Akron to Lose Low-cost Dental Clinic

Sometimes the local news is so disgusting I just want to scream out loud. Yesterday's ABJ reports that Akron Community Health Resources will be closing Akron's only low-cost dental clinic which has served over 2500 citizens. Reason? No funding available. The grants have dried up, the feds won't help, and the poor will be left to turn up at our hospital emergency rooms for treatment. Who will pay that cost? You and I, of course. And what will the poor suffering dental patient get out of it? Pain medication and maybe an antibiotic. No actual dental work.

Our citizens teeth are allowed to rot while the federal government continues to pour billions of dollars into blowing the Iraqi landscape and people into bits. Look at the head of the column to the right here. See that 412 billion and growing has already vanished from our economy. When I began this blog last August the figure was around 360 some billion. The ruination of Iraq and the decline of civilization in this country go hand in hand.

Checking out the comments under the ABJ article, I was somewhat surprised to see many sympathetic voices with only a smattering of "poor people are that way by choice" diatribes. One person suggested that a portion of the proposed tax increase go to funding the clinic permanently and if that were the case, I'd vote for it without hesitation.

To those who could only comment "get a job," I would ask them how people with rotting teeth will fare in job interviews. Will their general health increase or decrease with dental problems?

I was so enraged by this news that I emailed our new senator to ask if he could help. I am embarrassed to be living in a city that cannot find help for its poorest citizens.