Episode Transcript
MTTDental031226MTT26ad
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Marguerite Martin: [00:00:00] This is Channel 2 5 3,
Producer Doug Mackey: move to Tacoma on this episode of Move to Tacoma.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: And the thing about it, you know, the kids go to sleep, so they don’t know what’s going on. They wake up, everything’s done, and they still like coming to the dentist. They still like us, you know? So the next time I see them, they run up to me, they’re happy, they hug me.
Yeah, they show off their princess crowns. So it’s been pretty awesome.
Producer Doug Mackey: Channel 2 5 3 is member supported. I’m producer Doug Mackey, and I hope you’ll show your support by going to channel two five three.com/membership and join. Thank you. We are back.
Marguerite Martin: I’m Marguerite and I want you. To move to Tacoma.
Move to Tacoma Theme Song: Move to Tacoma.
Move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma.
Marguerite Martin: Don’t like it.
Move to Tacoma Theme Song: Move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma. Move to tacoma com.
Marguerite Martin: Hi, I’m Marguerite with move to tacoma.com and I’m here today with Carolyn McDougall y Rick, welcome Carolyn. Thank
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: you, Mar.
Marguerite Martin: Dr. Alicia Stephens.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: [00:01:00] Thank you. Yes.
Marguerite Martin: From Lindquist Dental for Children. Thanks for coming.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children,
Marguerite Martin: Lindquist Dental Clinic for children.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Just
Marguerite Martin: because we’re not letting any mistakes fly today. No. Just
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: because it is children.
Marguerite Martin: Children.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Specific
Marguerite Martin: for children. Right. So first, before we get started on the fact that you all provide dental care for children regardless of income.
You do not get, you don’t, you don’t turn kids away regardless of their situation. And you’ve been doing this for basically a hundred years in Tacoma, right?
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Well, a very long time.
Marguerite Martin: A very long time. Before we get into all that, I’d love to know for each of you, when did you move to Tacoma and why? Who would like to go first?
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Well, I will start,
Marguerite Martin: yes.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Never moved to Tacoma because I was born and raised in Tacoma, proud Tacoma. And, um, born on the east side of Tacoma. And, um. My parents actually came here via the military. Mm-hmm. So back in the sixties, my dad was, um, uh, enlisted at [00:02:00] Fort Lewis, and my parents are both from Georgia.
And moved up here. Loved Tacoma, and this is where we all stayed. I’m here, my brothers are here. My mom is still here, so Tacoma is home, but I grew up on the east side, went to FO High School, Stewart Junior High School, Sheridan Elementary. And then once I graduated, I did leave the state for a little while.
Went to California, went to Stanford, came back, wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, what I wanted, you know, wasn’t sure. Medical was the right way. Dental was the right. I had no clue what I wanted to do when I graduated from college. But, um, I had a couple friends that had gone to dental, were in dental school and I was like, well, let me just check that out.
And I kind of just fell into dentistry really. It’s not something that I grew up.
Marguerite Martin: I feel like everybody I know who’s a dentist had a parent who was a dentist.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Yeah. You, you, it
Marguerite Martin: feels
Dr. Alicia Stephens: like that. It feels like that way. And when I, when I was in dental school too, all of my classmates had moms, dads, cousins, brothers who were dentists.
Then here’s me. But it didn’t happen that way for me. [00:03:00] You know? And even when I first started dental school, I wasn’t sure, did I pick the right,
Marguerite Martin: yeah.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Avenue? Is this the right career for me? And the first two years were tough. Um, I went to University of Washington, but by that third year when we started working on patients and interacting, I’m like, okay, okay.
I think I can see myself doing that. And then I did a rotation through pediatric dentistry. And then I just fell in love with it. Wow. I’m like, okay, the kids are for me. This is what I wanna do. So yeah, that’s how I kind of fell into, fell into dentistry and now I’ve been at it for 24 years and just absolutely love it.
16 of those years I’ve been at, uh, Lindquist.
Marguerite Martin: Love
Dr. Alicia Stephens: it. Yeah. So I live in Puyallup right now.
Marguerite Martin: Okay. Um, so are you
Dr. Alicia Stephens: south Down?
Marguerite Martin: Okay. I was just gonna say downtown or South Hill.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: South Hill, Puyallup, but still in the area.
Marguerite Martin: So I love this. I love to Tacoma. I love Washington. This is home. Yeah. What do you like about living on South Hill?
What are your favorite things?
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Oh, well, I used to like before, I mean, it’s expanded so much now. There’s so much traffic come coming down Meridian, so do not like [00:04:00] that. But it’s just a beautiful place. It’s calm. The neighbors are great. Um, we have this beautiful view
Marguerite Martin: of Mount
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Rainier when we’re coming down.
60th. So every time I’m right driving home from work, I just come. Right. Work is 13 minutes away, which is beautiful.
Marguerite Martin: Amazing.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: But I come right down one 60th, and in the spring and the summer I get this magnificent view of Mount Rainier, and it just brings me peace. It makes me smile. So, um, and, and just the people, the folks appear, just, they’re kind, they’re, um, warm.
