Today's Social Media Club of Lawrence meeting featured the Douglas County Dental Clinic as the subject of our popular monthly solutions meeting.

The Douglas County Dental Clinic is a local non-profit organization with roots in Health Care Access, another local non-profit. The Dental Clinic began in October, 2001, as a mostly volunteer organization after a need for free or low-cost dental care was identified. In the first year, the Clinic saw 53 patients. Last year, they saw 6100. Approximately half of their patients are children. The Clinic will see patients who have income up to 200% of the federal poverty level.

The Dental Clinic is already active in the Lawrence social media community, primarily on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Their YouTube account boasts over 88,000 upload views!

The Dental Clinic's main goal in using social media is to create public awareness of oral health. They post clinic information, links to oral health information and PSA videos about oral health.

A secondary function of social media is to help create awareness of the clinic itself, and another potential use is to help with fundraising. Approximately 30% of the Clinic's budget is provided through grants, fundraising and donations.

The Clinic's major annual fundraiser is the Open Wider Golf Tournament, which will be held Friday, April 29, at Alvamar in Lawrence. The tournament is in its fourth year and raised $8000 last year.

Suggestions were made to create a separate Facebook Page for the golf tournament, and the Page has already been created! Find it here. Members also recommended that a tournament-specific hashtag be created for Twitter. The Clinic was encouraged to connect with other local non-profits in social media, and possibly even to consider sharing a volunteer among groups to help with social media. Also, the Clinic is already using the Wellcommons site, but it was suggested that they encourage testimonials from patients or posts from board members or supporters in addition to their own posts.

The Clinic is applying for a $2500 grant from Delta Dental to expand their social media use and create awareness of oral health. The public will be able to vote on the grant applicants, and this is where the power of the Lawrence social media community can really help the Clinic. Once they have more details about the grant and voting, they will let us know.

Thanks to everyone who attended today's meeting! If you have additional suggestions for the Dental Clinic or comments about today's meeting, please let us know.

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