Cass Family Clinic has held a ribbon cutting for a new dormitory it’s built for dentistry students working at its locations in Cassopolis and Niles.
Cass Family Clinic dental manager Melanie Buck tells us fourth-year dentistry students from the University of Michigan do rotations at the two clinics to help fill out staff. The clinic started using them during COVID, but finding a place for the students to stay was always a problem.
“They were staying at hotel during that time and it wasn’t homey for them,” Buck said. “They were having problems with the rooms not being available and just the cleanliness of the hotels.”
So, Cass Family Clinic bought a home in Dowagiac that it’s now converted into four dorms. Buck says this will be much more comfortable for the students.
“They were extremely happy with it. We have it set up where each of them has their own room. It has two and a half bathrooms. We have a full working kitchen. We have a study area. We have a game room, a deck with a grill.”
Cass Family Clinic this year will host a total of 36 students — with four dental students coming in for two weeks at a time, rotating between the organization’s Niles and Cassopolis offices. Buck says some of the students, who will be licensed dentists upon graduation, have already expressed an interest in coming back to Southwest Michigan to work once they’re out of college.
The ribbon cutting was this week.
