16 Jul
by Derrick Vander Waal
SIOUX CENTER – Rebecca “Becka” Hooyer hopes she can help a lot of people improve the quality of their life through improved dental care.
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| Rebecca Hooyer has begun seeing patients as a new dental hygienist at Promise Community Health Center in Sioux Center. |
She started seeing patients full time as a new dental hygienist at Promise Community Health Center on Monday, July 6.
She finds the work to be highly rewarding.
“I like seeing somebody who comes in with calculus just caked on and you work with them,” Hooyer said. “By the end, the dentist fixes up all the cavities, you get it all cleaned up, and it just looks so nice. And the patients are very appreciative.”
Hooyer’s parents originally were from Sioux Center, but her family moved around a lot during her childhood. After they moved back, she completed her last two years of high school at Sioux Center High School, graduating in 2009.
She wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to do with her career after high school, so she went on to Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon and earned an associate of arts degree in 2011. After working mainly as a gymnastics coach for a while, she enrolled at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs and earned her associate of applied science degree in dental hygiene in December 2014.
Hooyer said she started becoming intrigued about the dental field after having braces at an older age than many people do.
“I liked how friendly everybody in the dental field was, so that kind of drew my attention,” she said.
After receiving her dental hygienist license, Hooyer filled in for a maternity leave at Murphy Family Dentistry in Rock Rapids for three months this spring before starting at Promise.
She said her favorite part of dental hygiene is working with children. She also enjoys the challenge of doing scaling and root cleaning – a deep cleaning.
“I hope to help a lot of people improve their quality of life,” Hooyer said.
When she isn’t on the job, she enjoys reading and gardening.
Promise Community Health Center, headquartered in Sioux Center, is the only Federally Qualified Health Center in the far northwest corner of Iowa. To learn more, visit www.promisechc.org.
DENTAL CLINIC HOURS EXPAND:
Promise Community Health Center expanded its dental clinic hours to five days per week when Dr. Kenneth Tjeerdsma, dentist and dental director, and Rebecca Hooyer, dental hygienist, joined the staff.
The new hours are:
Monday: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. hygiene; 1-6 p.m. dental;
Tuesday: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. hygiene and dental;
Wednesday: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. hygiene and dental;
Thursday: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. hygiene and dental;
Friday: 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. hygiene, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. dental.