Sen. Berger’s Greetings from Raleigh

In this week’s newsletter I wanted to tell you about a few events I have attended that I feel may be of interest to you.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Free Dental Clinic held in Durham by the North Carolina Missions of Mercy. I also visited the Kerr Drug Distribution Center in Henderson. Lastly, I had the opportunity to speak at the Graduate Research Symposium held at NC State University.

FREE DENTAL CLINIC — Missions of Mercy

Above you can see Dr. Gary Oyster, from Franklinton, administering dental care to a patient. Below is a picture that allows you to see the sheer volume of people that were provided with dental care at the clinic.

Above you can see Dr. Dan Cheek, President of the North Carolina Dental Society, speaking with a fellow Dentist. That’s me on the right observing as Dr. Cheek showed me around the clinic.

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the free dental clinic held by the North Carolina Missions of Mercy in Durham. The Missions of Mercy are sponsored by the North Carolina Dental Society, with additional assistance provided by many other organizations, companies and individuals. The Missions of Mercy hold 12 or 13 of these free dental clinics a year all over the state of North Carolina, mostly in rural areas where access to quality dental care is limited. For more information about the NC Missions of Mercy, and for a schedule on upcoming dental clinics, you can visit their website.

The dental clinic that was held in Durham was the largest such clinic in the state. They serviced an estimated 850 patients over the course of two days. The clinic was staffed by all volunteer dentists, assistants, hygienists, and equipment techs. There were also local volunteers who donated their time to assist with patient intake, transporting materials and assisting with clean-up.

In the pictures above you can see numbers hanging from dental lights that were being used. These numbers were used to identify the over 60 portable dental units that were used during the clinic. These dental units contain all of the common things that would be found in a dentist’s home office that are necessary to do dental repairs. There were also 6 triage chairs used to pre-screen the patients and a state-of-the-art mobile x-ray van, which contained six different x-ray machines. In addition to all of this equipment, the dental society provided boxes of dental supplies, numerous sterilization units and a few portable generators and compressors to keep the dental chairs running. If you would like to read more about the clinic you can visit these news sites, here and here.

KERR DRUG VISIT

Also last week I was fortunate enough to visit the Kerr Drug Distribution Center in Henderson. I was given a tour of the center and had the chance to speak with some of the workers there. It is always a wonderful experience to meet and speak with my constituents, to hear what they have to say about their situation and how the state can help.

The distribution center employs 50 people providing steady and rewarding employment. It is the only distribution center for Kerr Drugs in North Carolina and it services over eighty stores statewide. It is terrific that we have this kind of enterprise here in our district. It is a true measure of the potential held here for attracting businesses and jobs. Our district houses the central hub of a statewide operation, and does so with much success.

In order to be successfully employed at this facility, an employee must have strong literacy skills. These skills are necessary to be able to operate modern technological equipment. The distribution center has the technological capability to complete inventory orders from individual stores to be distributed specifically to the individual aisle in a particular store. Also, the company has a zero tolerance policy with regard to drug usage and carefully screens all job applicants to insure no one who has a drug problem will be employed.

NCSU GRADUATE SYMPOSIUM

On March 10th I had the honor to speak to the North Carolina State University’s Graduate Student Research Symposium. This event is held annually, and it strives to showcase the outstanding quality and diversity of graduate-level research at NC State. Additionally the symposium provides students with the opportunity to practice their communication skills with those outside of their discipline. The symposium is also designed to demonstrate the importance of graduate level research to state decision-makers. If you would like to know more about the symposium, you can visit its website here.

The symposium shined a spotlight on some exceptional graduate students and their research. The students presented their research in a wide variety of subjects, from Mathematics, Education, Agriculture, Social Work, and many more. Each Director of the individual Graduate Programs was asked to nominate 5 students from their department. There were almost 200 different presentations made at the symposium, and all of them were exceedingly impressive.

This kind of research reassures us that financial support for these research programs is important. Our state’s educational system, including the research and students that it produces, is an advantage. We can use this advantage to entice new businesses into our state, creating jobs not just for these students, but for all North Carolinians. After attending this symposium I am excited about our state’s prospects. We are producing the kind of innovative ideas and students that will drive our state’s economy for many decades to come.

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As always, I look forward to your thoughts and comments on the issues discussed in the newsletter. Please feel free to respond to any issue whether it was covered in the newsletter or not. It is an honor to serve as your State Senator, and I will do everything in my power to live up to that honor.

Sincerely,

Doug Berger