NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT 329 CHAMPAIGN, IL
C E L E B R AT I N G 6 0 Y E A R S !
BRINGING HEALTHY MOUTHS TO LIFE
180 North Michigan Ave. Ste. 1150 Chicago, Illinois 60601
SPRING 2015
BRINGING HEALTHY MOUTHS TO LIFE SPRING NEWSLETTER WWW.ORALHEALTHAMERICA.ORG
Oral Health America is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your gift is tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
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Oral Health America
Smile4Health
Oral Health America
DEAR FRIENDS OF OHA,
Keeping Our Promise to America’s Children In 2010 OHA committed to America’s Promise Alliance to seal two million teeth for 500,000 children. Today, we are just weeks away from reaching our Seal Two Million goal five years ahead of schedule. This mutual goal of America’s Promise Alliance and OHA is to give kids A Healthy Start to be healthier and better prepared to learn and grow to their full potential. Many thanks to our Smiles Across America® (SAA) program partners, who helped OHA reach more than 460,000 children in school-based and school-linked settings in 2014 with preventive dental care, including sealants. Dental sealants in school-based settings are considered a best practice for preventing tooth decay in children, but according to the CDC only one-third of children ages 6-19 have sealants. These troubling statistics are why the work of SAA remains so important. We look forward to announcing the completion of our Seal Two Million goal this summer and recommitting to reaching even more children in 2015 and beyond.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORK OHA IS DOING TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO CARE ACROSS THE NATION. VISIT ORALHEALTHAMERICA.ORG AND
©2015 Oral Health America
DONATE TODAY!!
®Wisdom Tooth Project, NSTEP and Smiles Across America are registered trademarks of Oral Health America
About 42 million family caregivers provide more than 40 billion hours of unpaid care each year to an adult with limitations in daily activities, which is why OHA’s toothwisdom.org includes resources especially for caregivers. In addition, OHA is proud to be a part of the Assisting Caregivers Today (ACT) Caucus, organized by AARP, which aims to bring greater attention to family caregiving, educate Congress on these issues and engage them on a bipartisan basis to help to create solutions. The ACT Caucus recently launched with the support of U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) and U.S. Representatives Diane Black (R-TN) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (DNM). During Older Americans Month in May and year-round, OHA recognizes the importance of oral health on the overall health of older adults and continues to be at the forefront of providing resources and access to care to the country’s wisest generation.
President and CEO
Helping Older Adults Take Charge of Their Oral Health Last summer OHA launched the pilot for Tooth Wisdom: Get Smart About Your Mouth, a groundbreaking oral health education workshop designed to empower older adult participants to take charge of their oral health. The pilot results showed that 91 precent of participants felt more confident in their ability to manage their oral health as a result of what they learned at the workshop. As a result of these promising statistics, the workshops are expanding this year to the greater Chicagoland
area, Nashville, TN; Portland, OR; and the states of Michigan and Minnesota. This expansion is made possible thanks to funding from Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals, The Retirement Research Foundation and Delta Dental of Minnesota Foundation. Sign up for the OHA’s Wisdom Tooth Insider eNewsletter at www.oralhealthamerica.org for more updates about this exciting new initiative and all of OHA’s work on behalf of older adults.
ORALHEALTHAMERICA.ORG
Recognizing OHA’s Founders During Our Landmark
C E L E B R AT I N G 6 0 Y E A R S !
Anniversary Year To celebrate OHA’s 60th anniversary, we are conducting interviews throughout the year to honor the individuals, universities and companies that helped found our organization, originally known as The Foundation for Dental Health. Our first interview was with Dr. John N. Williams, Dean of Indiana University School of Dentistry, and Charles Hine, DDS MSD, grandson of Dr. Maynard Hine, IU Dean from 1945-1968 and an OHA founder. Go to www.oralhealthamerica.org to sign up for OHA’s monthly eNewsletter to get our anniversary interviews throughout the year.
