Letters | October 21, 2008

This correspondence is in response to the "Access Denied" article from the September 2008 issue of Modern Hygienist. Click here to read!


Question
Rene Stephenson, RDH, BSDH,
 
I have over 20 years of experience in Dental Hygiene, and I will complete my Master's in Health in Feb. 09.  My goal is to become an oral hygiene educator and provide oral hygiene care for the elderly in nursing and assisted living homes. I know there aren't any benefits provided, but if you know of any grants or any information to help me, I would greatly appreciate it.  I am in Summerville, SC. This is a service that is needed so badly.
 
Thank you,
 
Katrina Deas, RDH, BSDH


response
Katrina,
 
I don't know what the laws state in South Carolina, but in Texas there is no funding available for this group of people.  Like you, I am very concerned about these individuals. I spend the last few years doing educational classes for the local nursing home facilities as well as the home care groups. You would be very surprised at the lack of education provided to this medical profession. They are not being taught oral health in nursing schools and to my understanding there is very little education provided to medical students. The primary care takers for nursing facility patients comes from the nurse assistant.  In Texas the nursing assistants program is only a 12 week program.
 
My work on the local schools and nursing home facilities have been on a volunteer basis only. I developed a PowerPoint presentation to educate the nursing staff on oral health care as well as it correlation to systemic diseases. It requires a great deal of time and I have been unable to do as much as I would like to in order to help this group of underserved individuals. I also contacted the nursing school in the area and offered a CE for their students. As for grants, I would look toward the ADHA and ask if they know of any grants available in that field.
 
You might also asks your local state dental hygienists association to see if they have someone that works for the state. We have a lady on our state board that works for the state and she has been very helpful with grant writing. You might also check with your Representative or the AARP to find out if they have grant writing experience. I hope I have given you some possible insight or hope. If you come up with anything, please let me know as I have not had a great deal of time to work on this in the last few months.

Rene Stephenson RDH, BSDH
TDHA Corporate Relations Chair