Propelled by a lead gift provided by the Delta Dental Plan of Maine and along with significant support from its sister Plans in New Hampshire and Vermont, coupled with our Foundation, Northeast Delta Dental all together provided a total $2.3 million gift to the University of New England toward the construction of a state-of-the-art facility which will serve as the clinical home for northern New England’s first College of Dental Medicine.
The Patient Care Center (PCC) will house the teaching clinic (46 operatories), labs, classrooms, and dental hygiene suite. The PCC will also provide space for inter-professional health care education and practice. One way our lead donation is being honored is that the teaching clinic will be named the Northeast Delta Dental Teaching Clinic. Additionally, Delta Dental Plan of Maine will be separately recognized as a major funder in another area within the space of the College of Dental Medicine; that location is yet to be determined.
Currently Northeast Delta Dental’s leadership donor status receives recognition on signage posted in Goddard Hall, the refurbished building for the administrative offices for the College of Dental Medicine, where the college dean and faculty members work.
I had the privilege to speak at a ceremonial ground-breaking on August 30, 2012 at UNE’s Portland Campus, along with Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew, UNE College of Dental Medicine (CDM) Founding Dean James Koelbl, UNE Board of Trustees Chair Mark Doiron, and UNE President Danielle Ripich. The Patient Care Center will be the first facility of its kind in northern New England, combining comprehensive dental education with high-quality delivery of oral health care, as well as clinical training space for patient-centered primary care.
