DENTAL PROGRAM FUTURE IN DOUBT $75,000 REQUIRED JUST TO FINISH YEAR.

Byline: Jennifer Radcliffe Staff Writer

CANOGA PARK - A 57-year-old program that provides low-cost dental care to 3,000 San Fernando Valley students may have to close its two clinics next month after a steady erosion of corporate and charitable donations.

The clinics at Hart Street Elementary in Canoga Park and Telfair Avenue School in Pacoima - which need $150,000 a year to operate - have just $15,000 in the bank and little hope of attracting more funds, according to the 31st District Parent-Teacher-Students Association, which runs the program.

Three other PTSA Dental Program clinics operating out of Los Angeles Unified schools are struggling to survive.

``Kids with toothaches can't study,'' said Robert Taylor, an 82-year-old dentist who has directed the program since it started in 1947. ``We need more money so we can provide more services.''

Los Angeles Unified School District board member Julie Korenstein said she has tried for four months to help the program find money.

``It's so horrible. I just haven't been able to figure it out yet.''

The lackluster economy has forced private companies and nonprofit groups to scale back grants to the dental program and other groups over the past several years. The dental clinics have seen grants from such groups as the California Endowment, Kaiser Permanente and United Health turned down or reduced.

For many children and teens, a visit to the Hart Street and Telfair Avenue clinics is their first trip to the dentist.

For a flat $45 fee, any student in the LAUSD can visit the clinics for cleanings, X-rays, fillings and other work. A majority of youngsters arrive with toothaches and severe decay.

In the most severe cases, Taylor said, he's made dentures for children as young as 5 who were malnourished or did not take care of their teeth. Other children have serious problems because they lack calcium and fluoride.

At the height of the program, Los Angeles Unified had 13 dental clinics. Ironically, the money is drying up while the demand for the service is rising, experts said.

Canoga Park mother Patricia Gonzalez said the Hart Street clinic is probably the only way she can afford to take her 6-year-old daughter, Sandra, to the dentist.

``It's hard,'' she said. ``With the private dentist, the prices are very high.''

Gonzalez said her temporary medical insurance roughly covers the $45 flat fee, which she could not afford on her own. The clinic relies on grants and donations to pay the rest of the cost, which averages at least an additional $40 per student.

``That comes out of our grants, but since we don't have any, we're in trouble ... Nobody's sending us anything,'' said Marsha Minassian, president of the 31st District PTSA, which serves the Valley.

It would take at least $75,000 to keep the two Valley clinics open for the rest of the school year, officials said. And to sustain the clinics for several years, the volunteer-based PTSA would probably need the help of corporate sponsors or professional grant-writers, Minassian said.

Both clinics have already reduced their operating hours, and they don't have any fat to cut or reserves to fall back on. The Hart Street clinic, for example, does not have Internet access or fax machines.

But workers and volunteers continue to scramble for grants.

``I've got a whole file of turn-downs,'' said Marilyn Ickes, bookkeeper for the 31st District PTSA. ``They say, You've got a good program, but we don't have the money.''

While Kaiser Permanente has given as much as $60,000 in the past, it wasn't able to give anything this year, Ickes said.

Kaiser officials said increased requests for sponsorship and state law requiring them to focus on community needs, which include urgent health care for the uninsured, has forced them to cut support.

``These organizations are telling me that fewer and fewer businesses and corporations that have always been there for them are not there now,'' said Debbie Hernandez, Kaiser's community relations manager for Southern California. ``There's a lot more pressure on us and it's very difficult for us to try to fund everyone.''

Los Angeles Unified, which bailed out the program a few years ago, has cut its own budget by more than $1 billion in the past three years.

Kim Uyeda, the LAUSD's student medical services director, said the district is trying to help the PTSAs find a long-term solution that would improve the clinic's business model.

But she said the LAUSD's main focus must remain in the classroom.

``We are a school district and we are really ... focused on education,'' she said. ``We are definitely trying to save the program.''

The LAUSD, which leases the space to the PTSA, plans to hold a meeting in December to discuss the matter.

Even the donations from other schools' PTAs are drying up. They've fallen from $30,000 or $40,000 a year to $15,000 or less, Ickes said.

The practice of school PTAs giving a portion of the funds they raise to the dental clinics is also becoming less common.

``A lot of parents don't see the big picture. They want to keep everything at their school,'' said Vicki Walker, student aid bureau manager for the 31st District PTSA.

Jennifer Radcliffe, [phone]

jennifer.radcliffe(at)dailynews.com

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For information about helping the dental clinics, call the 31st District PTSA at [phone].

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(color) Dr. Lisa Stahl polishes Sandra Gonzalez's teeth after a cleaning. Sandra, 6, of Canoga Park wouldn't be able to go to the dentist at all without the low-cost clinics.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

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