2004 Grants

Brockton Neighborhood Health Center in Brockton will use its $150,000 grant to extend its screening and outreach into Brockton faith-based elementary schools. The Center will implement a primary prevention outreach program for second and sixth graders. In addition, the grant will fund a dental access coordinator who will make sure that children receive follow-up care once they are identified as needing services. This person will also be engaged in helping remove barriers to receiving dental services for all patients in the Neighborhood Center's programs. The Brockton Health Center serves a diverse patient population, 79% of whom live in poverty. An additional 20% have income levels below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines.

Hillcrest Dental Care in Pittsfield will use its $200,000 grant to expand its treatment capacity by 75% to serve its special needs patients, including children, adolescents, and adults, as well as its MassHealth and other low-income clients without insurance. The current Hillcrest facility will add three new dental chairs and new specialized treatment equipment. Hillcrest Dental Care is the largest provider in the Berkshire region for dental care to MassHealth, low-income, and special needs patients. Hillcrest Dental Care currently has a caseload of 5,100 patients, of whom approximately 3,800, or 75%, are special needs patients (persons who are physically and/or cognitively challenged, many of whom reside in residential treatment centers, nursing homes, and long-term care facilities). Almost 1,500 Hillcrest Dental Care patients have no dental insurance.

The Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center in Waltham will use its $106,000 grant to establish a comprehensive dental services satellite clinic for low-income and uninsured people at its new Waltham site. The grant money will be added to a MassHealth Access Program (MAP) grant of $150,000. Together, the monies will be used to offer a comprehensive range of dental services to its patients. The Center will also offer dental health promotional activities and dental screenings at local community-based organizations such as public schools and senior centers. The Center serves diverse patient populations, of whom 75% are uninsured, over 60% are at or below federal poverty income guidelines and many are recent immigrants with language barriers and little or no understanding of how to access the health care system.

Massachusetts Coalition for Oral Health (MCOH) in Boston will use its $63,000 grant to coordinate a dental sealant and referral program for second and third grade children in the Boston Public School system. The MCOH, along with the "Seal, Educate, Advocate Learning" (SEAL) program, Boston University School of Dental Medicine, and Brookside Community Health Center, will all come together under the name Smart Smiles in the Boston Public Schools, in association with The Forsyth Institute, to provide free preventative care to children in 14 public schools in Boston during the first year of the grant. The program will provide school-based oral health education, preventive fluoride application, dental sealants, and referral assistance for follow-up care to second and third grade children in the Boston public schools. In a 2003 assessment of Massachusetts' third grade public school children, Boston school children had worse oral health than the statewide average with more untreated dental cavities and less preventive dental sealants.

REACH Community Health Foundation in North Adams will use its $56,000 grant to expand its oral health education curriculum and a school-based sealant program in area elementary schools. In addition, REACH will provide case management for those children identified with oral health needs. To accomplish these goals, REACH will embed dental health education into the health curriculum at every elementary grade level; establish a dental sealant program for children in grades one and two who do not now receive this procedure. Currently, northern Berkshire County faces significant barriers to adequate oral health care related to the high rates of poverty in the region.

The Springfield Oral Health Initiative in Springfield will use its $282,000 grant to expand and license a dental clinic in the school-based health center at the German Gerena Elementary School in Springfield. The grant will be used to hire dental professionals and to buy the dental equipment necessary to perform preventive treatment on the students. There are currently thousands of students in the Springfield public school system in serious need of dental care. Roughly 72% of this population is eligible for MassHealth dental benefits, but most children are not receiving these services.

Cape Cod Dentists Care in Orleans will use its $60,000 grant to continue to strengthen the administrative process of the volunteer dentist program to provide treatment to low-income, uninsured, or MassHealth population living on Cape Cod. Private practice dentists will volunteer to provide no or low-cost services, expand capacity to treat special populations, and track and evaluate the program's progress and outcomes so that its successes can be replicated by other communities.

The Family Van Saving Smiles at Harvard Medical School in Boston will use its $118,000 grant to continue to equip and staff its mobile van to provide free culturally and linguistically appropriate oral health education, preventive dental care, and enhanced access to dental services to uninsured and underinsured populations in the Boston neighborhoods of Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester.

Operation Healthy Smile in Marlborough will use its $20,000 grant to continue serving mostly school-aged children at the preventive dental clinic at the Marlborough Boys and Girls Club of Metro West. The clinic provides fluoride treatments, sealants, and nutritional education to children who cannot afford these services. The clinic serves 23% of school children in town who are eligible for the free or reduced-price lunch program and 22% of children for whom English is a second language. The clinic will begin to serve local senior citizens who will be transported to the site by van.

Holyoke Health Center/Tufts Dental School in Holyoke will use its $75,000 to integrate the Holyoke Health Center with Tufts School of Dental Medicine Residency Program to improve and optimize comprehensive oral health care for vulnerable populations. The grant will expand the residency program to include placement at a Springfield site as well. The dental students will provide care to a diverse patient population of children, people living with HIV/AIDS, the elderly, and patients with special needs or chronic medical conditions.

City of Lowell Health Department One Smile at a Time II in Lowell will use its $110,000 grant to provide preventive dental care to over 6,000 students in grades Pre-K through grade five in the Lowell public school system. Students from Middlesex Community College's Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting programs will provide much of the preventive dental care and oral health education.

Boston Public Health Commission's Oral Health Equity Project in Boston will use its $116,000 grant to pilot a preventive outreach and referral program for economically disadvantaged elders in public housing. The program is run in collaboration with the Boston University School of Dental Medicine, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Forsyth Dental Hygiene Program, and the Tufts School of Dental Medicine, with case management assistance from the Boston University School of Social Work.

Planning Grants
Lazarus Ministries in Lawrence will use its one year planning grant to create a plan for operating a full-time, sustainable dental clinic in its current site. The site currently has a 2 chair dental clinic with donated equipment and volunteer dental professionals serving those who are homeless or in the shelter. The hope of the grant is to expand the program so that they can offer a variety of services to an even greater number of children and adults in Lawrence.

HESSCO Elder Services Inc. in Norwood will use its one year planning grant to create a model that will develop a network of volunteer dentists who will provide services out of their private practices to elderly patients in need of treatment. There is currently a periodic screening process to identify those elders in need of care, and there are currently 2 dentists who do provide the care. This planning grant will help to expand the number of volunteer dentists.

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