12 October 2026

---

Henry Schein Cares Celebrates 25 Years of Helping Health Happen

---

Jen Kim Field, chief sustainability officer at Henry Schein and president of the Henry Schein Cares Foundation, answers questions for Dentistry Today about the group’s achievements and what doing well by doing good means to the company and its team members.

Q: Tell us about Henry Schein Cares and how it got started or how you got involved with the program?

Jen Kim Field (JKF): While Henry Schein Cares is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, its roots go back much further. Long before we formalized Henry Schein Cares in 2001, our founders, Henry and Esther Schein, built our company on the belief that business success comes with a responsibility to improve the lives of others. Giving back wasn’t something separate from the business; it was simply part of who we were right from the start. It’s embedded in our Community, Caring, and Career Team Schein Values, and it’s guided by one clear mission — Helping Health Happen®.

Henry Schein Cares began officially following the events of September 11. Prior to that of course, we were donating products through our Global Product Donation Program and had volunteer programs like Back to School. What we didn’t have was a formal program. September 11, 2001, was when we saw firsthand how we could leverage our supply chain, partnerships, and expertise to support communities during times of crisis. That experience led us to formalize our corporate citizenship efforts into Henry Schein Cares, built on one simple belief: “doing well by doing good.”

Personally, I have had the privilege of being part of that journey, and what continues to inspire me is seeing customers, supplier partners, nonprofit organizations, and our Team Schein Members (TSMs) come together around that shared mission of “helping health happen.”

Today, that mission continues to evolve. We are increasingly focused on prevention because we know the greatest opportunity to improve health is helping people stay healthy before they need treatment, especially knowing that oral health connects to overall health.

Q: Henry Schein’s values and belief to help others started way before HSC. Share some details of how it all started many years ago with founders, Henry and Esther Schein, who instilled the values and built the culture that embeds what the company now calls corporate citizenship and sustainability.

JKF: Our founders believed that a successful company has a responsibility to strengthen the communities it serves. Henry and Esther cared about our people and our communities. For example, we’ve heard stories where they would give turkeys to TSMs during Thanksgiving and volunteer locally. That philosophy shaped our values from the very beginning and remains one of our greatest strengths today.

Corporate citizenship isn’t something we do alongside our business; it’s woven into how we operate every day.

Whether we’re supporting disaster relief, expanding access to healthcare, advancing environmental sustainability, or empowering our TSMs, we’re carrying forward the values that have defined Henry Schein for more than 94 years.

Q: 25 years is quite a milestone. You must be proud to see such a charitable program do so much good work for so long. Please elaborate on some of the achievements and your thoughts on the role HSC plays in helping so many people in need.

JKF: The consistency of our culture, values, and purpose is something to be proud of. Over the past 25 years, Henry Schein Cares has contributed more than $285 million in donated cash and product to support more than 5,000 charitable partners around the world. Over 10.2 million underserved children have been reached through the American Dental Association Foundation’s Give Kids A Smile® program, and more than 100,000 hygiene kits have been delivered through our We Care Global Challenge.

HSC has become part of our identity and brand. Our TSMs embrace it, our customers participate in it, and our supplier partners strengthen it. That collective commitment is what has allowed us to grow our impact while staying true to our original mission. And, to add color to this, each year we conduct our Corporate Citizenship Barometer, which aims to understand constituent awareness and sentiment on Henry Schein’s Environmental Sustainability & Social Impact position. Over 50% of customers who responded to the survey had a more favorable view of our company after learning about our corporate citizenship work. This reinforces that what we are doing resonates.

Q: The We Care Global Challenge program has benefited Ronald McDonald House Charities and Team Schein Members played a big part in its success. What does it mean to work at a company that puts a big emphasis on helping others?

JKF: It is important for us to hear from Team Schein about what is important to them. Our global Pulse Culture Survey is one of the ways we do that. This annual feedback program helps provide the critical foundation for where we focus our efforts next, helping us identify our strengths, opportunities for growth, and how to better live our values. Consistently, we see that culture and citizenship come out as the top things TSMs care about.

When TSMs see the impact they’re having on families, children, and communities, it reinforces why they chose to work here in the first place. That shared sense of purpose creates stronger teams while making a meaningful difference for others.

This is one of the things that makes Henry Schein special. I came to Henry Schein specifically for this reason — because it cares. The We Care Global Challenge is an example of that. It brings together TSMs around the world to support Ronald McDonald House Charities by assembling hygiene kits and participating in volunteer projects that directly benefit families. We’ve been hosting the We Care Global challenge for 6 years, with a goal to bring colleagues together under the shared mission of “helping health happen” for people in need.

What’s especially meaningful is that these activities aren’t viewed as something extra. They are part of our culture. Team Schein genuinely wants to make a difference.

Q: HSC has developed into a dedicated global program built on a simple belief: you can do well by doing good. Elaborate on why this is a win-win, great for business success and great for having a social impact.

JKF: At Henry Schein, we have long recognized that as a purpose-driven company, our commitment to creating shared value drives positive societal and environmental impact while supporting long-term business success. Our “doing well by doing good” philosophy personifies this because by building trusted relationships with the key stakeholder who make up our Mosaic of Success — Team Schein Members, customers, suppliers, shareholders, and society — it helps drive our company’s sustained growth, amplifies our collective strengths, and brings to life our vision of making the world healthier, together.

And, when we catalyze healthcare access for vulnerable populations, empower healthcare professionals, strengthen public-private partnerships, and invest in communities becoming more resilient, we all benefit.

