Governor Schwarzenegger Announces Appointment of MHCN Member

Debra Diaz, 50, of Salinas, has been appointed to the California Committee on Dental Auxiliaries for the Board of Dental Examiners. Since 2006, she has served as Executive Director for Community Oral Health Services (COHS), formerly Appolonia Foundation for Children’s Dental Health. From 2000 to 2006, Diaz was Program Director for the Children’s Oral Health Program, a project of the Appolonia Foundation for Children’s Dental Health; from 1989 to 2000, she was office manager and Director of Marketing & Education for Dentistry for Infants, Children and Teenagers. Prior to that, she was a Registered Dental Assistant for Dr. Gerald W. Cheang, DDS (1981-1989) and Dental Assistant for Gerald Dannemiller, DDS and Dennis Andresen (1979-1981). Diaz previously was a Registered Dental Assistant and Lab Assistant for Dr. Donald Rogers (1977-1979) and was a Dental Assistant for Dr. Gerald W. Cheang (1975-1977). Community Oral Health Services operates two mobile dental vans and focuses on serving Central Coast farm workers. Debi Diaz is a founding member of Mobile Health Clinics Network, a nationwide association of mobile healthcare providers, and currently serves on the MHCN Advisory Board. The Committee on Dental Auxiliaries (COMDA) examines and licenses California dental auxiliaries and advises the Dental Board of California on auxiliary issues. For information about examination and licensing, prohibited and required conduct, and more, go to … http://www.comda.ca.gov

 

New York Times (December 24, 2007)

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. — In the 18 years he has been visiting nursing homes, seeing patients in his private practice and, more recently, driving his mobile dental clinic through Appalachian hills and hollows, Dr. Edwin E. Smith has seen the extremes of neglect. Mostly he has seen everyday people who are too busy putting food on the table to worry about oral hygiene. Many of them savor their sweets, drink well water without fluoride and long ago started ruining their teeth by chewing tobacco and smoking. Dr. Smith is trying to catch these problems before they progress. Each week, he drives his mobile clinic, Kids First Dental Care, up the windy Appalachian roads to visit schools and to provide free check-ups to children in the poorest counties of Kentucky. Dr. Smith is a member of the Mobile Health Clinics Network and was a speaker at the MHCN 2007 Annual Forum. To read more of this article, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/us/24kentucky.html?_r=1&ex=1199250000&en=c8da0a8a0832e0ca&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

 

Telehealth World e-Report

A FREE monthly eNewsletter published by Webcom Communications. The e-Report provides current news on products and services and events related to telemedicine/telehealth technology. To receive this publication, go to … http://www.infowebcom.com/newsletters_form.php

 

The Continue Health Alliance

The Alliance is comprised of technology, medical device and healthcare industry leaders dedicated to making personal telehealth a reality. Their mission is “to establish a system of interoperable personal telehealth solutions that fosters independence and empowers people and organizations to better manage health and wellness.” Their quarterly newsletter is available FREE to healthcare providers and colleagues. To learn more about the Alliance, go to … http://www.continuaalliance.org/about To subscribe to the Alliance newsletter, go to … http://continuahealthalliance.forward-email.com/?r.nvtyo.ofhi.73b1374d

 

Mobile-Portable Dental Manual – An Online Resource

Services using a mobile vehicle or portable equipment can be provided as a private practice or an extension to a private practice, or using various public health models. Mobile/portable dental systems can serve as dental "safety net" programs for people who lack the resources to acquire those services on their own. Safety net programs usually are administered by agencies such as community health centers, dental schools, hospitals, non-profit associations or health departments. Public health approaches lend themselves to providing services in settings such as schools, Head Start centers, senior centers or homeless shelters.

The Mobile-Portable Dental Manual was developed to fill an information gap expressed by people trying to address dental access problems in areas where offices or clinics in fixed locations were not meeting the oral health needs or demand for care. The Manual offers resources to help people compare various mobile and portable dental systems with basic details for designing, purchasing and operating programs. To access this Manual go to … http://www.dentalclinicmanual.com/menu.html

 

Food USA Navigator.com –

11/27/2007 – The List of health problems associated with obesity continues to grow, with a new study linking excess body fat with poor bone health. Published in the November issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the new study found that the bones of people with high body fat were eight to nine percent weaker than those of normal body fat participants. To read more, go to … http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=81652&m=1FNUN27&c=eepddtxhprfgmgi

 

Future Healthcare

Published by CGI Group, Inc., this new publishing service offers information on new emerging technologies and therapies, technology trends, solutions, interviews and Podcasts. To subscribe to the FREE e-Newsletter and publication, go to … http://www.futurehealthcareus.com/?page=home

 

Thank You For Smoking

After years of health warnings, fewer Americans are smoking. But while Washington is encouraging Americans to quit, it has been helping big tobacco push cigarette smoking in other countries, using trade pacts to force poorer nations to accept American cigarettes and helping cause an epidemic of health-related problems. [The Washingtonian, December 2007]. To learn more, go to… http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/5856.html

