Seattle, WA – Delta Dental of Washington has partnered with Arcora Foundation again this year to sponsor the Seattle/King County Clinic at Seattle Center from February 15-18, 2024.
The free clinic is run by the Seattle Center Foundation each year and offers free services including dental, medical, and vision care to people who need them. The clinic also offers behavioral healthcare, physicals, x-rays, mammograms, ultrasounds and more to people who struggle to access healthcare resources because of income, insurance, or immigration status.
Arcora is the foundation of Delta Dental of Washington, which advances oral health and equity for all Washingtonians, especially for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color for whom data show oral health disparities are significant. With healthcare costs increasing and community programs struggling to affect change on an increasingly stressed healthcare system, this free clinic is an opportunity for Delta Dental to use its resources and platform to make the greatest impact.
“Oral health is a critical component of overall health and wellbeing. Everyone deserves access to oral health care so that they can work, live and play in good health,” says Diane Oakes, Chief Mission Officer, Delta Dental of Washington. “We appreciate our partnership with the Seattle Center Foundation to support the critical services being delivered by thousands of volunteers, including many dental professionals, to serve the community.”
The clinic is an integral program that operates as a stopgap measure in the effort to help more Washingtonians receive necessary care they are not getting through traditional means. But it is the hope of Arcora Foundation and Delta Dental of Washington that their work will, one day, make this clinic unnecessary.
“The opportunity to really make it so this event is not necessary would really be the kind of policy we need in place. Just the fact that there so many thousands of people who are in desperate need of these services means that whatever we can do to make it so they can get these services every day instead of once a year is the kind of policy I want to see,” says Vanetta Abdellatif, President and CEO of Arcora Foundation.
Since its inception in 2014, the clinic has seen over 27,000 patients, saving them $23 million dollars in out-of-pocket expenses that would have, otherwise, made healthcare unobtainable to them. The event brings together over 3,000 volunteers from all different sectors of healthcare.
People seeking out care at the clinic have access to a limited number of tickets distributed at Fisher Pavilion every morning of the clinic starting at 5:30 am on a first-come, first served basis. Services are not limited to residents of Seattle or King County. Patients can receive medical, dental, and vision care but must obtain different tickets, one at a time. For more information, go to www.seattlecenter.org/patients or call 206-684-7200.
