In the first term of fourth year I went to the John Howard Society (JHS) on Wednesdays over three months. I had visited JHS once before and liked the community. Traditionally JHS is a program for men with incarceration history, but the lower mainland (JHSLM) office accepts men, women, individuals with developmental disabilities, and struggle with substance abuse. At this community site I had the opportunity to work alongside JHS outreach workers, volunteers (a prospective dietetics student and a resident artist), and implement a dental hygiene services program within the JHSLM site. Many of the clientele did not have dental to insurance unless they were first nations or had a disability, and most of these programs offer a maximum every two years.(1) As a personal goal I helped redesign a sheet of reduced cost dental clinics with the details of acceptance based on common insurance plans and address to help determine where to refer for general dental care. Many of the clients myself and my team-mates seen were referred to reduced cost dental clinics which usually reduces the standard fee guide by 10%. Although I advocated for the JHS clients by making referrals, I wonder how realistic accessing these dental clinics are for these individuals as many of them will need to pay for new patient or specific exams before receiving care. I would further like to become involved in the referral process and learn more about insurance plans so I am better able to refer and help my clients better understand their insurance plans. In addition, my team connected with the resident artist and the prospective dietetics students to organize a nutrition activity with the JHSLM clients, where we brought healthy snacks, coloured, and played a food-groups game with them to help them build their confidence choosing healthy snacks and learn about the food groups. Throughout our experience at JHS we had many opportunities with showcased the lack of nutritional education. Our team had gone to Kent maximum security prison and visited a half-way house. During both of these opportunities we noticed that the community did not have much access to learning or developing skills about nutrition and preparing meals. Rather we learned that most of the food this community is exposed to in prisons and half-way houses are non-perishable because it is cost-effective. In conclusion, advocacy played a large role in this community setting because of the limitations of accessing dental care, as well as limited nutritional education. Having this experience was insightful because I was able to grow as a health care professional, but it also inspired me to learn more about advocating for communities.

Reference

1. Disability coverage [Internet]. BC, Canada: Pacific Blue Cross. [Updated 2018; cited 2018 Nov 30]. Available from: https://www.pac.bluecross.ca/group/large-business/common-benefits/disability-coverage/
2. Porter LC. Incarceration and post-release health behaviour. J Health Soc Behav. 2014 Jun;55(2):234-49.