Toothbrush Donations Benefit Organizations Nationwide Since December OHA has donated
hand-delivered
nearly
3,000
Sonicare
Opportunity Knocks, a community organization dedicated to supporting
the country to promote the importance
and providing resources for individuals
of oral health. As part of the “Reasons
with
to Smile” selfie contest on Facebook
Oak Park, IL. The tooth brushes were
for Giving Tuesday, a total of 1,000
presented during a lesson on overall
toothbrushes were donated to the
health and the importance of taking
winners’ designated charities. OHA
care of your mouth. Thanks to Philips
staff members then designated their
Sonicare for their generous donation
own charities to receive toothbrushes.
that has allowed OHA to support the
OHA
wonderful work of other organizations
Research
and
Development Manager Tara Harper
Longtime OHA supporters American Association of Dental Office Managers (AADOM) and Patterson Dental announced a new joint initiative “A Future to Smile About” at this year’s 25th Annual Gala & Benefit. Through the initiative, AADOM and Patterson will each donate $50 to OHA’s Smiles Across America® (SAA) program for every AADOM annual membership purchased by dental practices through January 31, 2016. Visit www.afuturetosmileabout.com for more information and use the code “OHA15” when purchasing memberships as part of the campaign. “AADOM is the nation’s largest educational and networking association dedicated to serving dental practice management professionals with a mission to provide members with networking, resources and education to help them achieve the highest level of professional
to
toothbrushes to organizations across
Program
Philips
toothbrushes
developmental
disabilities
in
across the country.
Increasing Access to Care Through Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles and Smiles Across America Last year OHA received a two-year Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Global Grant for Smiles Across America® (SAA), which has allowed SAA to expand through Ronald McDonald Care Mobile units. Program Director Tina Montgomery is visiting ten Care Mobiles this year to assist them in better serving their communities’ oral
development; and, Patterson Dental continues its strong tradition in ways that truly impact lives. We could not be more
health needs. The mobile units provide medical and oral healthcare and education to children in state-of-the-art
energized about this initiative to engage these new members!” said OHA’s Director of Development Brad McLaughlin.
vehicles, reaching children who have limited access to care. “I often think of one little boy who waited for the
A NIGHT TO CELEBRATE THE IMPORTANCE OF ORAL HEALTH The 25th Annual Gala & Benefit was held on February 25 at the beautiful Hilton Chicago, celebrating both the 25th anniversary of the gala and the 60th anniversary of OHA. The event raised more than $500,000 to drive national programs and initiatives. GC America colleagues Susan Benton, Nancy Michner and Kathy Bright won the night’s big raffle prize, having decided to pool their money for a ticket to support a cause they believed in and capitalize on Kathy’s recent run of luck with other raffles and contests. Thanks to everyone who attended in support of our programs and campaigns that increase access to care for America’s most vulnerable populations.
truck because of a toothache,” said Celeste Espeseth, Care Mobile Manager for RMHC of Bismarck. “The day after the tooth was removed he ran to me and said, ‘My mouth doesn’t hurt anymore!’ His siblings were also seen on the truck and his father thanked me with tears in his eyes.” OHA is proud to include the Care Mobile units in our SAA network and we look forward to another year reaching children with needed oral healthcare.
NEWS FROM THE
Smiles Across America Expands in New Jersey and Florida
OHA OFFICE
Veronica Wellons
Jessica Meister
Tina Montgomery
Dora Fisher
With the 2014-2015 school year, OHA’s Smiles Across America® (SAA) program has grown to 304 partners reaching
OHA is happy to introduce two
the Union League Boys and Girls
congratulations to Tina Montgomery,
460,000 children annually in school-based and school-linked settings with needed oral healthcare and education. This
new
members—Development
Club and the Greater Chicago Food
who has been promoted to Program
spring OHA is honored to welcome Rutgers School of Dental Medicine and Nova Southeastern University College of
Coordinator Veronica Wellons and
Depository while Jessica previously
Director, Children and Youth, and Dora
Dental Medicine to the SAA network thanks to funding from Trident®, LISTERINE® and Patterson Foundation. Rutgers
Web Content Coordinator Jessica
worked at Kalamazoo College and
Fisher, who has been promoted to
serves children in the Newark area and with funding from OHA will be able to increase access to services to children
Meister. Veronica comes to us from
Northern
Program Director, Older Adults!
staff
Illinois
University.
Also
within the Newark Unified School District and provide bus transportation. Nova will be better able to build program capacity by hiring a patient navigator and a community coordinator to work with the schools and engage parents and the community to increase returned consent forms so eligible children care receive care. Welcome to the SAA family!
P R I N T I N G G E N E R O U S LY D O N AT E D B Y :