I just, it’s. It’s a different vibe.
Marguerite Martin: I love it. Yeah. A little more relaxed.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Much more relaxed.
Marguerite Martin: Much more relaxed.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Absolutely.
Marguerite Martin: I made the opposite journey. I grew up on South Hill and now I live in te. Okay. Yeah. Partially on South Hill. I kind of got around, well,
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: it’s not like downtown Tacoma is like crazy. Yeah.
No outta control.
Marguerite Martin: That’s, it’s, it’s, that’s not my experience. Although Facebook comments might tell you otherwise. Alright, Carolyn, when did you move to Tacoma and why?
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Well, I, you know, we’ve worked together for 16 years and I didn’t [00:05:00] realize your parents were born in Georgia. ’cause I was born in Georgia.
Marguerite Martin: What,
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: so I wasn’t born in Tacoma, but, um. Long history, but I, um, ended up in Tacoma, I think it was about 1992, and I worked at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital for 10 years. Had a little brief stent out of the area for a couple months, but I came back ’cause I loved it. And um, and I’ve been with Lindquist Dental Clinic for children for 24 years now, or 24 years in December.
So a little shy of that. And, um, I, yeah, I. Yeah, so I moved to Tacoma actually when I first moved to Tacoma. I was right next to Stadium High School and um, in an apartment and I could walk right to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and that was really great. Um, I. And then I, I mo I bought a house and I ended up moving and then they tore down my apartment.
Oh no. And they built, that’s where the, the pool is now for the stadium high school. Oh, right. So when I was living in the apartment, I could kind of look, I [00:06:00] was on a corner side and I could look over and watch the football games that night and stuff like that on Fridays and stuff. That was fun.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: That’s
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: cool.
But, um, I now live. Directly above Ruston way. Um, so if you know any of the restaurants down there, if you come outta Katy Downs or the lobster sh or not the lobster shop, um, Duke’s
Marguerite Martin: yes.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: And you look right up the hill and that’s where I’m at. So I have a like 180 degree view of the water. So I, I do purview’s pretty nice.
I do love it. And you’ve been here?
Marguerite Martin: I’ve, I’ve, I’ve been able to see it. It’s been
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: pretty nice. So I do love the view and the pool’s fun too in the summertime. So
Marguerite Martin: what is it, what is your, what is your favorite part about that neighborhood? I mean, I would kinda describe it as like, it’s just, it’s not quite Proctor, it’s like between Proctor and Ruston, like what’s so great, obviously besides the view.
Yeah. What
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: else
Marguerite Martin: do you love
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: about it? Well, actually I walk up to Proctor all the time really. I mean, it’s really a quick little walk. There’s a, um, Peter Puget Park. I just go to the bottom of my hill and then there’s this beautiful, um, walking trail that. I like to take my dog and, um, we walk up [00:07:00] to, you know, walk up to that other little park that’s at the top of Proctor.
Yeah. I can’t remember the name of that. Yeah. And then, you know, you have all the little shops and, and coffee. Coffee and restaurants and little shops. So we do that a lot on the weekends. And then also I just walk. You know, right down and walk up and back on Rustin Way. And so you have, you know, point Rustin at the end where my mom actually happens to be in assisted living at Gencare.
And, um, so I can, and I can get in the car and drive to her and be there in three minutes. So that’s nice. And there’s all kinds of little, you know, there’s movie theater and restaurants and shops down at Point Ruston, that’s fun. And then I just turn the other way and I can be right downtown. Where we are right now.
Absolutely. And so it, and jump onto the freeway and it really only takes me, um, about 20 minutes. From my house to the clinic, and the clinic is located in Parkland, Washington. And has the,
Marguerite Martin: has it always been in Parkland?
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Um, well, not really. I mean, [00:08:00] always we, we go back to 1936. Mm-hmm. When we, you know, were first.
Started. So
Marguerite Martin: 90 years, I exaggerate. Yeah,
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: I know.
Marguerite Martin: It’s been 90 years.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Um, Dr. Stephens and I haven’t been there that long, just to
Marguerite Martin: clarify.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Uh, anyway, um, but it, it’s been there for a while. I’ve been there for 24 years and we were down the street from PLU Pacific Lutheran University. Mm-hmm. When I first started in a teeny little.
Spot. Um, and the literally the doctors took notes and they ate lunch and they did. Reviews of church in this little closet, like almost like a little broom closet. Wow. And it was only a, a couple, couple chairs and when, when I first got there, and then we expanded and, and shortly thereafter and went down the street.
So we’re not far from that, that one spot that I was referring to. And we have been, um, oh gosh, I guess it’s been about maybe 21 years. That we’ve been [00:09:00] down, um, in Parkland off of 131st Street,
Marguerite Martin: hundred 31st and Pacific Pacific, basically, right? Mm-hmm. So from Tacoma, like you say, 20 minutes
Dr. Alicia Stephens: right from my house down on Ruston way, about 20 minutes,
Marguerite Martin: 15 down down maybe 15,
Dr. Alicia Stephens: 16.
