The Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD), a public agency that supports health-related community programs and services in San Diego’s East County, recently hosted a check-presentation ceremony with La Maestra Community Health Centers. Joining GHD board members from La Maestra were Zara Marselian, CEO, and Marty Stroud, director of dental operations. The ceremony celebrated GHD’s ongoing support of La Maestra, including a $34,876 grant awarded during GHD’s current fiscal year.
GHD’s grant is assisting with expanding access to dental services at La Maestra’s Lemon Grove Health Center, 7967 Broadway, Lemon Grove. La Maestra officials said the grant helped pay for new dental chairs and high-speed dental hand-pieces powered by compressed air or an electric motor that are commonly used for cleaning, polishing, grinding and drilling. La Maestra also said the new equipment has successful expanded preventative oral health care and treatment services, as well as preventing oral disease, benefiting more than 2,600 underserved and low-income East County residents.
Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, La Maestra Community Health Centers, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) federally qualified health center, operates health centers in El Cajon, Lemon Grove, National City and City Heights, as well as a mobile clinic. Through its award-winning “Circle of Care” model, La Maestra serves more than 40,000 people annually with medical, dental, optometry, mental health and imaging services, as well as legal advocacy, economic empowerment and social services. Its mission is to provide quality health care and education and improve the overall wellbeing of the family; bringing under-served and ethnically-diverse communities into the mainstream through a caring, effective, culturally and linguistically competent manner, respecting the dignity of all patients.