Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Cte Dental Clinic topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
29 Palms High students work alongside Flying Doctors to provide hundreds of free clinic services
Summary
Students in a Morongo Unified School District CTE dental program joined the Flying Doctors Partnership for a two-day clinic that provided more than 500 free services in 2025, giving trainees hands-on experience and boosting student confidence.
Students at 29 Palms High School spent a two-day clinic working side-by-side with health professionals in a program the Morongo Unified School District runs with the Flying Doctors Partnership, a narrator in the segment said. The partnership, which began in 2018, aims to bring vital medical and dental services to local residents while giving students practical experience.
The event pairs each patient with a health-worker-in-training. "With the students' help, they're able to provide more than 500 services to their community in 2025," the narrator said. Students applied skills learned in their classroom dental course to real patients during the clinic.
One student (S2) described assisting in a tooth extraction and said, "An extraction is when you take out a tooth, and I really liked it because I thought it was really cool. And he said I did really good suction." Another student (S3) recalled working with a young patient with autism, saying staff and students had to help the child remain still during the procedure and that the experience left them proud.
Organizers and students said the clinic reinforces classroom learning and encourages continued enrollment in the school's CTE (Career and Technical Education) course. "It kinda helps narrow down, like, what to do for college and outside of high school," Student (S2) said, adding that they wished more high schools offered similar programs.
Students also described an emotional benefit from patient contact. Student (S3) said the program "made me, like, think I belong there" and credited the experience with building confidence: "It actually makes me happy... it made built my confidence up, like, I'm somebody who matters in the community."
The segment frames the clinic as both a community health resource and an instructional opportunity; it does not report any formal policy decisions, funding sources beyond the partnership, or plans for program expansion beyond participants' wishes for wider adoption.
