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By Darby Kendall

Looking to help 

When Ellie Amico, D.M.D. ’24, applied to dental school, she had a mission to make a difference. After enrolling at the OHSU School of Dentistry, Amico’s eagerness to give back helped make the Bridges Collaborative Care Clinic (BCCC) the community cornerstone it is today. 

Amico enrolled at OHSU at the height of COVID-19 and virtual classes, so she was excited to participate in community service and in-person classes once on-campus attendance resumed. She had already worked as a dental hygienist, often using her skills to volunteer through Medical Teams International, and she knew that OHSU would be the ideal place to apply her previous knowledge. 

“As an Oregonian, I know that we do so much for the state and the health of our communities, and anytime I’d meet anyone who’s associated with OHSU, I would hold them in high regard and esteem,” Amico explained. “I thought that it would be really cool to be a part of this community.” 

However, Amico soon realized that while there were hopes for volunteering opportunities amongst students and staff, a framework was missing due to the pandemic. After bonding with classmate Ciara Robinson, D.M.D. ’24, over their shared desire to give back, the two became resolved to find a way to use their growing skills as dentists to benefit the community.  

Ellie Amico, D.M.D. ’24

“Ciara and I tag teamed this mission to figure out a way to create volunteer opportunities,” Amico said. “She and I took that on together, because we were both really passionate about volunteering.” 

In their search, they learned about BCCC, a student-led free clinic providing health services to vulnerable populations in Portland’s metro area. At BCCC, students from OHSU, Portland State University and Oregon State University work with Transition Projects, Inc., a local nonprofit focused on transitioning people from houselessness into housing.  

The dental branch of BCCC, the Bridges Dental Clinic, was technically formed, but they hadn’t yet seen any patients, so Amico and Robinson met the leadership behind the clinic to see how they could get things moving. This is how they met Tyler Gimenez, D.M.D. ‘23, then a third-year dental student at OHSU. He had been working on building a framework for the clinic but needed someone to pass the baton to as his approaching final year of school would take up more of his time.  

“Tyler was genuinely surprised that we had hunted him down,” Amico remembered. “He was like, ‘It’s great you met me, because we need new leadership.’ It was just through word of mouth and this little network, and everything took off from there.” 

Making a change 

Today, the Bridges Dental Clinic runs like a well-oiled machine, thanks to volunteers, new tools, and a student leadership structure she helped put in place, but Amico said the beginnings weren’t as smooth. 

“When I first went to volunteer, we had one room the size of a walk-in closet at Transition Projects,” Amico said. “From other previous years, co-chairs had procured different donations like a sterilizer, a broken down ultrasonic and some instruments here and there. When we jumped in, it was like, here’s a room full of stuff that you could piece together a clinic with.” 

Armed with a hodgepodge of tools, they opened their doors to patients and started with simple cleanings. While Amico and Robinson appreciated the administrative work the clinic still needed, their top priority was to get patients in chairs. 

“Every time you do something for the first time, you’re nervous. You don’t want to screw it up; it’s someone’s health. That’s a big honor. I think everyone respects that,” Amico said. 

The initial clinic was a success, and they did cleanings on three patients that day. For the first few clinics, they would see an average of three to five patients, but gradually knowledge of the clinic spread through word of mouth, and more folks started coming out to receive care and improve their oral health. Now BCCC offers a variety of necessary dental care to underserved populations, including exams, basic restorative dentistry and extractions.  

The dental clinic also gave back to Amico, as she learned invaluable skills while putting her education to practical use. Faculty from the School of Dentistry often volunteer as preceptors at the clinic, providing students with insightful looks into seasoned dental knowledge in a hands-on environment. 

“As a student, you learn so much more in a very intimate setting, because of the capacity the faculty have that day to spend time with you on whatever it is that you’re doing,” Amico explained. 

Amico is leaving a legacy that will benefit both the community and future students, having helped create a clinic that incoming classes are eager to participate in. The co-chairs for this past academic year were students Anna Ball and Thomas Rezendes, D.M.D. Class of 2025, who will pass on the roles as they work towards their own graduation. From a closet-sized room to a functioning patient care center, Amico and her peers truly laid the foundation for the Bridges Dental Clinic. 

“25% of our dental students volunteer for this clinic, and this is the spirit of the students at OHSU,” said School of Dentistry Dean Ron Sakaguchi, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D. “They’re very generous, and they really care about the community.” 

Looking back on her own experience at OHSU and BCCC, Amico is grateful she had the opportunity to grow so much during her time in dental school. 

“I can’t stop listing off the benefits of volunteering, both personally and professionally. But really, the biggest fulfillment at the end of the day is when someone looks at you and says, ‘Thank you so much,’” she reflected. “We all went into it with a common goal, to volunteer, and we all got fulfillment out of it.” 

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