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Office Visit Chelsea Patten, staff writer, Dentaltown Magazine

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An interview with Dr. Colleen Anderson of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
by Chelsea Patten, staff writer, Dentaltown Magazine

South of the Massachusetts Turnpike, surrounded by urban sprawl, across the street from Boston Medical Center sits Jean Yawkey Place. Nestled in the heart of Boston, this building and the staff who walk its halls strive to care for the city's homeless population. Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) started with limited funding and a coalition of health-care professionals with a vision. Since its founding in 1985, BHCHP has worked to assuage the burden of homelessness by providing health care and dental care to the city's underserved.

Dr. Colleen Anderson, a University of Michigan School of Dentistry graduate, is one of the many selfless individuals employed by BHCHP, and a woman with both the vision and skills to make a difference. Here, in an interview with Dentaltown Magazine, she shares her inspiration for getting involved and the heartwarming stories that keep her in the nonprofit sector.

Name: Colleen Anderson, DDS
Graduate from: University of Michigan School of Dentistry
Practice Name: Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
Practice Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Web site: www.bhchp.org

What inspired you to apply to work at BHCHP?
Anderson: I decided before even starting dental school that I wanted to work in public health. I wanted to provide care to the patients who need it most, and have the hardest time accessing it. When it came time to look for work, BHCHP was a natural fit. They provide service to some of the city's most vulnerable people, in a setting that demands the highest quality of care and a focus on the integration of primary, behavioral and dental care. Another attractive aspect was the level of commitment from the other providers. Employees here really care about their work and fulfilling their mission.

Did you volunteer in a charitable clinic before deciding to look for a job like the one at BHCHP?
Anderson: Yes, when I was in dental school I had externships in several nonprofit clinics. I completed my general practice residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Extension program. I spent time in northern Michigan at both a community health center and at a mobile dental clinic set up to serve migrant workers and their families. I also spent a month in rural Maine, at a regional health center.

How can dentists find similar programs?
Anderson: I found the job listing through the National Health Service Corps, which, among other things, serves to match clinics throughout the country with providers interested in working in public health. They also provide loan repayment and scholarship programs (of which I was a recipient). There are Health Care for the Homeless Programs in many cities, and dentists should seek out their local program to find out about work or volunteer opportunities.

What is BHCHP's philosophy?
Anderson: The program's mission is to provide homeless individuals and families with access to the highest quality health care. The homeless population faces a particular set of health hazards as well as obstacles and barriers to health care that make management of chronic illnesses very difficult. We try to address their medical complexity in the context of their need for food, shelter and clothing.

What makes this practice different than the typical dental office? How is practicing charitable dentistry different than practicing noncharitable dentistry?
Anderson: Having only worked in nonprofit settings, I can only speak to that. Here, we really try to focus on providing treatment that will serve that patient best in their current situation. Our goals are very basic: treating disease, improving function, improving aesthetics; but the outcomes can have major impacts on the patients' lives: overall better health, improved nutrition and employment opportunities.

Dr. Anderson evaluates an emergency patient.

Describe a typical day in the office.
Anderson: Our first appointments begin at 7:30 a.m. Our clinic has three dentists, two full-time and one part-time. In addition to seeing our own patients, we instruct fourth-year dental student externs from Harvard University and Boston University. We schedule all appointment types every day, as well as see emergency patients and we are typically very busy.

The dental clinic is located in the same building as our outpatient medical clinic and our respite care facility, which provides short-term medical and recuperative services for those who are too ill to stay in shelters but not sick enough to stay in a hospital. One records system is used by all the services, and we are in frequent communication with our patients' primary care providers.

What is the most common dental/health problem among the homeless? How about the most common procedure performed?
Anderson: Many of our patients have multiple health issues, many of which are complicated by or exacerbate oral diseases. Many of them, when they first see us, lack the ability to pay attention to oral hygiene day-to-day. Disease management is our first priority, and corrective services are very important for many of our patients.

What sort of challenges do you and your colleagues face in working each day?
Anderson: We face the consequences of the challenges our patients face. While many of them struggle financially, they also commonly experience an extreme disorganization in their lives that makes keeping appointments, transportation, and taking medications, among other tasks, very difficult. Daily oral hygiene is not achievable for some of our patients. Many of them are struggling with substance abuse. Our challenge is to educate and work with our patients to find treatments that accommodate their particular situations.

Describe your most successful or rewarding experience.
Anderson: Rewarding experiences abound here. I am very fortunate to often encounter patients when they are making positive changes in their lives, and therefore get to take part in what can be an amazing transformation. Success can mean seeing patients through full-mouth extractions into complete dentures, but also seeing them mark sobriety, control diabetes, control hypertension or start HIV therapy. Often, several of these things are happening at the same time. I can think of many special patients, but one in particular is a young man who had cancer, and stayed in our respite care facility during treatment. I started dental treatment with him, and completed extractions, extensive restorative care and a partial denture. He's now in remission; he's sober; he's working; and he and his girlfriend are expecting a baby. It's incredibly rewarding to be part of that process; to have contributed to his self-confidence, health and overall stability. You can't beat that.

How about a disappointing experience or failure?
Anderson: Not every treatment plan is completed of course, and some patients are not able to follow through, chronic illnesses worsen or other circumstances intervene. While it can be disappointing, we will be here to try again if and when the patient is able.


Left: Indira Goranovich and Bessy Wrights. Right: Back, from left: Bessy Wrights, Indira Goranovich, Maria Alves and Cam Nguyen. Front, from left: Colleen Anderson and Alan Filzer.

What are your primary funding resources?
Anderson: Most of our patients (around 75 percent) are insured, many through the state MassHealth program. We also receive funding through grants and donations. Like all other community health centers, we are affected by state cuts to dental benefits. However, BHCHP is very committed to providing oral health care, and we work hard to keep all of our services available. To that end, patients are not billed for treatment.

How do you get the word out to patients about services?
Anderson: Many of our patients are referred through their BHCHP medical providers, or through one of the more than 80 programs we work with in the city that provide services to the homeless. Some patients hear about us through word of mouth. We also do oral health screenings at several organizations that provide aid to the homeless, and those patients often then come to our clinic.

How do you deal with language barriers? Literacy problems? Transportation issues? Abuse of free services (if any)?
Anderson: We are fortunate to have members of the dental team who speak multiple languages, so most of the time we have someone who can communicate with the patient. We also can call on other employees throughout the program to translate for us, which covers almost every language we have encountered.

Transportation can be a problem for many of our patients. We are accessible by public transportation, and that is the method used by the vast majority of our patients. We are able to provide bus and subway passes for many patients.

Evaluating abuse of services is difficult. Our patients face many challenges that other groups do not, including misplacing belongings or having those stolen, hospitalizations and frequent moves, which put them at greater risk of losing prostheses. We try to evaluate and accommodate those situations on a case-by-case basis.

Who are some of your mentors?
Anderson: I had terrific teachers at the University of Michigan, and while I no longer see those instructors, it seems like I'm reviewing their lessons every day. In particular, Dr. Ron Heys and Dr. Phil Richards taught me so much about treatment planning, about standards and about patient interactions.

How do you see the homeless program growing and changing in the next few years?
Anderson: It seems that we're always growing and expanding. The demand for service is high, and our dental clinic is considering the possibility of adding staff and extending hours. With that, we might be able to expand our services as well. The challenge of achieving our mission drives us to continually evaluate the needs of the homeless population, and evolve as an organization and as individual providers to meet those needs.

Dr. Anderson, thank you for sharing your experiences with our readers. You, along with the others who dedicate themselves to programs like BHCHP are truly inspiring.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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