Marguerite Martin: And you said about 15 minutes from South Hill. Yeah. So this is an, so this is really good location for the whole county, basically. Absolutely.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Right?
Marguerite Martin: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: And we serve, you know, we. You know, we serve children from all over the Puget Sound area. So, so you’re
Marguerite Martin: saying you don’t have to be a Tacoma to get your child
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: free to get No, but you know, we love Tacoma, but no, you don’t have to be a Tacoma.
Um, you know, we, anybody in
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Washington state
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: or anybody in the country, anyone in Washington state can come pretty much, you know, we’ve had kids that have been visiting grandparents or something from out of state too, and amazing. They also, you know, from,
Marguerite Martin: you don’t turn people away.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: We don’t turn ’em away.
Marguerite Martin: Oh my gosh.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Now if they’re crazy and acting up, you know, throwing things.
Marguerite Martin: Just kidding. These are kids, you, not even them,
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: that’s, that’s the parents, right? No, but, um, no, basically due to inability to [00:10:00] pay. So we see every, every child, and when I say children, I, I do wanna preface that it’s. From birth to their 21st birthday, 20.
So,
Marguerite Martin: okay. So this is why I really wanted to have you on the podcast. So Carolyn and I know each other. Mm-hmm. Because we were both in the leadership cult together, as I jokingly call it the American Leadership Forum. And we were in that program 10 years ago and we were having dinner recently catching up, and I was like, I don’t totally understand what you do.
Like I knew that you had a nonprofit that helped. Kids get dental care. And so that’s where I wish I was more curious. I wish, uh, I just kind of zoned out ’cause I knew I couldn’t go there. Um, but then you started talking about it and I was like, wait, wait, wait. Because first of all, like you say, it goes to 21 years old, which means kids that are having their wisdom teeth out Absolutely.
Um, can get care from you. Mm-hmm. And you said, and then I was like, oh, well it must be only for like very poor children. And then you were like, no, we do. Everybody. Mm-hmm. [00:11:00] Any child. And I was like, wait, wait, wait. So if people come with insurance and you were like, yes, we take insurance. And in fact like we want people with insurance to come because that helps.
Like subsidize the kids that come for free. So I know I’m saying a lot at once, but I, we have a lot to cover in this conversation because one of the things that kept happening when we tried to, like, I was like, oh, we’ll just, I’ll just make a video about it. I’ll just make a little soundbite. And you’re like, well, well, there’s some nuance there.
So we’re just gonna have a long, deep conversation about insurance and care. And what about this? Scenario. And what about is that okay, let’s talk. Absolutely. Let’s do it. All the different ways that kids in Pierce County and Washington and everywhere in the country apparently can access care in Parkland from Dr.
Stephens and your whole crew. ’cause it’s not just you, Dr.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Stephens, not just me. There’s six of us actually. Six docs, six docs. Um, four full-time. And we have actually, we, we have seven now because we have, well, actually, this is why we have changes moment by moment because we have some specialty services that we’ve offered, right.
That we’re offering now. And you mentioned the [00:12:00] wisdom teeth. When I took the tour, I was like, there’s a surgery room.
Yeah.
Marguerite Martin: There were tons of dental techs, a lot of
Dr. Alicia Stephens: things that we were
Marguerite Martin: doing. This was like the biggest dental office I’d ever seen.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: It’s, it’s huge. Yeah. Yeah. 15 chairs and what it’s really about.
Expanding our access to care so that all of these kids have access to quality care. So what we were finding, especially with wisdom, teeth extractions, and kids that need root canals, there’s only one oral surgeon, oral surgeon office in Tacoma that takes state insurance. And the wait times for these kids to get in to get their extractions can be anywhere from six months to a year.
Marguerite Martin: If it’s okay. Dr. Stephens, I wanna ask a lot of, uh, kind of dumb questions. Mm-hmm. As you go. Absolutely. So state insurance. Yes. What is, what, how would someone know if they have to, what are that, what are those called? Is that Apple?
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Medicaid?
Marguerite Martin: Medicaid?
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Apple. Apple Health. Apple Health. Um, Molina. Yeah.
Marguerite Martin: It could be anything.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: It could be
Marguerite Martin: anything. Yeah.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Absolutely.
Marguerite Martin: Is there any insurance that you don’t take? Let’s just start there.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: We are credentialed with. Mm-hmm. Just about all of the major
Marguerite Martin: [00:13:00] carriers. Okay. So just if you’re listening and you’re listening for yours, they call the front desk. Front desk, they’ll tell you Exactly.
Tell and most likely they’ll say yes. So. Great. I just, sorry to interrupt, I just wanna No worries. Sometimes we say things like that and people, I don’t know what they mean. Yeah.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Medicaid.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: And so when she think state insurance, you know, Medicaid, Washington, apple Health, coordinated care. Mm-hmm. Uh, mo, you know, any of those.
