St. Vincent de Paul expands medical, dental clinic

PHOENIX - "A lot of the equipment was donated by some academic institutions here in town," Dr. Scott Myers said.

Dr. Myers is the dental director of the newly-renovated Virginia G. Piper St. Vincent de Paul Dental Clinic, a community healthcare center that he says is unique because everything runs on donations.

"These are people who really don't have a place to go, they don't have insurance, they don't have access to care the working poor," he said.

The dental clinic expanded from eight chairs to 16. The new section is where the old medical clinic was that was moved downstairs.

"This is a pretty unique clinic," Dr. Maurice Lee said. "We are a free clinic. The only requirement that you need is to be uninsured."

Doctors at the medical clinic treated about 2,000 patients last year when the clinic had five rooms. There are 11 in the new facility and services have already been expanded.

Whatever the care, the goal is to identify the need in the community and meet it, meaning treat as many people as possible.