New Family Dental Center Opens in Douglas

The grand opening was highlighted by the unveiling of the X-ray machine purchased with help from the Douglas Industrial Development Authority that will produce quality diagnostic images.

Special guests were a dozen preschool students from Vanessa Luzania’s class at Clawson Elementary.

Dr. Jonathan Melk, CEO at CCHCI, said the opening of the new dental facility and the addition of the new panoramic machine has been something he and his staff have been working toward for a long time.

“This is something Douglas doesn’t have,” Melk said of the panoramic machine. “It’s truly state-of-the-art and very useful for all ages, but particularly for children who may be sensitive to having plaques put into their mouth, as well as elderly people. I believe this is going to be a benefit to everybody of all ages.”

Brianna Hillier, director of dental dervices for CCHCI, said she has been trying to get this diagnostic tool for several years.

“The IDA was gracious enough to hear our proposal, and there were several that day, so it was not a walk in the park,” she said. “They then graciously gave us the funding to purchase this much-needed piece of equipment. In the past we would have to send our patients to Sierra Vista or Tucson to get this procedure done. Now we can get it done here. To have this in-house is miraculous, so beneficial. I’m so happy this is here.”

Hillier said machine costs about $20,000. Exposure time is just a few seconds and within a minute, images are popping up on the screen showing the dentist where and what the problem is.

“This is an extremely generous contribution we will be forever grateful for,” she said.

Lawana Diffie was on hand at the event representing the IDA.

“Once we realized the need that was there, it was definitely a no-brainer,” she said. “We were aware how much this community would be impacted by having something like this locally, saving many of our residents trips to Tucson or Sierra Vista. We’re excited to be able to do these kinds of things for the community.”

The new dental facility has seven chairs, three of which are in enclosed negative-pressure rooms. It has separate offices space for the providers, work stations and a separate waiting room.

“Douglas is one of our busiest clinics, especially for pediatric patients,” Hillier said. “It’s now a state-of-the-art dental clinic.”

While the addition was being renovated, the dental staff at CCHCI worked out of a mobile dental clinic.

“The place that is now our dental center was once a parking garage,” Melk said. “The equipment we were able to purchase was made possible thanks to the IDA. The renovation was made possible thanks to one of the rounds of funding from the federal government called a renovation grant to improve infrastructure in healthcare services during COVID.

“This is one of the ways Douglas has benefited directly from funding related to COVID-19. For that, we are grateful to the Human Resources Services Administration.”

Chiricahua Community Health Centers, Inc. (CCHCI) is a mission driven Federally Qualified Health Center and a tax exempt not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Founded in 1996 as a small, rural health clinic operating in a community center, CCHCI has since grown to become the largest primary care organization in southeastern Arizona, serving more than 30,000 patients annually. About 61 percent of CCHCI’s patients are on Medicaid or uninsured and more than 25 percent live below 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold. CCHCI operates fourteen fixed-site medical clinics, and seven mobile-medical and mobile-dental units, that serve patients throughout the more than 6200 square mile borderlands of Cochise County.