MADISON — On April 29, Mercy Dental Group, founded by St. Maria Goretti in Madison parishioner Dr. Daniel Tataje in 2015, partnered with the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) in Madison to provide a day of free dentistry to those in need in the Madison area.
“We call it a Day of Mercy,” said Dr. Tataje, adding that he hopes this event will be the first of many offered annually by his 13 clinics situated around nine locations throughout the greater Madison area. These locations include: Lodi, DeForest, Sun Prairie, Stoughton, the east side of Madison, two locations in Fitchburg, and two in Middleton.
Though the first of these events was small compared to what Dr. Tataje envisions them eventually becoming, utilizing their largest clinic in Middleton, “we were able to treat 42 patients, [and] performed 137 dental procedures,” said Executive Assistant Krysta Wetzel.
This amounted to “just under $31,000 worth of dental care to our neighbors who aren’t able to afford it at this time in their life,” she added.
Partnering with the CMC
Dr. Tataje said that partnering with the CMC was “a natural thing for me [to do] as a Catholic. I know the great work that they do.”
He said his group approached the CMC to help it come up with a list of potential patients from those they already serve through their food program, the employment search program, immigration services, and more.
Wetzel said that the decision made sense because the CMC is “working already with a lot of refugees and homeless” and others who currently lack access to dental care and have a great need.
Dr. Tataje and his staff provided the CMC with an estimate of how many people they could serve during the day, and “they filled that list right away,” said Wetzel.
“They have a big list of people already in line to be served,” said Dr. Tataje. “There’s a great need.”
In addition to providing a list of clients, the CMC also provided transportation from the CMC to the Greenway Family Dental location in Middleton.
Dr. Tataje said this was “a huge help. We don’t have a way to do that, [so] that was one of the biggest challenges. How do we get [people who don’t have transportation] to the clinic?”
The CMC facility was also used to triage patients. Volunteers from Mercy Dental Group arrived at the CMC at around 7:30 a.m. with equipment to take x-rays and blood pressure.
Wetzel said this was to make sure that people were healthy enough for the procedures and to “try to understand what their most urgent need [was].”
From there, the CMC transported patients to Middleton where they provided services like cleanings, periodontal care, fillings, and extractions.
“The first [event] is a smaller event [because] there are a lot of logistical challenges that we have to go through and learn from,” said Dr. Tataje, but ultimately he said his goal is to provide a Day of Mercy throughout all of his clinics a couple times a year.
Many of the volunteers, including Dr. Tataje are bilingual. Some volunteers served as interpreters.
Planning the event
Dr. Tataje said that he’d had the idea for the event on his mind for many years, stating that his Catholic faith and the values it instilled in him inspired him to find a way to utilize his talents to serve others.
“I really feel like the Lord has blessed me so much in the last few years,” he said, and he spoke on how fast his company has been growing and how successful it has become. According to the company’s website, it received the prestigious Inc. 5000 Fasted-Growing Private Companies in America Award in 2021.
“We keep growing. I was very hesitant to start on my own,” he said. “Following this dream, I feel like it has opened doors. I have to be a good steward, and I have to help people that need it as well. We get to be the instrument that God wants us to be, and we get to serve the people that need it.”
After the event, Wetzel said, “We had such positive feedback from the patients and our staff [that] we are looking forward to doing this event again later this year.”