Johnson County Community College
Press Release
College Information and Publications
913-469-8500
Julie Haas, Director, ext. 3120
Peggy Graham, Writer, ext. 3425
Tyler Cundith, Sports Information Director, ext. 3122
4/23/07
Story by Peggy Graham
JCCC Foundation Seeks Funds for Mobile Dental Hygiene Clinic
mobile_dental.jpg: This content expired on 08/16/2008 at 03:05PM.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – In January 2005, the Kansas Health Institute released a study that showed many poor and rural Kansans lag significantly behind an acceptable standard of oral health. Oral diseases are preventable if people have access to dental care. But access is a big “if” for reasons including transportation and lack of Medicaid coverage for a large segment of adults except for emergency services.
In an effort to advance the public health experiences of its dental hygiene students and bring improved dental care to undeserved populations, Johnson County Community College needs to raise $58,000 by June 1 to meet matching grants toward the purchase of Oral Health on Wheels. The JCCC Foundation has already received donations totaling more than $400,000 toward the three-chair mobile dental unit.
Oral Health on Wheels would allow supervised JCCC dental hygiene students to provide services such as screenings and routine preventive care – cleanings, fluoride treatments, x-rays, referrals, sealants and nutritional guidance.
The target population for the JCCC mobile unit is underinsured and uninsured children; children and adults with physical disabilities, developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries; and geriatric populations in Johnson, Wyandotte and Allen counties and other Kansas City metropolitan locations. Also targeted will be elementary and middle schools where greater than 50 percent of the children receive subsidized lunches.
“Schools are a good place to set up our mobile unit so parents don’t have to take time off from work for an appointment or deal with transportation issues,” said Heather Flick, JCCC professor, dental hygiene.
A Kansas 2003 law allows dental hygienists who work under the supervision of a dentist to obtain an extended care permit to operate outside of dental clinics to provide preventive care, such as screening, education, cleaning, and application of fluoride varnish and sealants, to children, low-income and disabled adults and elderly adults in nursing homes. In 2006, Kansas expanded Medicaid dental benefits to adults with a physical or developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injury.
A law also passed by the Kansas Legislature in 2007 will expand the sites where dental hygienists can perform preventive services including services for the elderly in senior centers, those who participate in elderly nutrition programs and those who receive Medicaid services in their homes and for children in group homes, foster care and homeless shelters.
According to Teresa Schwab, executive director, Oral Health Kansas, the statewide oral health coalition, is also urging lawmakers to extend Medicaid dental benefits to adults who are pregnant or who have mental disabilities.
Flick says Oral Health on Wheels would operate four days a week if funded and will be an excellent teaching environment for students in JCCC’s dental hygiene program as well as provide unmet needs of oral health in the community. JCCC has agreed to fund the cost of operating the vehicle and additional staff to oversee students.
Katherine Weno, director of the Kansas Office of Oral Health, has written a letter in support of JCCC’s Oral Health on Wheels both for its “unique educational experience” and its “innovative strategy to address the dental access problem in Kansas.”
To make donations to Oral Health on Wheels, please call the JCCC Foundation at 913-469-3835. Capital donors will have their names painted on Oral Health on Wheels for the 10-year life of the vehicle.