Types of things that are funded through the states and then all the other private insurances as well. And one nuance that makes us a lot different, and we’ll talk about that I’m sure about mm-hmm. Is we also take TRICARE Dental, but for the families that, um, income qualify, what’s different is that then they do not have to pay their out-of-pocket or de with.
TRICARE Dental. And so we’re the only ones that are able to do that. And to income qualify, for example, uh, it could be a single active duty person with one child. Right. So just to clarify,
Marguerite Martin: TRICARE is the
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: military’s
Marguerite Martin: healthcare system. That’s
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: right. Right. And so we’re, since we’re located right by j joint based Louis [00:14:00] McCord
Marguerite Martin: Right.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: And we serve a lot of military kids, this is an, an, uh, opportunity for them to be seen without all of those. Other costs that would be, you know, normally associated with it if they income qualify and to income qualify, even if it’s just a single person with one child, they have to make under $77,000. So most of the enlisted folks qualify to have that no out-of-pocket cost.
So that’s a little bit of a nuance that makes us different, but we take. All of those insurances.
Marguerite Martin: Well, and I think there’s so many layers to why this is awesome, because it’s like, okay, so we’re a military family. We have a couple kids. We income qualify. We can take our kids to multiple places, but if they take their kids to Lindquist, they’re, they’re not gonna have to pay any additional.
’cause that’s what happens, right? You go to the dentist and you have insurance. But like the, the thing that I always find with dental, I mean, please correct me if I’m just wrong, but like, I mean insurance, and you go in and it’s like you. It’s always more than what the insurance covers, right? You’re gonna pay a [00:15:00] few hundred bucks for whatever you haven’t done.
And my teeth are not perfect. Like there’s always something that happens besides my cleaning. They’re like, eh, we gotta go in and do this, or we’ve gotta go fix that. And like, it’s always out of pocket cost. But for what, what you’re saying is. Probably, I mean, most we can’t guarantee you talk to the front desk lady, you
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: to the front desk, but yeah, most families, most everybody that is an enlisted, um, service member or their family, their spouse or whatever, can bring the children up to 21 years of age up
Marguerite Martin: to, so if
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: the spouse is under
Marguerite Martin: 21, they
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: are also, they would also qualify.
Yeah. So, um, so, and if they have TRICARE dental income qualified, then they don’t pay that copay or out-of-pocket cost. So,
Dr. Alicia Stephens: yeah, I think this is huge for the military and like,
Marguerite Martin: we just need to get the word
Dr. Alicia Stephens: out because this is a big deal. We have so many military families that come in and are so grateful that they found us because they’ve gone from office to office and having to, they got four or five kids having to pay these copays out of pocket for all of the kids.
Mm-hmm. It’s a big deal. And sometimes these kids, their, their cap is [00:16:00] $1,300 a year. So sometimes these kids have. A lot of work to do.
Marguerite Martin: Yeah.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Which can be more expensive than that. Yeah. So then, you know, they’re on the hook for that additional cost. So we, um, we love serving our military families. We are here for them.
And so many that have found us are very grateful for the services. So it’s, it’s been wonderful. Okay. So
Marguerite Martin: I think you just opened the door to another question, although I’m gonna keep coming back to insurance. I’m gonna ask insurance 20 different ways. Okay. So, I think a thought that I certainly have as an individual, and I don’t know if parents have this on behalf of their children, but like.
When you need so much. When it’s like, I, I don’t even want anyone to see, like I had a point in my twenties where I didn’t go to the dentist for like five years and I was so embarrassed. And I think these kids probably like, until things get painful, right? Like they don’t, and, and the parents are probably thinking like they’re not gonna sit.
Still. Like they don’t, they, you know, how are we gonna do this?
Dr. Alicia Stephens: So
Marguerite Martin: you’re specialists, right?
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Well, we’re not specialists. I just wanna make it clear. But we do have specialists. Specialists. We do have specialists. We specialize in
Marguerite Martin: children. Meaning
Dr. Alicia Stephens: we, yes. We only, we see children [00:17:00] from zero to 21. Yeah. So, but we are not, we’re general dentist.
However, we do offer some specialty services. Our oral surgery, um, service, that’s an oral surgeon or endodontics, um, service that’s a endodontist. And what I, what we’ve started offering about. Four years, three, four years ago now is general anesthesia for our pediatric kids. And that’s what you’re talking about, the whole mouth.
So yeah, we have a lot of kids that come through between three eight, actually two to eight, very, very young, that almost every tooth in their mouth needs to be fixed.
Marguerite Martin: Okay.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: And a lot of times with the little ones. It’s impossible to get them to stay still to sit in the chair. I mean, even the, the big
Marguerite Martin: ones,
Dr. Alicia Stephens: right?
It’s, it’s getting difficult. I mean, that’s, have you stay still? So you’re talking about, you know, wanting the child to stay still and get all this work done, having the parents have to take off the work, having the kids have to take out a school to just a lot of back and forth. So what we started offering about four years ago, and I’m the dentist who does it at the office, it’s what we call general anesthesia.
