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#10 East Sutherlin Primary and #11 South Umpqua High School |
March 10 - March 20, 2015 by Carrie Peterson
For the last 2 weeks the Tooth Taxi has been busy in Douglas County. First in Sutherlin at East Sutherlin Primary School. In Douglas County we are fortunate enough to have wonderful partners in the Mercy Foundation and their Healthy Kids Outreach Program (HKOP). They were able to prescreen this school and identify children with immediate dental needs. They also provided sealants and education with their dental learning lab. Initially we were concerned that with only 17 students to screen that we may not find enough work here. That could not have been further from the truth. 100% of the children screened not only needed work but would need 3-4 appointments each to complete treatment. The team made arrangements to have students stay after school in order to fit in additional appointments throughout the week and we were still not able to complete treatment. We hope to make a return trip soon.
Here we also said goodbye to our staff dentist Dr. Dave Carneiro. Dr. Carneiro is in the Navy Reserves and has been deployed overseas. We are so grateful for all of his hard work and commitment to the program. We wish him safe travels and a speedy return.
Our next stop was South Umpqua High School in Myrtle Creek. We also had the help of The Mercy Foundation this week with prescreening and paperwork. Emily Robertson, RDH with HKOP provided cleanings and sealants to the students, while Kimberly Ball, Trina Gwaltney and Katie Follmar stopped by to visit and discussed ways we could collaborate in the future to help more kids in this area. Again we found a high level of need. We screened 42 students and 90% of them needed treatment. Even though most of these kids have some form of insurance many of these high school students are losing permanent teeth due to the extent of decay. The main reasons given are difficulty getting an appointment elsewhere and that their families can't afford the co-pays associated with treatment. We found 7 kids with no insurance that we were able to refer to The Children's Program for further dental treatment at no cost to them.
Visitors:
Kimberly Ball Trina Gwaltney, RN Emily Robertson, RDH Deidra Daigle, EFDA Katie Follmar
From the kid gallery:
"Do sugar bugs have cavities?" asked by a child during Catherine's oral hygiene presentation.
Stats:
East Sutherlin Primary and South Umpqua High School
March 10-20, 2015
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59 students screened |
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54 appointments in the van |
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63 students received oral hygiene presentations in the classroom |
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$27,591 value of free dental services provided |
Summary September 2008- March 20, 2015
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16,238 students screened |
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16,730 students received oral hygiene education in the classroom |
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8,385 appointments in the van |
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$4,722,535 value of free dental services provided |
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