Cedars-Sinai's COACH For Kids: $15,000 Grant to Increase Dental Care in Underserved Communities

A mobile medical program, called Cedars-Sinai's "COACH" for Kids and their Families®, is one of 20 school-based programs that have been selected nationwide to get a grant from the National Assembly on School-based Health Care (NASBHC.)  The program of the Maxine Dunitz Children's Health Center offers free health, and social services on a regular basis to schools, shelters, and neighborhood facilities in under served communities in Los Angeles.

"We're delighted to receive this grant, which enables us to add a vital new component to our oral health services in 14 Los Angeles elementary schools," said Michele Rigsby Pauley, RN, MSN, CPNP, and COACH for Kids and Their Families® program director.  "With this new funding, our clinicians will receive additional training, and we'll add a much needed fluoride varnish treatment to our dental services."  In response to "so many kids in desperate need for dental care, we added oral health education and services to the COACH for Kids program in 2003," said Rigsby Pauley.  "Including a dental hygienist going into classrooms educating young students about proper dental care.  Early damage to children's teeth can cause damage to adult teeth."

The grant is given for enhancing oral health services to students in under served communities.

"One of the most pressing, unmet health needs of children and adolescents that school-based health programs seek to address is oral health," said Linda Juszczak, executive director of NASBHC.  "We're excited to offer technical assistance and training to such a diverse group of recipients so that they can address these difficult challenges and keep students healthy and learning."

Every recipient of Kaiser Permanente's grant (which is $15,000) will "conduct oral health screenings and education, apply fluoride varnish, and ensure treatment for kids with cavities and other dental problems.  Clinicians will be trained to administer fluoride varnishes, courtesy of the nonprofit Oral Health America, which is donating 5,000 units of fluoride varnish," says MedicalNewsToday.

Source: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

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