Sheldon family thrilled with dental service received at Promise

SIOUX CENTER – Pedro and Maria Rodas were happy that they made the 25-mile trip from Sheldon to Sioux Center for dental cleanings for two of their three sons this week.

Dr. Kenneth Tjeerdsma and dental assistant Leonardo
Gabriel Marquez give 6-year-old Brian a dental cleaning,
while his parents, Pedro and Maria Rodas, and his
9-year-old brother, Alex, look on at Promise
Community Health Center in Sioux Center.

They couldn’t have been more pleased with the service that Alex, 9, and Brian, 6, received during their appointments at Promise Community Health Center.

They were referred to Promise by another dental office because Promise is one of the few dental offices in the region that accepts new Medicaid patients, but they found their experience at Promise to be better than expected.

“I was very pleased. I was very happy with the service that we received,” Maria said through a Spanish-speaking interpreter. “I felt as a Hispanic that we were treated very well, the way that we deserve. We’ve gone to other places and haven’t received the same attention.”

She said everyone expects to get attention from their health providers. As a Hispanic family, they expect the same. They don’t want to be treated any differently.

Pedro and Maria Rodas of Sheldon were
pleased with the service that their sons,
Brian, 6, and Alex, 9, received during
their dental appointments at Promise
Community Health Center.

“I’m very grateful for the attention,” she said. “That’s all that I would like is that the staff treats you well and that my children are very comfortable and to feel like you are at home – that you are being treated well.”

Maria said everything was “perfect” since she first called on the phone to make an appointment, but she was particularly pleased when they arrived and were served in their own language, Spanish, by dental assistant Leonardo Gabriel Marquez.

“Leo was very polite. He treated my sons very kindly,” she said. “It’s very important that we can speak in our own language.”

She also was satisfied with the service of Dr. Kenneth Tjeerdsma, the dentist at Promise, even though he doesn’t speak Spanish.

“What won my heart over: He treated my children very well,” she said. “I can assume when they treat my children well, they will treat me well. Also, I’m very appreciative of the way that he was polite. It was in his gestures and his face. He was very kind, and that is all I can ask for.”

She said her family will return to Promise again for dental service.

“I will recommend it every time we’re asked,” she said.

Promise Community Health Center of Sioux Center is the only Federally Qualified Health Center serving the far northwest corner of Iowa. Promise provides medical, prenatal, dental, vision and behavioral health services. To learn more, visit www.promisechc.org and watch this video.