We bring in a medical doctor, [00:18:00] and right now that is Dr. Steve Matson anesthesiologist. 20 years experience. He’s just wonderful. He comes in and he administers the general anesthesia, and then I see the kids and I basically. Fix the whole mouth in one appointment. Wow. It usually takes about an hour and a half.
What hour and a half. Um, parents are so grateful. The kids, and the thing about it, you know, the kids go to sleep, so they don’t know what’s going on. They wake up, everything’s done, and they still like coming to the dentist. They still like us, you know? So the next time I see them, they run up to me. They’re happy.
They c me. Yeah, they show off their princess crowns. So it’s been pretty awesome.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: And if that wasn’t there, I mean that might’ve taken, what, six appointments or more
Dr. Alicia Stephens: for the parents taking off work?
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Six. It would be incredibly expensive. And the kids like, no, I don’t wanna do it again. Oh,
Dr. Alicia Stephens: it’s so tough. You know, it can be so tough.
So this has been a wonderful adjunct to our, to our clinical, um, services. And, um, we are open for, for kids, for ga, you know. Between the ages of three and eight. Mm-hmm. Um, they [00:19:00] come in, we’ll take a look and anyone can refer to us, but you know, there’s a lot of kids out there in what you were saying about pain, what we’re finding.
A lot of parents aren’t really bringing their kids a lot of times into the dentist
Marguerite Martin: because they’re worried about it.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Until they’re worried about it, until the kid is complaining about P And sometimes it’s not even the children that are complaining or the the parents are seeing it. It’s the school nurses.
It’s the teachers.
Marguerite Martin: Yeah.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: So we get referral. We, we are in the schools mm-hmm. As well. So we get a lot of our kids from the schools who the teachers are saying, you know, we, we need to take a look at that. Or our hygienist is seeing in the school. So it’s, you know, these kids are in need, these kids are in need.
They miss a lot of school days because of this. Yeah. They, you know, and infection. Pain. And so the great thing too about our services is that a lot of times if you’re referring to a pediatric dentist for these services, not only do you have to pay the out of pocket and, you know, it’s, it’s extremely expensive, especially for our Tricare kids.
Um, but there’s also an incredible wait time too. Yes. You know, there are pediatric [00:20:00] dentists that will see our kids on, you know, apple Health and what have you, but. It can be three to four months that’s don’t have that kind. If kids in time, if paid
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: for the general anesthesia six months or more for
Dr. Alicia Stephens: surgery.
This is for the pediatric services surgery. So that wait time is not quite as long ’cause there are a few more providers that are seeing these kids, but there’s still not enough and. And that can be an extremely long time for a child who has infection, who’s in pain. We wanna get these kids taken care of as soon as possible.
Mm-hmm. So that’s where we kind of fill in the gap and, um, these services are, are, are wonderful for these kids. That’s great. I’m getting the, the word from Doug, so we’re
Marguerite Martin: gonna go to break. Okay. And then
Dr. Alicia Stephens: we’ll be right
Marguerite Martin: back for that. Okay.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Great.
Erik Hanberg: This is Eric Hanberg, host of the Channel 2 5 3 Podcast Citizen Tacoma,
Producer Doug Mackey: and this is producer Doug.
Erik Hanberg: When my wife and I needed to sell our condo in downtown Tacoma, we wanted an expert in that niche market,
Producer Doug Mackey: and I needed an expert in selling a home as part of an estate sale.
Erik Hanberg: We both [00:21:00] turned to Marguerite Martin from move to tacoma.com. She’s a real estate matchmaker. She finds you the perfect agent for whatever your situation.
Producer Doug Mackey: Not every agent knows what to do in every situation. You want an agent that knows your situation.
Erik Hanberg: Best of all, your agent pays Marguerite a finder’s fee out of their commission. So using a real estate matchmaker to help you find the best agent won’t cost you a thing,
Producer Doug Mackey: visit move to tacoma.com. Connect with Marguerite and find the agent that’s right for you.
Erik Hanberg: Thank you Marguerite Martin, and move to Tacoma for your longtime support of Channel 2 5 3,
Move to Tacoma Theme Song: move to Tacoma.
Marguerite Martin: And we are back with Dr. Stephens and Carolyn, thank you for coming on the podcast. Yes, thank you. I am very curious. I, we, we’ve been talking about so much even during the, the break, but I wanna start with the schools.
Dr. Stephens, you mentioned that, that you’re in the schools. Like what does, what does that mean and how does that work? How do the schools plug kids in with the free dental care?
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Yeah, well we actually are in five different school districts.
Marguerite Martin: Districts
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: and, [00:22:00] and, and 60 diff about 60 schools. And we provide, um,
Marguerite Martin: it’s so embarrassing that I did not know about this Carolina.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: And we, we provide screenings, floor varnish, and sealants for children in the schools. And sometimes we’re doing whole. So
Marguerite Martin: you’re doing this in the schools
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: itself? In the schools itself. You’re doing
Marguerite Martin: the, like a fluoride ceiling
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: situation, barn. And sealants. And that’s with parents’ permission if they want that.
