Project Dentist Pulling From The Heart

Orange County Vietnamese American (OCVA) Lions Club assisted "Project Dentist Pulling From The Heart" End Quote

Orange County, CA (1888PressRelease) February 20, 2012 - On Sunday Feb 12th, 2012, Dr. Chuck Le of 7 Day Dental Center, in association with Lestonnac Free Clinic, opened the doors to the public to host the 2nd Annual "Dentist Pulling from the Heart" event. The event offered free tooth extraction and filling, as well as free medical treatment. The Youth Leadership America (YLA) and the Orange County Vietnamese American (OCVA) Lions Club, whose membership also includes Dr. Le, have been assisting 7 Day Dental in managing and planning the event since last year. "We believe this economy is hurting so many people, " said Michael Pham, President of OCVA Lions Club, "and dental and health care tends to become a lower priority in many people lives for they can no longer afford it. This program will bring relief to countless families in this community. We have received myriad of phone calls from people thanking 7 Day Dental for hosting this event - the demand far exceeds what the event could provide today. Attendees started lining up around 6:00 AM on that chilly morning hoping to make the cut of 300+ people that 7 Day Dental could possibly treat on a single day. "I have more than one cavity, would I be able to have them both fixed?" - pleaded one of the attendees. "I wish we have a larger facility so we could help more people today," commented Dr. Le. "We had to turn away quite a few people once we passed the 300 count around noon."

A group of twenty seven (27) homeless US Veterans came to the event accompanied by Cory's kitchen volunteer Jim Hester. "We were planning on bringing in fifty (50) veterans to this event, but we could not arrange for free transportation" lamented Hester. "So we could only afford to rent 3 cabs to bring in the more serious cases."

Besides Lestonnac Free Clinic, a group of medical doctors from University of San Diego worked the Health van, giving out free health examination, wellness education, blood pressure test, glucose test and other needed medical treatments. The neighborhood Target store sent a local representative on site to offer discount coupons (up to 50% off) to all prescribed drugs for that day. Everest College, the backbone of this event, provided the critical support (all general pre-process) with their medical assistants, dental assistants and masseuses.

The event was acknowledged with the appearance of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who was the first to come to congratulate all the volunteers and to present the US Congressional Awards to Dr. Le and his wife Dr. Chung. Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen along with Westminster Mayor Pro Tem Tri Ta and Fountain Valley City Councilman Michael Vo were all on hand to present their respective Proclamation to Dr. Le. California State Senator Lou Correa also sent his representative to present Dr. Le with a Senate Certificate of Appreciation.

A program of this magnitude doesn't come without substantial expenditures and even though most everyone are donating their time, Dr. Chuck Le is absorbing all the labor cost, as well as all medical/drugs related cost in support of the various dental procedures. "We all benefit from all act of altruism and selflessness," continued Michael Pham. "We are so indebted to have such an abundant number of people come out to help. Today you may be the person with the ability to help, but tomorrow you may be the recipient of someone else volunteer's effort. I truly believe that it's our civic duty to volunteer. We hope that Dr. Le's action today will raise more awareness in this community on the need of community services."

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