Iowa City Girl Scout continues family’s tradition of achievement

Erin Schmidt-Rundel is the sixth of seven kids in her family to earn the highest achievement possible in their scouting programs, and she started by researching a hereditary dental issue that affects about half her siblings.

Schmidt-Rundel was a Girl Scout for 13 years before graduating from Iowa City West High School in spring 2024.

“As long as you can be a Girl Scout, I was a Girl Scout,” said Schmidt-Rundel, now 18.

Last year, she earned the Gold Award — the highest achievement girls can earn in the program. It is awarded to girls after they complete a project that centers on a community or world issue with the goal of creating lasting change, according to the Girl Scouts.

Some of her time as a Girl Scout was spent in a troop that her two older sisters also were in, with their mom as troop leader. Both sisters completed their Gold Awards before graduating high school, and Erin’s three older brothers were all Boy Scouts who earned Eagle Scout status. Her younger brother currently is working toward becoming an Eagle Scout.

“The Gold Award is something I feel is a family thing, a legacy, if you will, but as I was working on my hereditary dental project, I was like, this is a lot bigger thing than I realized, and this would be great to really put out there, for people to know,” Schmidt-Rundel said.

She started looking into hereditary dental issues in 2023 because she wanted to learn more about dentinogenesis imperfecta, a tooth development disorder that her dad and four of her siblings have, as well as other extended family members. Their teeth don’t have enamel, and are more likely to chip, break or be discolored.

As she was learning about the disorder, she found information about common gaps in insurance coverage for people with dentinogenesis imperfecta and other similar hereditary dental disorders, and she decided she wanted to work toward reducing those gaps in Iowa.

“Unfortunately, because of timing of things, I wasn’t able to meet my big goal, which was going to the state and talking to them about it … and possibly getting something passed about it. I know that’s a big thing to look at, but I’m still looking into getting that done,” she said.

Instead, Schmidt-Rundel’s final result was a pamphlet she created and distributed to various dental organizations, including Iowa Pediatric Dental Centers, the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics and  Prairie Creek Dental.

The pamphlets share information about dentinogenesis imperfecta and three other hereditary dental issues, and the struggles that people with those disorders often face when seeking insurance coverage. It outlined the costs of some of the common treatments and the reasons insurance companies give for not covering those treatments, which are often seen by insurance carriers as being cosmetic or unnecessary.

“My uncle, who has DI (dentinogenesis imperfect), he actually opted to get dentures because he was having so many different issues with his DI. He didn't want to have to fight insurance about getting a different solution, because he knew that it wouldn't last for his whole lifetime, and he’d end up having to find insurance again over it,” Schmidt-Rundel said. “It does impact your quality of life .… It affects eating as well. My uncle, his DI impacted him so much to where he couldn’t eat. He was basically on a soft food, or liquid diet.”

While working on the project, Schmidt-Rundel got in contact with state Rep. Dave Jacoby, a Democrat from Coralville, to talk about what it would take to bring a bill to the Statehouse that would require insurance companies in Iowa to provide coverage for treatment of congenital anomalies, like hereditary dental disorders. She said the bill would look similar to the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act, which was proposed to the U.S. House and Senate in 2021. It passed the House in 2022, but didn’t get a vote in the Senate.

Schmidt-Rundel said she hasn’t had much time to think about the project recently, as she is currently a freshman at Kirkwood Community College, but she hopes to continue working with Jacoby to bring a proposal to the Iowa Legislature.

“As of right now, I think it’s just a thought. Dave and I have talked about what we would be specifically asking for, or the idea of what we’d want to ask for, but as of right now it’s just an idea that we have,” Schmidt-Rundel said.

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