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Students in the Dental Assisting program at Montgomery Community College in Troy will benefit from the panoramic X-ray equipment donated to the school by the FirstHealth Dental Care Centers. Shown with the equipment, which has just been installed at MCC, are (from left) Sharon Nicholson Harrell, DDS, MPH, director of the FirstHealth Dental Care Centers; and MCC administrators Gay Roatch, director, Foundation/Grants; Lori McAllister, head of the Dental Assisting Program; Matthew Woodard, vice president, Administrative Services; and Dr. Mary Kirk, MCC president. |
PINEHURST – When a generous donation from the Harry L. and Helen M. Rust Charitable Foundation provided two new Panorex X-ray machines for the FirstHealth Dental Care Centers, Director Sharon Harrell, DDS, had to decide what to do with the old, but still very functional, equipment.
The staffs of the Orange County Health Department and the Dental Assisting Program at Montgomery Community College were happy to accept the donated machines.
The Orange County Health Department, which previously didn’t have an on-site Panorex, provides care to underserved patients and serves as a training site for dental students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Troy-based Montgomery Community College program had a machine, but it was about 30 years old.
“We have partnered with the MCC Dental Assisting Program since it opened by providing our dental clinics as rotation sites for the students,” says Dr. Harrell, who teaches a spring-semester course in MCC’s Radiology Lab. “Our original Panorex can be used with their phosphor plate digital system.”
The college’s administration and the staff of the Dental Assisting Program were very grateful for the donation.
“Without friends like FirstHealth of the Carolinas and Dr. Harrell, our Dental Assisting Program would never have been possible,” says MCC President Dr. Mary Kirk. “We are extremely grateful for this wonderful support of our program, and especially for the recent gift of the panoramic X-ray equipment.”
“This equipment will allow our students to be trained using state-of-the-art equipment,” says Lori McAllister, head of the Dental Assisting Program.
FirstHealth Dental Care Centers in Southern Pines, Raeford and Troy provide dental care for children from birth to 18 years who receive Medicaid, Health Choice or are uninsured and qualify by income level.
