LaRhonda Outlaw is grateful her daughter was able to be the first beneficiary of a new community dental program in Suffolk.

Outlaw says she hasn’t worked since being injured on the job 16 months ago. She has also been unable to claim workers’ compensation, and the family is without dental insurance.

“The Boys and Girls Club doing this is a real help to me, because my daughter hadn’t had her teeth cleaned for about a year,” she said, after John F. Kennedy Middle seventh-grader Taylor Outlaw received treatment at her school — where the club’s Suffolk unit meets — on Jan. 28.

Taylor’s appointment was the first after dentist Robin Langston, from the Hampton Roads Community Health Center, approached Suffolk unit director Reggie Carter about setting up the program.

“It’s a great benefit for us,” Carter said. “They provide dental services for our club members, including X-rays, screenings, cleanings, and I’m sure they would also do referrals.”

Funded by the Obici Healthcare Foundation, the program is particularly helpful for families of club members without dental insurance, according to Carter.

The program will run at JFK every Wednesday, he said. Three patients are booked for this week, including a follow-up appointment for Taylor.

“We set everything up in one of our classrooms that we are allowed to use in the school,” Carter said. “A lot of their equipment is portable, and we are still waiting for a permanent chair.”

Outlaw said the club is a big help. “Whoever I talk to during the day I always mention the Boys and Girls Club, to try to get others to come and help out any way they can,” she said.

“I try to spread the word, because I don’t think enough people know about it. They are doing a lot for the kids. It isn’t just getting them out of school and watching them when the parents are at work.”

Langston said the community health center had wanted to go into Suffolk after its mobile dental van had helped families in other parts of Hampton Roads. “Dr. (Deran) Whitney (superintendent of Suffolk Public Schools) had suggested that we participate in the after-school program,” she said.

Langston said they’ve also reached out to Suffolk Family YMCA and Suffolk Parks and Recreation. So far, she said, agreements have been inked with the Y and Boys and Girls Club.

“It will be ongoing with the Boys and Girls Club for the rest of the school year, and hopefully, when the summer comes, we can do something with the summer program,” Langston said. “We will be seeing all the kids, regardless of whether they have insurance or not.”