In the Spotlight
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Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council, Inc.
PO Box 125 Independence, WI 54747-0125
715-985-2391 715-985-3239 (fax)
Kiyoko Fiedler, Director of Planning and Development
Dan Stickler, Head Start Program Director
Shining Smiles Project: Developing Dental Health Services for Children in Rural Areas
Western Dairyland’s Shining Smiles Project will address the need to improve services to rural areas, which is one of Head Start’s Priority Areas. The goal of the Project is to plan, design, and implement a method of meeting the dental health care needs of 4,123 low-income individuals including Head Start children, their siblings, and parents of Head Start children, with particular attention paid to pregnant mothers of Head Start children. Low-income children in Western Dairyland’s four county service areas in western Wisconsin can seldom find a dentist who will provide dental care services. The Project will develop a model for providing and maintaining dental health care for low-income children and their families that could be replicated by other rural Head Start Programs. The Project will also produce a manual detailing the process and factors to be considered in developing a rural dental clinic.
Western Dairyland’s four county service areas encompass over 3,100 square miles and had a population of 156,056 according to the 2000 Census. While there is one small city, the City of Eau Claire, which had a population of 61,704 according to the 2000 Census, the majority of the residents of the service area live in areas that are defined as rural according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Very few of the 81 dentists in Western Dairyland’s four county service area will accept Medicaid or Badger Care which are the primary of forms of health care coverage for low-income children in Wisconsin.
Planning activities, September 1, 2004 to May 31, 2005, will also determine the final costs for staff, dental equipment, space, consumable dental supplies, and related expenses, identify possible locations for the clinic site(s), identify dentists who might be interested in working for the Project, and identify funding sources to support the dental services at its start-up and that will sustain the Project past the three years of Head Start funding. During the Implementation Phase of the Project, it is planned that Head Start children and their families will receive preventive and restorative dental care.
To date the Dental Planning Advisory Committee has met four times. A fifth meeting will occur December 16, 2004. The Committee has been studying rural dental clinic service delivery systems. Dr. David Born, a public health dentistry professor from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, presented at the October meeting. The Committee includes Head Start Policy Council members, former Policy Council members who now serve on the Agency Board of Directors, two dentists, directors of two rural dental clinics serving low-income individuals, a representative from a community health center, a representative from the local technical college, representatives from four county public health departments, a physician, a representative from the dental hygienists’ association, a representative from the local free clinic, and a representative from the Marquette University Dental School.
Focus groups with Head Start parents were completed by November 10, 2004. These focus groups were designed to solicit parents’ input about the location(s) of the clinic and the dental issues they would like to ensure that the proposed dental clinic will address.
Surveys were also being distributed to all Head Start parents and tabulated in November. The survey instrument is designed to solicit parent ideas about the location(s) of the dental clinic and will also identify the dental care health needs of the Head Start family members.
Meetings with area dentists are scheduled to occur in November and December to inform them about the Project and to solicit their support, as well as to initiate discussions about the possibility of their donated services, use of their dental clinic space, and/or donation of equipment.
