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PHOTO: Acting MBVS Deputy Director Steven Lanning (center) is awarded the 2022 VA Pillar of Excellence by the Denis McDonough, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (left) and NASDVA President Thomas Palladino. (Submitted photo)
AUGUSTA – The Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services recently received the 2022 VA Abraham Lincoln Pillar of Excellence Award for Innovative State Programs for its Maine Veterans’ Dental Network.
Since 2011, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has recognized its state partners for programs and initiatives that support veterans in their respective states. The award was presented to MBVS Acting Deputy Director Steven Lanning by VA Secretary Denis Richard McDonough at the 2022 National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs Mid-Winter Conference held in Alexandria, Va.
This year’s award is in recognition of the bureau’s creation of the Maine Veterans’ Dental Network, which through a $100,000 grant from Northeast Delta Dental, connects veterans who cannot afford to pay out of pocket, do not have dental insurance, and/or do not receive their oral healthcare from the VA to participating dental clinics in the community. This is the bureau’s fourth consecutive Pillar of Excellence Award, having been recognized previously for its 2020 Maine Justice Action Committee (improving services to justice affected veterans), 2019 work to end veterans’ homelessness, and 2018 veteran suicide prevention efforts.
The MVDN includes 22 dental clinics that are either nonprofits or Federally Qualified Health Centers. They are Community Dental (Biddeford, Farmington, Lewiston, Monson, Portland and Rumford); Lincoln County Dental (Wiscasset); Kennebec Valley Family Dentistry (Augusta); Waterville Community Dental (Waterville); UNE Dental Clinic (Portland); UMA Dental Clinic (Bangor); Eastport Health Care (Eastport); Fish River Rural Health (Madawaska, Fort Kent, and Eagle Lake); Katahdin Valley Health Center (Houlton, Millinocket, Patten, Ashland, and Brownville); Greater Portland Health (Portland), and St. Croix Regional Family Health Center (Princeton).
