Senior Smiles names grant recipients

• Project Homeless Connect, San Francisco—Every other month, more than 1,000 community volunteers partner with city government, nonprofits and the private sector to provide a one-stop shop of health and human services for homeless San Franciscans. PHC partners with the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, which provides clinicians, clinical support and professors to treat patients.
  
  
• Northern Neck Free Health Clinic, Kilmarnock, Va.—A staff dentist, with help from volunteer dentists and dental students and dental hygiene students from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, treats patients three days a week—the only facility of its type within 50 to 60 miles or more in any direction. Education and kits will be given to retirement-age patients and residents of two area nursing homes.
  
  
• United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.—This program will reach older adults at senior centers in low-income areas, congregate meal sites, assisted living facilities, low income elderly housing units, long- term care facilities and American Indian reservations.
  
  
• Kansas Dental Association, Johnson County Health Department, Johnson County, Kan.—Residents from 25 long-term care facilities will benefit and the county health department will sponsor a training program presented by dental professionals for long-term care facilities' health staff in conjunction with the Kansas Dental Association.
  
  
• Dental Directions—Illinois Department of Public Health, Illinois State Dental Society and the Alliance of the ISDS—This cooperative statewide initiative aimed at oral health training in Medicaid facilities will provide oral care training programs for long-term care facility staff, service providers and their patients.
  
  
• Pennsylvania Dental Association and the Alliance of the PDA—This program will reach seniors through PDA-sponsored health fairs and assisted living facilities with low-income residents who would most benefit from an educational presentation and kits.
  
  
• University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry and College of Dental Hygiene in Partnership with Good Shepherd Ministries of Oklahoma Inc., Oklahoma City—Emphasizing both clinical one-on-one dental professional instruction chairside and group oral health education with older adults in several community living settings, this program will take place in locations statewide.
  
  
• Saint Mary's Dental Health Care Center, Waterbury, Conn.—Senior patients from 14 residential facilities will receive kits at their regular office visits and also a brief oral health education session. A second phase at three residential facilities will include educational sessions on prophylactic oral care and a brief oral screening by dentists and dental hygienists.
  
  
• Senior Services Plus and the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine, Alton, Ill.—This community-based nonprofit organization, serving seniors in a five-county area, will partner with SIU School of Dental Medicine dental students to provide inservice training for seniors at five dining sites throughout Madison County.
  
  
• Dr. Adam Cramer and others, Olympia, Wash.—Several area dentists, representatives from the Union Gospel Mission free dental clinic and Alliance volunteers will provide an educational program and kits during a one-day event at a downtown senior center.
  
  
• Lee County Health Department, Keokuk, Iowa with Dr. John Wilde and Leann Vermazen, RDH—This team will focus on nursing home facilities in the Lee County, Iowa area. Sessions will be aimed at health care workers for training and patients on proper oral health.
  
  
• Smiles for All, Quad City Health Initiative, Davenport, Iowa—Five caregiver support groups will advocate for advancing the oral health by training seniors and those who care for them.
  
  
• Riverside Convalescent Center, West Point, Va.—Dr. John Tullner, a retired VA dentist working with the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry Department of Dental Hygiene and the school's Preceptorship Program, will conduct a program to educate the center's staff, family members and patients in better oral care.
  
  
• Tuscarawas Dental Society, Union Hospital Community Health and Wellness, members-at-large of the Alliance of the Ohio Dental Society, Dover, Ohio—Dentists, in collaboration with Alliance members, will present a program, conduct oral health screenings and distribute kits at four senior centers throughout Tuscarawas and Holmes Counties.
  
  
• Lehigh Valley Dental Society and the Alliance of the LVDS, Pa.—In conjunction with a local hospital and two nursing homes, dentists and Alliance members will present a day-long program aimed at seniors and staff members.
  
  
• Harlan County Extension Agency, Ky.—This pilot program with Dr. H. Fred Howard and dental hygienist Cindy Howard will take place at senior citizen centers in Harlan County, an area with low socioeconomic status.
  
  
• Govans Ecumenical Development Corp., Baltimore—This pilot program, headed by the director of Geriatric Dentistry at the University of Maryland Dental School and a dentist from the People's Community Health Center, will offer educational sessions for seniors identified through the center as high risk but with potential for improved self-care.
  
  
• Alliance of the Wabash Valley Dental Society and Dr. Robert Mattern, Wabash, Ind.—Senior centers in the cities of Wabash and Marion will serve as hosts for a joint program between dentists and hygienists.