The Medica Foundation Awards $100,000 to Sawtooth Mountain Clinic

The Medica Foundation in Min­netonka, MN, has awarded $1.6 million in early childhood health grants to 16 nonprofit organizations across Minnesota. Sawtooth Moun­tain Clinic (SMC) in Grand Marais is one of the recipients, receiving $100,000 to help fund its Cook County Oral Health Task Force (OHTF).

Established in 1992, the Medica Foundation is a nonprofit, chari­table grant-making organization dedicated to supporting commu­nity-based health programs and services. It is the charitable giving arm of Medica, a Minnesota-based health insurance business.

“Our early childhood health grants secure two years of funding for or­ganizations statewide that engage with the populations they serve to create solutions that advance health equity,” said JoAnn Birkholz, Di­rector of the Medica Foundation. “The growing challenges that our community partners face require longer-term, multi-year support from funders, now more than ever.”

For Medica, this year’s early childhood health grants focus on maternal health equity program­ming, access to oral health care for children, teaching skills for parents and caregivers to support healthy child development, and violence and abuse prevention.

The Oral Health Task Force, a program led by the SMC in Grand Marais, won the 2024 Minneso­ta Rural Health Team Award last year for its innovative, communi­ty-based approach to oral health care, which primarily benefits the oral health of children, older adults, and the uninsured. Its core goal is to provide preventative, restorative, and educational oral health services to residents of Cook County and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Supe­rior Chippewa, regardless of their ability to pay.

Rural areas, such as Minnesota’s North Shore, face unique challeng­es in accessing affordable, quality dental care. Lack of dental insur­ance and low reimbursement rates for government assistance often leave families underserved in our area.

The OHTF was formed a dozen years ago as an initiative born out of community concern, co-founded by local leaders, including dentist Dr. Alyssa Hedstrom, initially under the North Shore Health Care Foun­dation. The program moved to SMC in 2020 to ensure its long-term sus­tainability and strengthen the link between medical and oral health. OHTF is a multi-agency collabora­tion involving SMC, Grand Marais Family Dentistry, local schools, and Grand Portage Health Services, all working together to serve the com­munity.

Under the OHTF, the incidence of cavities in children in Cook County is substantially reduced. Its efforts at education and funding assistance for teeth cleaning and care have brought cavities and other dental problems in children to the lowest level of any county in Minnesota.

The program expanded to include uninsured seniors (65 and older), with a pilot project aimed at assess­ing and meeting the dental needs of this demographic, mirroring the successful youth model.

“These grants are more than just funding—they’re investments in trust, relationships, and longer-term health outcomes,” adds Birkholz. The OHTF also receives support from Arrowhead Electric Cooper­ative, Cook County Public Health and Human Services Communi­ty Funding, Cook County Whole Foods Co-op, Delta Dental of Min­nesota Foundation, Lloyd K John­son Foundation, Minnesota Dental Foundation, Minnesota Department of Health, the Northland Founda­tion, Otto Bremer Foundation, and community residents.

For more information on assistance or support for the OHTF at Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, please visit its website at sawtoothmountainclinic.org or call 218-370-2559.