WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan recognized Dr. Reiko Johnson of Newfields and Dr. Nathan Swanson of Durham as October’s Granite Staters of the Month. The duo is working to provide free dental care for patients in need, including recently hosting a Dental Day of Caring this past month.

In March 2021, recently vaccinated and with an urge to give back to her community, Dr. Johnson began looking for medical volunteer opportunities. When she was not able to find a volunteer clinic in the area, she decided to take matters into her own hands and established the Volunteers in Medicine of New Hampshire (VIM-NH). The group held its first free clinic in January of this year, providing primary and acute care services for uninsured and underinsured patients and connecting them to long-term primary care providers.

However, over the months that followed, it became clear to Dr. Johnson that many of the clinic’s patients had critical dental issues that she and her volunteers were not equipped to deal with. To address this issue, Dr. Johnson partnered with Dr. Nathan Swanson last month to host VIM-NH’s first Dental Day of Caring. During the event, which took place at Dr. Swanson’s office using his equipment, the four volunteer dentists and six assistants provided 19 extractions, 10 fillings, and one root canal– donating $11,531 total in services.

Hassan launched the “Granite Stater of the Month” initiative in 2017 to recognize outstanding New Hampshire citizens who go above and beyond to help their neighbors and make their communities stronger.