Marguerite Martin: And that protects the kids’ teeth from like cavities, right? Correct. Okay.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Floor is
Marguerite Martin: wonderful.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Yeah. For the record, Dr.
Marguerite Martin: Stephens is for it.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Yes. So we are for it, but she can speak to it better than I can. But yeah, so we, um, we’re really excited because, um, we get to go where the children are and you know, thus be able to see them and we.
Uh, we have professional team that goes in there and they’re great and, um, they can identify if there’s immediate like needs. We kind of have a, a, a. Rating system of like what their needs are and then work with [00:23:00] the school nurse or school professional that’s there that can, you know, follow up with the parents.
Oh, okay.
Marguerite Martin: And
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: we can provide them, if they don’t have a dental home, we can provide them a dental home. Um, and you were speaking to the fact that sometimes parents are like a little like, oh, embarrassed or like, you know, oh gosh, it’s, yeah. Like I know I probably should’ve brought them in. Should’ve done it.
Yeah. She doesn’t really brush every day or this or that, or, I see brown spots. I don’t know. I gotta pay the mortgage or the rent. It’s so expensive to go to the expenses or the, you know, or, or food on the table. And I just, you know, let’s just wait honey, you know, that kind of a thing. And we, our team is so great.
Are not judgemental. We just wanna be able to see them and so,
Dr. Alicia Stephens: right. I don’t think that can be stated enough times like come as you are. Right. Absolutely. One of the things that we really strive for at Lindquist is to not make parents feel judged because there’s so many circumstances surrounding why you haven’t brought your child.
It could be financial. Yeah, it could be fears, dental, fears. A [00:24:00] lot of times parents have dental fears stemming, stemming from childhood, and it stays with them and they pass those on to their children. Course we don’t wanna be judged. We’re just happy that they brought ’em. And then it’s a fresh beginning from there, you know?
And then we, it’s about education. We wanna teach them what the tools that they need, what they need to do in terms of. Having the fresh start and having great oral health from Huron for the child. Mm-hmm. So it’s, it’s, it’s really a, a teaching thing. It’s a education thing and it’s very, very non gentle, non-judgmental, sorry, non gentle.
It’s gentle. We’re gentle as well. It’s gentle, but non-judgmental, nonjudgmental. So yeah, that’s very important.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Yeah. And, and so, you know, the, the through the schools, you know, they might find out about, that’s one of the things that I think I shared with you when we were chatting a little while ago is, you know, we see over 24,000 patient visits a year.
Marguerite Martin: This boggles my mind,
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: and yet we’re the little fish in the big pond in, in Pierce County. And so getting, you know, having this opportunity, [00:25:00] thank you to share what we do because we want to be a resource. To families like
Marguerite Martin: you have the capacity to
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: help our kids. Absolutely. We have the capacity they need to grow.
Absolutely. We have the, and we, you know, as you said, you know, we’re, we’re serving kids with state insurance, we’re serving kids. We also have an uncompensated care fund that we didn’t speak to, but that’s, we provide about half a million dollars a year in just. Uncompensated care, things that aren’t covered for whatever reason.
Um, and then we, you know, of course have insurance ability. And then, you know, we talked about Tricare being able to waive that out-of-pocket cost. But if the, if the income qualify and have an insur, another type of insurance for some reason, Delta Dental line, why we can, we can also do that. And we also have sliding scale fees and things like that.
So we work with families so. Yeah, don’t be afraid, you know, to bring, bring your kiddos in up to 21 or yourself, if you are over 18, you can sign for yourself or 18 and older. Um, and we, um, you know, nonjudgmental, nonjudgment, gentle, but
Marguerite Martin: gentle and [00:26:00] nonjudgment. One thing that really struck me in our conversation, and I I think it’s okay for us to talk about this in, in public, you just tell me like, uh, just between us.
Yeah, just between us and whoever’s watching on the internet. Um, so there have been. Some governmental changes, uh, in the last year or so people might have noticed that have impacted what. Services are available, like for public services in general? I think in every sector. Right. And that’s impacted you.
And the part of our conversation that I thought was the most interesting, and I hope I’m characterizing this in the correct way, so please correct me if I’m not, was basically like, okay, so we do actually have a bit less money coming in. To help these kids that, uh, don’t have any money that might be on state services or whatever, because there’s just fewer serv state services, federal services, whatever.
There’s just less money in the kitty for that. But when parents with regular old insurance or parents with TRICARE come in, they’re actually helping those kids. You’re replenishing that fund and you have all this capacity. I’m like, okay, wait. So we just need to tell. Everybody, like whether you’re income [00:27:00] qualified, whether you’re not income qualified, whether you have insurance, whether you don’t have insurance just come.
Mm-hmm. And it’s all gonna come out in the wash. Go. You did a, that was
Dr. Alicia Stephens: awesome job.
Marguerite Martin: That was great job. I
Dr. Alicia Stephens: just wanted to make sure I understood this.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: It’s, and, and for those people that don’t.
Marguerite Martin: Stop yelling.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Oh,
Marguerite Martin: we’re just
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: so excited.