Q: C A R E S: Explain the acronym and the importance of each of these pillars [Catalyzing health care access, Advancing policies and solutions that drive innovation, Relationship building for change, Empowering our Team Schein Members, and Sustaining the planet.]

JKF: Henry Schein Cares has become an acronym, with every letter standing for a pillar of our work.

C is for Catalyzing health care access, because expanding access to care for underserved communities remains at the heart of everything we do.

A is for Advancing policies and solutions that drive innovation, recognizing that lasting improvements require collaboration across industry, government, nonprofits, and healthcare professionals.

R is for Relationship building for change, because no single organization can solve today’s health challenges alone. We must do this together, while also remaining ethical and compliant.

E is for Empowering our Team Schein Members, who bring our mission to life every day through our values.

S is for Sustaining the planet, because a healthy planet means healthy people.

Together, those 5 pillars define our approach to corporate citizenship and sustainability.

Q: Please address some of the highlights for some of the successful programs such as the Give Kids A Smile, possibly Prevention is Power and maybe Henry Schein’s support of groups like TeamSmile.

JKF: Give Kids A Smile demonstrates the power of partnerships and what can happen when the dental community comes together around a shared purpose to provide children with free oral health education, dental screenings, cleanings, and restorative services.

We have worked alongside the American Dental Association (ADA) and the ADA Foundation on Give Kids A Smile since the program’s national launch in 2003, serving as its exclusive professional product sponsor. Together with our generous supplier partners, we help provide the essential oral health products that volunteer dental professionals need to deliver screenings, preventive and restorative treatment, and oral health education to children in communities across the country. Over the years, Team Schein Members have also helped prepare and distribute thousands of kits to support those local events. As a result, since its inception, Give Kids A Smile has served more than 10.2 million children with essential oral health services thanks to the tens of thousands of healthcare professional volunteers each year.

We’re building on that same spirit of partnership through Prevention is Power, a Henry Schein Cares Foundation and HSC initiative that promotes screening and early detection through coordinated care for prevention, early intervention, and better overall health. This initiative reflects our belief that oral health is integral to overall health, and we want to help healthcare professionals empower patients to take charge of their wellness.

We also see that power of collaboration through partnerships with organizations like TeamSmile, where dental professionals, professional sports organizations, manufacturers, nonprofits, and communities come together to reach children who might otherwise go without care. Each of these initiatives looks a little different, but the model behind them is the same: bring the right partners together, give healthcare professionals the resources they need, fill an access-to-care gap, and create opportunities for families to live healthier lives.

Q: Tell us how rewarding it is to help underserved children with free dental care, often for the very first time in their lives. Why this program is so powerful and what can happen long after that first dental visit.

JKF: Give Kids A Smile is about so much more than providing one day of dental care.

For many children, it may be their first positive experience with oral healthcare. It can relieve pain, restore confidence, and establish healthy habits that last a lifetime.

One of the most inspiring things we’ve seen recently is hearing from adults who received care through Give Kids A Smile years ago and have since become dentists themselves. Some are now volunteering with the very program that first introduced them to the profession. That’s an extraordinary legacy. It reminds us that access to care doesn’t just improve health today; it can inspire future careers and strengthen the oral health workforce for generations.

Q: How great has it been to see these programs grow and to see more and more dental professionals volunteer their time and services to help others?

JFK: The growth reflects the generosity of the dental profession, as well as the growing number of outreach programs at dental schools that have started instilling in students a cultural competency in care, whether in a rural area in their backyard or in a developing country around the world.

On average , 5,000 dentists and 20,000 dental team members donate their time and expertise annually for Give Kids A Smile. They come together because they believe every child deserves access to care. There is a nationwide network of dental offices, medical and dental clinics, schools, and organizations hosting events each year.

Ultimately, the hope would be that these programs are no longer needed. Unfortunately, access to healthcare is still very much a challenge. Dental-medical integration and innovative models can be a great source to help enhance integrated care for all.

Q: What do you hope to see in the future with HSC?

JKF: We’re excited about where we’re headed because we’ve laid a clear foundation in access to care for underserved populations, whether that be children or patients with disabilities. However, a few priorities are really shaping our path forward.

First, we’re leaning deeper into prevention, such as our “Prevention is Power” initiative. Wellness and prevention have always been at the heart of what we do, and we see an opportunity in strengthening dental-medical integration, because oral health and overall health are so deeply connected. Helping our customers and their patients see — and act on — that connection is a real priority for us.

Second, we’re focused on deepening our work with patients with disabilities. This is a complex issue. Access to care for this population has historically been underserved, and there’s no simple fix. But we’re seeing real momentum building, and we’re committed to staying in it for the long haul because it matters.

And third, we’re moving into implementation of our net-zero transition plan. We’ve done the work to set the strategy — now it’s about execution and holding ourselves accountable to the science-based targets we’ve made.

Taken together, these priorities reflect where we think Henry Schein Cares can have the most meaningful impact in the years ahead — on health, on equity, and on the planet.

For 25 years, Henry Schein Cares has helped health happen through people willing to turn compassion into action. Across professions, organizations, communities, and continents, they have expanded access to care, built programs that last, championed health equity, and inspired others to serve.

To celebrate this anniversary, we are recognizing 25 Healthcare Heroes — individuals and organizations whose partnership, leadership, and service have helped shape our story and strengthened the future of health.

Hear from a few heroes below, and read more about them in our 25 Year Rewind :

Source: https://henryschein.com/HSC25YearRewind