About Us
About Us
Helping Hands of Tennessee is a nonprofit 501 c (3) organization located in Jackson, Tennessee. Our mission is to build stronger communities and improve health outcomes to West Tennessee families. Our vision is to integrate oral health into primary care throughout West Tennessee.
To improve health outcomes faced by low income senior citizens, Helping Hands of Tennessee developed the HHT Medicare Assistance Project in 2016. HHT Medicare Assistance Project provided ways in which low income senior citizens could learn ways to gain access for oral, vision and hearing through their Medicare Part C benefits. HHT Medicare Assistance Project provided monthly educational Medicare workshops where Medicare beneficiaries could learn more information about the available options that would save them money and helped them to gain access for much needed treatments for medical and oral healthcare services. By seniors participating in this program, they saved an average of $2,500 in medical costs and gained over $8,000 in healthcare benefits without any extra out of pocket costs.
To further improve health outcomes, Helping Hands of Tennessee opened its’ first dental clinic for vulnerable populations earning no more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. To date, Helping Hands of Tennessee is the only region’s comprehensive oral healthcare provider outside of Memphis, Tennessee in the West Tennessee region. HHT provide dental treatments for patients age 2 to 99 years of age regardless of their ability to pay for dental treatments. We operate the clinic Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The dental clinic provides full general dentistry services based on patient’s income. Fees are based on a three-tier sliding fee scale structure and include dental extractions, dental composite fillings, dentures, crowns, root canals and a host of other dental treatments for our patients. HHT also provides dental treatments to insured patients who earn 200 percent of the federal poverty level. 51 percent of our patients are uninsured, 40 percent of our patients have dental insurance and nine percent of our patients are self-pay patients. In 2019, HHT Dental Program served over 1,300 patients and over 4,000 patient visits within our dental clinic. Our dental clinic is staffed with licensed General Dentists, Hygienists, Dental Assistants, and dental administrative staffing. The HHT Dental Clinic is a member of the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinic and the Tennessee Charitable Care Network. We also participate in the HRSA federal student repayment program.
In 2019, Helping Hands of Tennessee teamed up with West Tennessee Healthcare, America’s Dental Care Foundation (ADCF) and developed our first annual Jackson Mission of Mercy event. West Tennessee Healthcare is a non-profit organization trusted with the health and wellbeing of more than half a million people living across 9,000 square miles of West Tennessee. It's a trust built over more than 70 years by the thousands of compassionate physicians, nurses and care givers working in the 90 hospitals and medical centers that make up West Tennessee Healthcare. America’s Dentists Care Foundation (ADCF) is a national non-profit organization located in Wichita, Kansas, dedicated to delivering oral health care to the underserved. ADCF supports dental Mission of Mercy (MOM) clinics and other charitable clinics that provide free oral health care to any person who attends. ADCF also support larger-scale comprehensive care clinics or smaller-scale clinics for specific populations, such as our country’s veterans. The Jackson Mission Mercy event provides no cost medical and dental services to underserved populations. Our first Jackson Mission of Mercy event was held in March 2019 where we had over 180 community volunteer dentists, hygienists, dental assistants, medical doctors, medical nurses, and a host of other community volunteers. The Jackson Mission of Mercy served over 1,000 patients during the two-day event and provided $250,000 of dental treatments at no cost to the patients. The Jackson Mission of Mercy events offers dental extractions, dental cleanings, oral cancer screenings, oral examinations to the public.