HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-04-1994 - VIII-E 1
ORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Action Agenda
Item No. VMT
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: April 4, 1994
SUBJECT: Smart Start Funding for Short-term Dental Services Grant.
DEPARTMENT: HEALTH PUBLIC HEARING: Yes X No
ATTACHMENT(S) : INFORMATION CONTACT:
HEALTH DIRECTOR'S OFFICE X2411
1. NONE TELEPHONE NUMBER:
Hillsborough - 732-8181
Chapel Hill - 968-4501
Mebane - 227-2031
Durham - 688-7331
PURPOSE:
To accept a $29,575 grant award from the Orange County Partnership for
Young Children (Smart Start) . The grant award will allow the Health
Department in collaboration with the UNC-School of Dentistry, to provide
dental screening, education, treatment planning, prophylaxis and referral
for all children age 0-5 in day care centers, as well as, those children
at home. The project will be carried out during May and June, 1994.
BACKGROUND:
The dental health needs of preschool children are not well documented.
However, the Orange County Public Health . Dental Hygienist screened
children at four day-care centers in both Southern and Northern Orange
County. Of the one hundred and eleven children screened, twenty-three
needed restorative or surgical treatment. Twenty percent of children
screened for preschool registration needed dental treatment. Of the
seventy-nine, Cedar Grove Head Start children screened, fifty needed
treatment. Froatthese screening, it has been determined that there is a
need to prompts- preventive dental health education and provide dental
treatment to ,this population.
The goal or vision of Smart Start is to ensure that children from birth
to age five have the services needed for them to enter school healthy and
ready to succeed. However, of the thirty-four local dentists surveyed,
only four accept medicaid patients because of the extremely low rates.
Other familes not eligible for medicaid or without private dental
insurance, forgo dental treatment, resulting in their children suffering
from dental decay, bleeding gums and impacted teeth which affect their
school performance and self-esteem.
2
This short term grant will allow utilization of dental and hygiene
students who have completed their studies, but not yet passed their
boards, who can provide a valuable service at a very low cost under the
supervision of qualified dental faculty. The work of this project will
be carried out by a temporary coordinator, eight teams involving a dental
student and hygiene student for five weeks, and temporary secretarial
services. The coordinator will arrange visits of the teams, to Child
Care Centers for screening and education. She will also coordinate
followup appointments at the Health Department.
The families of children with dental conditions requiring treatment will
be referred first to their family dentists. In the absence of a dentist,
who has accepted responsibility for their care, patients will be referred
to dental clinics at the hospital, Orange Chatham Comprehensive Health
Services and the Health Department.
The other operational expenses are detailed in the Smart Start budget
proposal. All of the costs will be covered by the grant. No county
match will be required.
RECOMMENDATIONS(S) The Manager recommends that the grant award be
accepted as a grant project ordinance.