Dental hygienist Betsy Kutscher tended to a last patient. Then she quietly closed the door of the tiny dental clinic she founded 11 years ago. With that, she also closed the chapter of her life spent volunteering at N Street Village.
Down the hall in the community room of the Northwest Washington women’s shelter, Kutscher found a crowd of admirers gathered to give her a standing ovation and wish her a happy retirement.
Among them were patients, homeless and formerly homeless women, who said their lives had been changed for the better through her care. For people living with homelessness, even the urgent need for dental care can be eclipsed by the pressures of everyday survival. And for the indigent, care can be hard to find.
The homeless women who came to N Street’s one-chair clinic said that through Kutcher’s kindness and skill, she and the other volunteers helped them learn to smile again and to rebuild their broken lives.
“I didn’t have a lot to smile about when I got here,” said Audrey McMorrow, a domestic violence survivor. “When I finally found something to smile about, I didn’t want to smile. I was ashamed of my teeth.”
After McMorrow’s teeth were restored, she said, she got the confidence to build a career as a massage therapist and get a place of her own.
“It doesn’t get any better than this, “said McMorrow, beaming.
In the years since Kutscher begged dentist friends to donate equipment and free services, more than a thousand homeless women have received free dental care at the N Street Village dental clinic. Patients have gotten infected teeth extracted, and crowns, bridges and dentures made. They have been relieved of pain and given a new sense of self-worth.
The idea of starting N Street’s dental clinic came to Kutscher at a meeting at her suburban church, Redeemer Lutheran in McLean, Virginia.
She was listening to a talk about N Street Village, a city shelter, founded in 1973 by a sister congregation, Luther Place Memorial Church. Dixcy Bosley-Smith was making the presentation, looking for volunteers for the new Wellness Center she was opening at N Street.
“A lovely woman raised her hand,” remembered Bosley-Smith. “She asked ‘do you have dental services there?’”
Kutscher explained that she felt suddenly moved to help.
“I really felt a call from God,” Kutscher said. “People here needed the care that – without being conceited – I knew I could give.”
She knew that if N Street was to fulfill its mission of helping women to rebuild their lives, they would have to help to catch up on their dental care.
“If you are trying to put people back together and make them part of society,” she said, you can’t send them back out with holey teeth.”