Marguerite Martin: We’re very excited.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Yeah, excited. You know, you know, for those that don’t know, Medicaid cuts in Washington state, um, went into effect, uh, July one of this last year, which we were not anticipating when we did the budget.
And then there was an additional cut that just happened. So we’re looking at about a $280,000 cut to our. Um, what we would normally expect to be getting in with Medicaid. So we are pivoting and we are still seeing all those same people that we’ve been seeing with. So no impact
Marguerite Martin: on care
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: for those folks?
No. And uncompensated care, but we’re also growing our private insurance, like you said, that helps offset so that we can do that. So as Dr. Stephens [00:28:00] talked about, we have a. A 15 chair clinic, including one surgical suite. And when we say chair, that’s kind of the whole operatory. Yeah. And um, and we are utilizing maybe nine of them at, you know, every day.
So we have the capacity to grow. Okay. So we are not turning any of these other folks away that don’t have insurances or have state insurances. But we’re also looking to grow. And the opportune time has happened. We’ve always had. Phenomenal care. I mean, our, our team is, you know, Stanford Uud grad, you know, I mean, we have, you know, she’s all the fancy players, right?
These are, you know, these are dentists that get paid and they’re very great, highly, highly skilled experience and highly skilled experience. And, and we have specialty, you know, as we’ve talked about. But, um, we, we also, um. Lost my train of thought. Help me out.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Um, we also, um, yeah, so we have, we have our, so we have our core dentist and we have four full-time that are, again, [00:29:00] some of the best schools in the country.
Right, right. And, um, we, we do a good job. What I, what I love that I, I think, sets us apart a little bit is that we really give quality care. We care about these patients, we care about these parents. We care about these kids.
Marguerite Martin: Yeah.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: And so when we see these families, it’s about. Educating the parent. It’s about making them feel welcome, connecting with them, connecting with the child, and really helping them understand this oral health journey.
Mm-hmm. And so that’s what I, I feel like we do a little bit differently and we give. Quality care. I mean, our work is stellar. And that’s what, it’s just that was what I, that I wanna jump off of that ‘
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: cause you helped remind me. I was like, I need another cup
Dr. Alicia Stephens: of
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: coffee. But, um, not only have we had quality care and the utmost, you know, fabulous team is, we have just finished a renovation.
Marguerite Martin: That’s
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: why I wanted to say
Marguerite Martin: when I came in, I was like, okay. Free dental office. I mean, already going to the dentist. Like you kind of never know what you’re gonna get. Right, right. [00:30:00] Absolutely. But it was like super nice. You’ve just had like a total renovation. Beautiful. This is all new stuff
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: everywhere. All brand new dental chairs and what we call delivery systems.
We have a whole brand new facelift to the whole facility. We got new, new roof, new windows, new carpeting, hvac, everything. We, you know, we’ve had about a million dollar renovation. All thanks to funding we had raised over the last several years.
Marguerite Martin: Private
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: donors or, um, private donors for chairs, um, for a community development block.
Grant money from Pierce County. Wow. For other facility, um, improvements. So this has been something that’s been in the making for several years. Um. And it was all, it was all money that designated specifically for facilities or equipment. Wow. And so now the, and seeing as we didn’t know about the cut, and we were actually in the throes of doing this renovation, when all of the Medicaid cuts and things came about, it’s like.
Well, we’re pivoting, but we have a beautiful facility. You’re ready? State of [00:31:00] the art. Yeah. Ready for that. That anyone with insurance isn’t gonna go. Oh yeah. I don’t wanna go to that clinic. I, you know, it’s a low income clinic. Yeah, no, it’s beautiful. And you know you’ve been there, right? Yes. Yes. So, um, and, and, um, so we have state of the art care.
We have state-of-the-art facility, um, equipment. We even have nomads, which are x-rays that are digital nomads. So the less. You know, we don’t have to go and say keep coming back and trying to, less exposure, see with things, less exposure to x-rays and everything. So it’s, it’s really great. So this is we’re, although we didn’t want the cuts, we’re poised to now pivot and, and say come one.
And come all. And yeah.
Marguerite Martin: So, okay. I have like two step question here. So the first is just speed round. Uh, what are all the things you offer? Standard. I’ll let her speed round that.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Yeah. Yeah. So, oh, we offer everything, um, restoration, so fillings. I guess that’s, um, extractions, space, maintainers, root canals, oral surgery, um, [00:32:00] wisdom teeth, extractions, general anesthesia for kids that have a lot to do, so ages three to eight.
General anesthesia we offer, we offer also the general anesthesia is also for our oral surgery kids. Okay? So the kids that are having theirs. Third molars extracted the wisdom teeth extracted. They also receive general anesthesia. Okay. ’cause many times you don’t wanna be awake for that. Yeah. So that happens as well.
Um, yeah, just routine care, cleanings, x-rays, education, fluoride, little bit of everything. Everything that most standard offices offer. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Marguerite Martin: Alright. So maybe there’s somebody listening and they’re like, okay, I’m not sure I got a couple kids, but I’m not sure if we’re gonna meet the income qualification.
