Polk County | featured news

Less than 10 years ago, Texas' Medicaid dental program looked a lot like Florida's today. One in two kids never saw a dentist. And when they did, they had decay so severe that they often had to have their teeth pulled in the operating room. But these days, hundreds of Texas pediatric dentists spend their days like Dr. Howard Hunt — counseling parents about the importance of taking care of their young children's teeth.

Cassie Ehlendt remembers one time when her environmental education efforts worked out in a dramatic way. "One little girl took my hand and asked me to come with her; she told me 'I'm not afraid anymore,' " said Ehlendt. Ehlendt, 34, the natural resource educator at Circle B Bar Reserve's Nature Discovery Center, said she spends a lot of time with elementary school students not only to get them to look at nature seriously, but to get over their often misplaced fears about being outdoors.