SARA HALE DDS ’05 U.S. Air Force BY YASMINE PEZESHKPOUR MCM ’17
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or as long as Sara Hale can remember, the U.S. Air Force has been a part of her life. Her hometown of Minot, N.D., is also home to the Minot Air Force Base, which employs more than 6,500 people. Many of her classmates had mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles that reported to the military base every day. Hale herself didn’t have any relatives in the military—other than her husband—but with a background so steeped in armed service, it wasn’t an unexpected leap for Hale to consider a career in the military. It was during her first year as a dental student that Hale, who was pregnant with her first child at the time, applied for the Health Professions Scholarship Program. “It was 2001; I was married, pregnant and starting my first semester of dental school when I realized the implications and costs of getting a dental degree,” Hale says. “I had heard about the Health Professions Scholarship Program through my husband, who was in the Air Force, and also from the recruiters who came to the dental school,” she explains. “So I decided to look into it and apply.” A few months later, Hale learned she was about to get a whole new title added to her name, Lieutenant. She was set to become a scholarship recipient beginning her second year in dental school. “The scholarship covered my tuition for the remaining three years of dental school, where I was considered an inactive member of the Air Force,” Hale says. By the time she received her DDS in 2005, Hale was pregnant with her third child, Evelyn. Still determined to continue learning, she enrolled in an advanced
general dentistry residency program in Washington, D.C. Following the program, Hale and her family moved to El Segundo, Calif., where Hale began her service, practicing dentistry at the L.A. Air Force Base. “What was interesting was that we would see patients from all branches of the military,” Hale says. Alongside four other general dentists, Hale and her team saw thousands of patients during her three years of service. “We would treat military from all branches, including veterans,” she explains. “Of course there were times we had to refer people out for specialty care, but mostly we would be the primary dentists of many military personnel.” After completion of her four years in the U.S. Air Force, Hale decided to take a break from practicing to care for her fourth son, Townsend, who had been born with a heart condition and had to undergo two open-heart surgeries before his first birthday. “It was a hard time for my family, but the military was extremely supportive.” Hale says. “When I imagine going through what I went through while working or owning a private practice, I’m not sure I would have been able to make it work.” Now with six kids, Hale still manages to help out at friends’ practices and even hopes to return to Ostrow one day as an educator. “My education at USC was extremely valuable and something I’m not sure I would have been able to manage without the help of the Air Force,” Hale says.
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