SIOUX CENTER, Iowa -- The Greater Sioux Community Health Center has kicked off a fundraising drive with a $100,000 target in order to fund construction of a dental clinic at the center.

Volunteers are seeking donations from businesses and individuals, according to a release from board president Melissa O'Rourke. The center provides health care on a sliding scale based on income, primarily to residents of Sioux, Plymouth, Lyon, O'Brien and Osceola counties.

"As we see patients coming into the health center, many children and adults have untreated oral health problems," Nancy Dykstra, executive director of the health center said. No preventive care is available to them, either.

The center has provided health care to more than 1,300 people, most on a self-pay basis, since it opened in July 2008. Space for a dental clinic was left unfinished in the 5,000-square-foot former bowling alley. Now plans call for opening a dental clinic sometime in 2010. A Sioux Center dentist and his wife, a dental hygienist, have offered to staff the dental clinic one day a month to get it started.

Initially, dental services will be targeted to children and adults who are uninsured and have unmet oral health needs.

Anyone wanting to support the effort may call the health center at 712-722-1700 or, toll-free, 877-722-1770.