Geisinger Health Foundation received a $35,000 First Federal Charitable Foundation grant to support Geisinger Health Plan’s (GHP’s) mobile dental health unit and purchase three LanguageLine InSight Video Interpreting translation devices to better serve residents in the Greater Hazleton area and northeast region.
Geisinger Health Foundation will use $10,000 of the grant funding to support its Mobile Dental Health Unit, which provides a full spectrum of preventive and diagnostic dental health services for all children in pre-K through grade 12.
The 38-foot-long vehicle allows GHP’s dental health team to travel to schools, community centers and pediatrician offices to administer dental exams, X-rays, cleanings, fluoride treatments and sealants, as well as provide home oral hygiene care education and instruction, and nutritional counseling. Services are provided at no cost to the patients or location.
Geisinger Health Foundation is also using $25,000 to purchase LanguageLine InSight Video Interpreting translation devices. The video remote interpreting is available on tablet, smartphone or laptop and allows limited-English speakers, as well as the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, to feel heard and seen by another person.
Through this device, a patient can interact with the digital interpreter, and the dental team will better understand the patient. The device can translate 41 different languages, including American and British Sign Language.
“Thanks to the First Federal Charitable Foundation and these new translation devices, our team will have a better understanding of the needs and concerns of the patients we see on the mobile unit,” said Michael Halupa, DDS, medical director of dental services at GHP. “This enables us to provide exceptional care to everyone, regardless of their language, culture or ability to communicate.”
For information about the mobile dental unit, call 570-452-7430 or email
About First Federal Charitable Foundation
The First Federal Charitable Foundation was established to support worthwhile community causes. It strives to nurture nonprofit institutions and programs that will effectively serve those in need from the community, empower nonprofit institutions and programs that will expand their presence in and services to the area, and promote opportunities for new nonprofit institutions and programs that will serve the unserved.
Nonprofit organizations with a 501(c)(3) IRS designation that are located in Luzerne, Schuylkill, Carbon and Columbia counties are eligible to apply. Any organization whose headquarters is in another county but services either Luzerne, Schuylkill, Carbon or Columbia counties may apply for a grant to be used in one of those counties.
About Geisinger
Geisinger is committed to making better health easier for the more than 1 million people it serves. Founded more than 100 years ago by Abigail Geisinger, the system now includes nine hospital campuses, a health plan with more than half a million members, two research centers and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. With nearly 24,000 employees and more than 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger boosts its hometown economies in Pennsylvania by billions of dollars annually. Learn more at www.geisinger.org, or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.