our grant will also cover practical costs of providing free treatment to 1,000 children.

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Diary Starts Here
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June 4, 2008
Well, last Monday's first free sealant day was a big hit. Lani and her team visited two elementary schools.

First was Whittier Elementary where they saw 15 fourth grade students. They then went to Monforton Elementary and treated 29 third, fourth, and fifth grade students. They applied a total of 55 sealants on back molars to 42 children! Here's Lani's email...

"The support from the community for this program has been amazing and we are so excited that after a lot of hard work, we were finally able to start this program! We were happy to see this many kids, as it is the last week of school and many schools have activities and field trips that prevented them from participating. We selected two local elementary schools and with the help of school nurses and administrators, we were able to have a very successful first free sealant day! The kids were very excited to have us check out their teeth and help protect them from cavities...it was a day full of smiles!

May 13, 2008

We heard from Cailtin in the dental office who says they have already received some of their equipment (such as the masks, gloves, and sealant material), and more is still arriving. They have re-scheduled their free sealant day to June 2nd for the children of two Bozeman elementary schools: Whittier and Monforton.

May 5, 2008

Just our luck - the portable sealant equipment is on backorder so Lani had to re-schedule their first sealant day from May 12 to a day in early June. It was a bit of a setback, but they are still very excited to get going on this program. They have two schools lined up that have a high percentage of children on free and reduced lunches (41 and 32%), and the whole school staff is thrilled that they were chosen!

April 8, 2008

Lani is moving quickly to get her free sealant program started. Equipment has already been ordered and her first trip is already scheduled for May 12th at two local elementary schools. She has done this before and is really organized. She promised to take lots of pictures of the children she'll be treating for us to share.

April 1, 2008

We heard from Lani today who says she's very grateteful for this opportunity and she's already working on her plan to provide dental sealant to the local children. She was on the NBC news in Bozeman last night and we posted a great story that ran today in her local paper. Lani also said, "The NBC news crew was so excited about the idea of providing sealants to children in need that they asked to be notified when we would start as they would love to be on hand to film it... all great news!"