Cadets help improve the North Charleston Dental Outreach clinic during Leadership Day

October 23, 2024 Students

By Andrew Granger, CGC ’26

Learning to treat everyone with respect, no matter their position or situation, is an important aspect of leadership development at The Citadel. During this year’s Class of 1979 Leadership Day, cadets helped outfit the North Charleston Dental Outreach clinic with a new employee lounge and refreshed their flower beds near the entrance. The cadets’ contributions will allow future patients to feel more comfortable in the office and provide employees with a place to relax in between treatments.

For many low-income individuals and families in Charleston, finding dental treatment for an affordable price can be very challenging. The North Charleston Dental Outreach office was created with the vision of caring specifically for people with financial difficulties and no insurance.

North Charleston Dental Outreach was conceived after the Charleston Naval Shipyard closure in the 1990s, when thousands lost their jobs. Dedicated volunteers did their best to provide care to low-income patients with dental problems but could only keep their offices open for a short time due to time and money restraints of their own. Finally, after years of fundraising and planning, North Charleston Dental Outreach opened its new office in 2022 with consistent hours, six state-of-the-art treatment rooms and more treatment services offered than before.

For Elijah Melendez, the office’s director of operations and development and a member of The Citadel Class of 2019, the clinic allows him to serve people who aren’t easily able get the help they need.

“I’m just trying to take one thing off people’s plates so that if they’re going through a hard time, at least they can go to the dentist and they’re not having to make an impossible decision between going to work that day or going to see a dental provider,” said Melendez.

The work cadets did on the clinic’s grounds during Leadership Day provided a great service for both the employees and future patients. While previous Leadership Days had cadets install flower beds, this year they spread pine straw to rejuvenate them.

“I tell the cadets, it’s important for us when you think, ‘Why does a dental outreach need a flower bed?” said Melendez. “Well, imagine you’re a patient and you’re used to receiving care in a less-than-ideal location. When you walk into our space and it looks like a regular dental office, it’s bright and cheery, with nice flowers outside, you think, ‘Oh, they’ll take care of me too.’ Just honoring the dignity and worth of every individual that walks in our doors is what we’re about.”

Additionally, Melendez explained the importance of the cadets’ help in converting a newly acquired room in the clinic into a quality lounge area for its employees.

“In the nonprofit field, compassion fatigue is very real. Folks are constantly thinking about the mission and how they’re going to serve others, and the people that are serving often get overlooked. So, we just want to do a more intentional job of caring about our staff and getting them a nice space,” said Melendez.

Leadership Day provides North Charleston Dental Outreach a chance to catch up on important work outside of helping patients. The clinic is so devoted to its patients that there is little to no time for other work.

“We just don’t get around to this because we’re so busy taking care of patients directly, or I’m busy trying to wrangle together a nonprofit. It’s nice to have a day like this where we finally get to things that matter from a facilities perspective, or secondary tasks that always fall behind,” said Melendez.

Activities during Leadership Day provide cadets with opportunities to grow as leaders and serve the surrounding community. Now, with a nonprofit dental clinic outfitted with a welcoming entrance and relaxing space for its hardworking employees, The Citadel can call another one of its many service projects a success.

Andrew Granger of Atlanta, Georgia earned his bachelor’s degree from The Virginia Military Institute in English, Rhetoric and Humanistic Studies. He is currently working as a graduate assistant in the Office of Communications and Marketing while pursuing a master’s degree in Project Management and competing for The Citadel’s Track and Field program.