 

 

Grant Funding Sites To Consider

 

NIDCR Oral Health Research Education (OHRE)

 

The goals of the NIDCR Oral Health Research Education (OHRE) Grants program are to infuse an appreciation of science and the results of scientific research into the dental school curriculum and to develop a pipeline of students interested in pursuing a career in oral health research. The main emphases of this new program are to strengthen the research component of dental education, to enhance the application of basic and clinical research findings to clinical training and to encourage both dental school and undergraduate students to pursue oral health research. Projects funded through this grant should encourage students and faculty to participate in broadly defined scholarly activity and monitor the latest science, and provide undergraduate, dental and postgraduate students with an appreciation for oral health research so they may be more likely to pursue academic careers, advanced research degrees and research training. Through these grants, clinical, basic and behavioral science researchers will become an active part of the educational fabric and interact with students throughout all four years of dental school as well as during the postgraduate specialty-training period. This funding opportunity will use the research education grant (R25) mechanism.

 

Because the nature and scope of the proposed research education program will vary from application to application, it is anticipated that the size and duration of each award will also vary. The total amount awarded and the number of awards will depend upon the quality, duration, and costs of the applications received. Direct costs requested may not exceed $150,000 in any year of the project period. Applicants may submit more than one application, provided they are scientifically distinct. For details, visit: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-06-160.html

 

Community-Campus Partnerships for Health

CCPH promotes health (broadly defined) through partnerships between communities and higher educational institutions. This organization is the Higher Education Senior Program Advisor for the Learn and Serve America National Service-Learning Clearinghouse … visit the Clearinghouse at www.servicelearning.org

 

Poor oral health is much more than just an issue of dental decay and bleeding gums? National and international government officials, as well as major health care leaders understand the urgency of working toward a solution to this critical problem. Why so critical? Failure to prevent or treat oral diseases can have major effects on overall health. Gum disease can be related to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, poor nutrition and even low- birth weight babies. That’s right, untreated diseases of the gums during pregnancy can result in significantly lower birth weight babies — a situation that can put some of these infants at great risk. There is also a significant correlation between poor oral health and increased mortality risk. Yet millions of people—children and adults—in the United States lack dental insurance. And the issue is even greater when you look at underserved communities without the means and resources to comprehend the health implications. The relationship between oral health and systemic health means that there is a lot more at stake than teeth.

 

The Forsyth Institute is the world’s leading independent organization dedicated to scientific research and education in oral health and related biomedical science. Forsyth’s mission is to lead the discovery, communication and application of breakthroughs in oral health and disease prevention that will significantly improve the health and well-being of our nation and the world. For more information about Forsyth, contact Kathleen Hill Zichy, President and COO, @ 617-892-8601, or jkelly@forsyth.org

 

 

News Briefs courtesy of the Association for Community Health Improvement

"Tooth loss is associated in a consistent and graded fashion with the self-reported prevalence of heart disease," the authors write. "Health promotion counseling should include the prevention and control of cardiovascular disease risk factors and the maintenance of good oral health." [Medscape Medical News, 1-10-06] http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/521192

 

Reaching the Poor with Health, Nutrition, and Population Services marshals the available evidence about pro-poor strategies that have proven to be effective and that can help in the development of programs to better assist disadvantaged groups. In doing so, it can serve as a resource for policy makers, development practitioners, and policy analysts concerned with health conditions among the poor. [The World Bank] http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPAH/Resources/Reaching-the-Poor/complete.pdf

 

This report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes public health activities in Louisiana the first two months after Hurricane Katrina, when local authorities reopened portions of New Orleans and some residents began to return. Efforts included disease surveillance in evacuation centers to detect potential outbreaks and measure the burden of selected chronic conditions on the health care system; daily surveillance to monitor for trends and aberrations in illness and injuries at acute-care facilities; and efforts to assess the health-related needs of returning residents. [AHA News Now, 1-20-06] http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwr_wk.html

 

U.S. hospitals incur costs of $25–$50 billion annually in providing "community service," primarily in the form of health professions education and standby costs. They also provide approximately $30 billion in uncompensated care. Historically, such "community service" costs have been subsidized explicitly by Medicare and implicitly in the prices paid by private payers. The sustainability of that system is highly uncertain. [Health Affairs, Vol 25, Iss. 1, 2006] http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/1/34

 

Prevention Institute is updating its Community Approach to Addressing Disparities in Health with the revision of THRIVE: Toolkit for Health and Resilience in Vulnerable Environments. A centerpiece of THRIVE is a set of community level factors that are linked to Healthy People 2010 Leading Health Indicators. It now features a simplified list of thirteen factors to facilitate use of the tool at the local level. Details: http://www.preventioninstitute.org/thrive.html