WellSpan Health recently announced that it has been awarded a $2.2 million grant, the second largest grant in WellSpan history, to improve access to dental services for vulnerable, underserved, and rural populations across southcentral Pennsylvania. With this grant, WellSpan will design and implement a program offering that can serve as a model for others.
WellSpan Health will receive $2,249,373 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration over five years to fund the WellSpan Health Access to Dental program. WellSpan plans to launch a new mobile dental clinic aimed at serving long-term care facilities.
The mobile dental clinic is scheduled to begin by the end of 2020 and will be utilized in multiple counties served by WellSpan. The grant will also be used to improve access to dental services by expanding the dental residency program provided at WellSpan York Hospital Dental Center, and its satellite site, the Hoodner Dental Center in York.
Part of the grant will be used to develop a dental health care coordinator position. The dental health care coordinator will be a public health hygienist who would go out into communities and provide care.
The dental health care coordinator will provide education and preventative services, including cleanings, radiographs, and dental sealants. Oral exams will be completed by the dental health care coordinator, in conjunction with a dentist through tele-dentistry.
The goal is to engage with long-term care facilities, as well as with federally qualified health centers, establishing new dental-related partnerships. The grant will run through 2025.
For more information on the dental services offered by WellSpan Health, readers may visit http://www.wellspan.org/programs/dental-services.
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