Category Archives: 03: Health promotion

Union Gospel Mission – The Orchard

This past semester, I had the opportunity to develop and implement a preventative oral health program at Union Gospel Mission’s (UGM) Orchard Complex for my community rotation. UGM is a non-profit Christian organization that aims to transform communities by overcoming poverty, homelessness and addictions. The Orchard is a subsidized housing complex with 75 town homes, aimed to provide long and short term housing to new immigrants, refugees and low socioeconomic individuals. Similarly to Pioneer Community Living association, my role as a student dental hygienist was to provide preventative and non invasive therapeutic services such as dental hygiene exams, oral cancer screenings, debridement, fluoride administration and oral health instruction. Although the majority of clients are individuals living in the Orchard complex, we recruited new clients through the community health nurse, referrals from current clients and from a local church that is sponsoring two Syrian refugee families that arrived in February. At this community site, three dental chairs and two portable dental units were shared between four students.

This was a community site that helped me develop efficiency in my clinical skills. I was required to see an average of three clients per session, and my cultural competence was tested as the clients varied greatly in terms of culture and ethnicity. The two greatest challenges at this community site was the language barrier between the client and myself, and the fact that the majority of the new clients had not seen a dental professional due to poor access to oral health services in their home countries or financial restraints. These challenges were managed by speaking slowly, using hand gestures and pointing to the area of concern when explaining the client’s diagnosis and treatment plan. Overall, the community initiative was successful as we treated a total of 69 patients, 18 of which were new patients.

Special Olympics Healthy Athletes – Special Smiles

Individuals living with intellectual disabilities face greater health issues than others, yet rarely receive adequate care to address their health needs. In partnership with local health professionals from various health disciplines, Healthy Athletes aims to address this issue through offering health services and education to Special Olympics athletes. The goal of the “world largest public health program” is two fold: first, to address individuals living with intellectual disabilities health care needs; second, to improve health professionals’ competence in dealing with this marginalized population.

On March 19, 2016, I volunteered for Special Smiles with the mindset to use the clinical and client management skills I have acquired to give back to the community. In collaboration with student dental hygienists from the University of British Columbia (UBC) Dental Hygiene Degree Program and Vancouver College of Dental Hygiene, we provided free dental screenings, oral health instruction on brushing and flossing, applied fluoride varnish, and issued preventative oral health supplies such as toothbrushes, floss and toothpastes to participating Special Olympics athletes. Throughout the day, I had the opportunity to reflect on the difficulty this population has in maintaining their oral health, to empathize with their current situation, and to give them support and the skills to improve their current oral health state. This initiative not only gave me experience in managing clients with intellectual disabilities, but helped fuel within me a passion and desire to work with this population in the future.

UBC Dental Hygiene Degree Program International Pilot Initiative [VIDEO]

T 12373445_10156323935460384_8254484203724006103_n he holiday season is often times associated with building a lifetime of memories with friends and family, and to all gather in celebration of another year. However, for Sonia and I, our holidays were spent away from loved ones on the other side of the world, and for justifiable reasons.

From educating children and health professionals about oral health, to providing clinical therapy, and conducting oral cancer screenings, this initiative gave me the opportunity to exercise all aspects of the dental hygiene scope of practice. A moment that stands out, one that I often revisit, is walking through the overcrowded and non-air-cond
itioned Oncology Hospital, seeing beds occupied by two to three patients who are battling advanced stage cancer with tumours the size of a grapefruit. This moment of enlightenment truly provided realization that although dental hygienists are not involved with treating such serious conditions, they play a significant role in the early identification of such complex and fatal oral conditions.

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I went into this initiative thinking that coming from North America where resources are abundant and the quality of life is high in comparison to developing countries, I would be able to give back and share the wealth of knowledge I have obtained from my undergraduate program; however, now I feel that I have gained more than I could have ever given. Although the health professionals we were highly educated, they were humble in their knowledge and gave us outstanding respect as we conducted educational sessions. Furthermore, even though oral health professionals working in the university and hospital receive very little salary (~$150USD/month), they worked tirelessly to raise up a new generation professionals and develop a caring relationship with their patients ensuring to deliver the highest quality of care. After a day of work at the university or hospitals, they will work in a private practice until late at night just to make enough money to survive. Seeing them pursue their passion and devote all their energy to their career without any restraints encouraged me to look past the money aspect in my career and strive to make a difference in my community and facilitate the advancement of my profession.

While I continued to develop a deeper appreciation for this profession and explored different practice settings in Vietnam day after day, it has further reaffirmed the significance of my role as an emerging licensed dental professional. I have left Vietnam even more passionate to advocate for preventative services to reduce the prevalence of oral diseases, increased access to healthcare services, and increase awareness.

https://youtu.be/XjcllsNFxX0

Immigration Service Society of British Columbia (ISS of BC)

Due to British Columbia’s (BC) relative proximity to Asia, BC experiences a great influx of immigrants from Asia. Over 250,000 immigrants migrate to Canada annually, and approximately 35,000 of those arrive in British Columbia (BC), making up a high proportion of the population in BC.^(1-4)New immigrant’s combination of language barriers and low oral health literacy can create a challenge in an oral health setting. As primary health providers, it is important to be aware of this populations health needs and come along side them to provide assistance in navigating Canada’s healthcare system.