And what if they don’t take my. Company or my partner’s insurance, like we always have weird insurance. Like what would you say? Like what do they do? Do they pick up the phone and call? Do they click a link somewhere? How can people find out what their situation’s gonna be?
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Well. Most likely they, they will qualify.
If there’s even a question about that, Carolyn keeps repeating
Marguerite Martin: this. Just saying, I’m just [00:33:00] in disbelief. Yeah.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: But calling our number 2 5 3 5 3 9 7 4 4 5. You know, you’ll get someone at the front desk that will be glad to help you. We have a website, Lindquist dental.org. There’s lots of information up there as well.
Um, but I mean, if there’s even a question, just, just call us. We, you know, um, we wanna see you, we wanna work with you. We don’t wanna make it. We, we wanna remove barriers to access to care and, and we want to make it so that children are able to, you know, have the care that they deserve and they need. And, um, I have friends that, when.
You know, their kids were young. Um, they knew about Lindquist too, and they’ve used, you know, our services and they were like, I didn’t know if I was gonna qualify or not. I was in between jobs or, you know, I was, I was a server at a restaurant and I didn’t have, I mean, there’s so many, so many, um. Ways that we can help.
And so just to, to pick up the phone or get online and take a look, but talking to somebody [00:34:00] always is, for me anyway, I, I really like to say, you know, this is my unique situation, and you’ll find that it’s maybe not that so unique and that we’re gonna be able to help.
Marguerite Martin: I love it and it’s, it’s just such a rare thing where you can like pick up the phone and call and ask a specific question like that.
So
Dr. Alicia Stephens: our front desk and our accounting department is really good about guiding parents as to what they need to do. We’ve had a lot of families come in that didn’t have insurance and they’ve given them the links or help them sign up to get the insurance. So literally, and it doesn’t take very long to qualify to submit the paperwork.
And generally within two to three days they have the insurance. Wow. For state services. So we are really, really great about helping guide these. These families. So just give us a call we can help.
Marguerite Martin: Amazing. Yeah. That’s amazing.
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Mm-hmm.
Marguerite Martin: Well, is there anything I haven’t asked about that you want to make sure that people know about Lindquist Dental?
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Well, you know, I would just add one other thing. You know, I, I, I, I spoke to that we were at schools, but we also do a lot of events in town. Mm-hmm. So since we went to promote how wonderful Tacoma is, yes, always we love Tacoma. We, you know, we [00:35:00] do a lot of. Health fairs or, um, just, you know, different summer festivals and things like that, that will be out there.
And, you know, you’ll, you might see Dr. Stephens there sometimes. So we might be doing screenings, we might be out there just, you know, sharing information. Um, and so we really believe that. Going to where people are and, and making that connection is, you know, a way to also, you know, say, Hey, and if you need a dental home, we’re here.
You know, so, and, um, thank you for opportunity like this. And you know, anyone that’s watching to please share, um, you know, with any of your family, friends, colleagues or whatever, we’d love to be able to help. Okay.
Marguerite Martin: Dr. Stephens, any final word?
Dr. Alicia Stephens: Well, just that Linwood is such a wonderful place and we’ve been around for so long.
We just wanna continue that wonderful care that we give to these kids. And again, the model of No Child turned away is just to me so important. Mm-hmm. I mean, we’ve got kids that come in and we, whatever it takes, we’re [00:36:00] going to do it or we’re gonna figure out how to make it happen for them. So I just want folks to know that Lindquist is a wonderful dental home for your children, whether it’s.
Private insurance, whether it’s Medicaid, state insurance, apple, whatever you have, it’s just a wonderful home. And so look us up. We’re here. We’ve got incredible providers, incredible leadership.
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Check
Dr. Alicia Stephens: out
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: our Google reviews. If
Dr. Alicia Stephens: check out you’re watching this online,
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: you,
Dr. Alicia Stephens: you’re techie, right? Google reviews 4.5, which just really good for, you know, our type of of office.
So yes, we’re really proud of the work we do. We’re proud of who we are and what we stand for. And at the end of the day when I finish working on these kids, I just. I go home thankful and gratified and just knowing that and tired, very tired,
Marguerite Martin: but knowing that, you know, we’re doing something to make a difference in these kids’ lives.
So it’s wonderful. Love it. Well, thank you both for what you do. Thank you. Thank you. It’s really incredible and I hope lots of people like, I hope this gets to the people that it needs to get to. Yeah. Thank you. Feel free to share. [00:37:00]
Carolyn McDougal Weyrick: Thank you. Thank.
Producer Doug Mackey: If you like this podcast, check out, move to tacoma.com. Move to tacoma.com is a neighborhood guide, blog and podcast to help people in Tacoma Pierce County and beyond find their place in the city of Destiny. More [email protected]. Move to Tacoma is part of the Channel 2 5 3 podcast network.
Check out these other shows. Grit and Grain. Nerd Farmer, interchangeable. White Ladies What say you, citizen Tacoma and Kitchen. 2 5 3. This is Channel 2 5 3.