During my second year, I chose to plan and implement an initiative at the ISS of BC’s English Language Services for Adults (ELSA) Program for my community rotation. ISS of BC is a non-profit organization aimed to assist new immigrants and refugees assimilate in Canada and the ELSA program achieves this by offering English language training program that provides basic and intermediate level English classes for adult immigrants and refugees. In addition to attaining English skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, the students also learned about Canadian culture, community resources, healthy living and the Canadian job market.

My team and I educated the students about the importance of oral health, differentiating between a health and unhealthy mouth, methods to maintain oral health, communicating with a dental profession and presented reduce cost clinics. Due to the language barrier between the students and myself I had to speak slowly and use hand gestures and pictures to ensure they grasped the concepts and hand skills. My team and I were able to test their understanding and increase their English literacy by through role play and hands on activities.

Provincial Health Services Authority. Towards reducing health inequities: a health system approach to chronic disease prevention. Vancouver (BC): Population & Public Health, Provincial Health Services Authority; 2011.
Health Officers Council of BC. Health inequities in British Columbia: discussion paper. Vancouver (BC): Public Health Association of BC; 2008.
Canadavisa.com. Canadian Immigration Information – British Columbia [Internet]. 2015 [cited 10 April 2016]. Available from: http://www.canadavisa.com/about-british-columbia.html
Www12.statcan.gc.ca. Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity in Canada [Internet]. 2014 [cited 10 April 2016]. Available from: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-010-x/99-010-x2011001-eng.cfm

Water Fluoridation Debate

Debates have been used as an instructional and education tool in dental programs as it empowers participants to critically think on their feet, advocate for the implementation of health policies and bring about understanding to controversial subjects such as water fluoridation.¹ Debates are ideal platforms for dental hygienists to create awareness of the profession and demonstrate their expertise and knowledge, which is substantiated by scientific research.

In 2014, I participated in the annual fluoride debate where my class was divided into three teams: pro-fluoridation, anti-fluoridation and critical colleagues. I was chosen to be on the critical colleagues team, which was in charge of marketing the debate to enhance attendance, moderating, time keeping and generate challenging questions for the two teams from the perspective of the general public. Although I knew the benefits of water fluoridation was well supported in literature, I had to remain neutral and speak from the public’s perspective. In the process of preparing for the debate, I honed my critical thinking, scientific investigation and research use competencies through examining the current literature regarding the risk and benefits of fluoridation and developing questions for both teams.

Although all the team members on the anti-fluoridation team believed in the efficacy of fluoridation, they won the debate due to their superior abilities in reasoning. The debate revealed the importance of understanding the risks and the benefits of the products and services that I recommend to my clients to ensure I am providing unbiased and objective information. Furthermore, it reinforced the importance of using literature to ground my clinical practice.

Rubin RW, Weyant RJ, Trovato CA. Utilizing Debates as an Instructional Tool for Dental Students. Journal of Dental Education March 1, 2008 vol. 72 no. 3 282-287.

Pioneer Community Living Association

Mental illness is becoming increasing prevalent in Canada as statistics reveal that in any given year one in five Canadians experiences a mental health problem.¹ Additionally, literature shows that people are more likely to visit their oral healthcare providers on a regular basis than their other primary healthcare providers.² It is reported that adults aged 20-44 rarely visit their family doctors for preventive care, yet they visit their oral healthcare professionals at least once a year.² Therefore, understanding this population`s barriers to oral health care can help clinicians managed this population and treat them with dignity they deserve. In addition to providing clinical services, my team and I held a table clinic to educate the population about the difference between healthy and unhealthy gums and showed them how to care for their oral health daily. The goal of the table clinic was to encourage the population to equip them with the basic knowledge and skills to care for their oral health daily.

Pioneer Community Living Association (PCLA) challenged me in the area of professionalism and client management as I provided treatment to a population living with multiple mental illnesses. I learned the importance of not labeling the residents by their condition, but instead understanding that they are people living with a chronic condition. During the meeting with the care manager of the facility, she stated that the residents “have enough difficulty getting out of bed in the morning, more so caring for their oral health”. Keeping this in mind and having mindset of empathy, allowed me to understand the justification behind the poor oral health state of some of the residents. My community rotation at PCLA has equipped me with the skills to successfully create andmanage a community oral health program as my team and I were responsible for managing all aspects of the program including: assessing and diagnosing the needs of the population, developing a plan that catered to the needs, manage inventory of supplies, implement the plan, and evaluated the population.

The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Improving Access To Oral Health Care For Vulnerable People Living In Canada. 2014
Gordon JS, Albert DA, Crews KM, Fried J. Tobacco education in dentistry and dental hygiene. Drug Alcohol Rev 2009; 28:517–532.