- Watch Your Mouth Massachusetts: The Watch Your Mouth Coalition Is Working In Massachusetts, New Hampshire And Maine To Make Children's Oral Health A Priority. Objectives of the Watch Your Mouth Coalition are to Educate the public that tooth decay is the most common childhood disease that can cause diminished school performance and poor overall health. WYM advocates for wider access to preventive services, such as dental sealants and fluoride, and regular dental exams for all children.
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Local Solutions
Get involved in making a difference in your community! Here are some local organizations that we recommend to help you make a difference. Just click on these links to contact people who are working in your town or city.
1. Hampden County: Join the Springfield Preschool Oral Health Taskforce
The Springfield Preschool Oral Health Taskforce, hosted by Partners for a Healthier Community, Inc. guides the Hampden County Oral Disease Prevention Project. This project expands the work currently being done and brings needed oral health education, screenings, fluoride varnishes and other preventative measures, referrals to children for additional care, and education and training for caregivers and families before dental decay advances to severe levels. It is our hope that after the initial three year pilot project this program can be widely replicated throughout the state thus further reducing the incidence and prevalence of dental decay in children. If you would like more information on news, updates, events and initiatives of Partners for Healthier Community, Inc. please contact: Sara Herring at 413-794-7739 or Sara.Herring@bhs.org
2. MetroWest Region: Join the Community Health Care Coalition of MetroWest
The mission of the Community Health Care Coalition of the MetroWest is to enhance health care access, quality of care and agency collaboration for improved health status for MetroWest residents, with particular emphasis on disadvantaged, low-income and cultural, ethnic and linguistic populations. Drawing members from towns in all areas of the MetroWest area, the Coalition has made oral health promotion a priority.
For more information about the join the work of the coalition or to join them in making a difference, please contact Geri Chimera at gerichimera@comcast.net.
3. North Quabbin Region: Join the North Quabbin Community Coalition
The North Quabbin Community Coalition is a community wide alliance committed to improving the quality of life for all those living and working in the North Quabbin region. The goals of the coalition are to:
- Foster a sense of positive community image by supporting the community's capacity to meet challenges identified by the community.
- Provide leadership in developing resources, policies and practices that are effective, responsive and accountable to those they serve.
- Provide a forum for networking and raising awareness of community issues across all sectors of the community.
For more information about the NQCC, please contact Stephanie Bachelder at Stephanie@nqcc.org or visit the Coalition's website at www.nqcc.org
4. Cape Cod: Join the Lower/Outer Cape Community Coalition
The Lower/Outer Cape Community Coalition (L/OCCC) is a resource and advocacy organization working to improve the quality of life for all of those living on the Lower and Outer Cape. We apply Healthly Communities principles and practices in our collaborative problem-solving. Membership is open to all health and human service agencies, the religious community, business and industry, government, civic groups and other interested individuals and organizations. The Coalition brings diverse groups together to find solutions for community-identified problems. Strategies to address objectives and activities to make them happen are developed and carried out by task force members and project staff.
For more information about the LOCCC or their Dental Subcommittee, please contact Jackie Zibrat- Long at jzlongcoalition@yahoo.com
5. Lawrence: Join the Mayor's Health Taskforce
The Mayor's Health Task Force is a broad based collaborative of health care, social services providers, environmental groups, academic institutions, local businesses, and city planners whose mission is to "develop healthy public policies and activities that accommodate the changing conditions of the total community, and promotes improvement in the quality of life of its citizens."
The Task Force serves as an advisory sounding board to the mayor and her/his administration by placing health high on the political agenda of the city and establishing new partnerships that builds community capacity to address complex problems. It is an attempt to find a broadly agreed upon dimension that will describe a healthy city in the broadest term possible, that integrates, coordinate, and prioritize programs, services, and potential funding coming into the city. For information contact: Milagro Grullón 978-794-5891 x12 or MilagroGrullon@cityoflawrence.com Website: www.lwarenceMHTF.org
6. Northern Worcester County: Join the Oral Health Initiative of North Central MA
The Oral Health Initiative of North Central Massachusetts is a community-based initiative aimed at improving oral health and increasing access to dental services for underserved children and adults in North Central Massachusetts. The Initiative has four main goals:
- To increase the availability of and access to dental services for low-income children and adults and others who have difficulty accessing care;
- To decrease the incidence and prevalence of dental caries with particular emphasis on children;
- To raise community awareness of the importance of oral health, community and individual strategies for maintaining good oral health, and methods of accessing services; and
- To influence legislative action and regulatory policy for statewide support of enhanced oral health initiatives.
To meet these goals, a number of comprehensive, integrated, and collaborative strategies have been implemented throughout the region. For more information about Oral Health Initiative of North Central MA or its programs, please contact Stacey Auger or Marnie DuBois at 978.345.7040 x33.
7. Worcester and South Worcester County: Join the Oral Health Initiative of Central MA
The Central Mass Oral Health Initiative, a community-based initiative organized in 1999, aims to improve access to oral health services for MassHealth and the uninsured. The Initiative has two goals:
- To increase access to oral health services for those on MassHealth or the uninsured who cannot obtain services in Central Massachusetts;
- To serve as a role model for oral health services that can be replicated across the state and thus increase access to oral health services statewide.
To meet these goals, the Initiative has implemented school based oral health programs, established a dental residency program to address workforce supply, expanded services through two local community health centers and private dentist volunteers, and advocated for change in state policy. For more information about the Central Mass Oral Health Initiative or its programs, please contact Ellen Sachs Leicher at 978-371-8816.
8. Martha's Vineyard: Join Vineyard Smiles' Oral Health Working Group
Vineyard Smiles is a Program of Island Health, Inc. in partnership with the Vineyard Health Care Access Program of Dukes County. Vineyard Smiles is guided by the Oral Health Working Group of the Dukes County Health Council. VS has been awarded a three year grant from the Oral Health Foundation to operate a program of oral health services to low-to-moderate income Island children. These services include:
- School based portable dentistry to pre-school children in Head Start and children in grades K-8 at the six island public schools.
- Outreach and education, including Tooth Tutoring, a school based education program for children in elementary school
- The Martha's Vineyard Dental Access Program, which refers children and adults to affordable oral health care.
For more information about Vineyard Smiles, please contact Henrietta McElheny at hmcelheny@vineyardhealthaccess.org or 508-693-6488.
9. Everett: Join the Joint Committee for Children's Health Care in Everett
The Joint Committee for Children's Health Care in Everett is a not-for-profit organization that firmly believes in the right of Everett's children to have available to them appropriate health care and knowledge to enable them to become healthy and productive members of the community. The Joint Committee is dedicated to advocating for universal access to quality, comprehensive health care for all children of Everett, and in promoting their optimal health and well-being. Toward that end, the committee works in partnership with parents, educators, health care professionals, and members of civic and community organizations in providing health education, community service programs, and public health initiatives. Find out more about the JCCHE by contacting Aurora Iliadis at aurorailiadis@comcast.net.
10. Northern Berkshire County: Join the Healthy Smiles Program
The Healthy Smiles Sealant at School Program is dedicated to maintaining children’s healthy teeth and gums - key to each child’s school performance and overall health. The program is part of the REACH Community Health Foundation and brings the anti-cavity benefits of dental sealants to school children in the Northern Berkshires by visiting each elementary and middle school in the area at least once a year to examine children’s teeth and apply dental sealants for those in need.
The Healthy Smiles program is led by Liz Baldwin. Parents with questions about dental sealants or about the Healthy Smiles Sealant at School Program please contact Liz Baldwin at 413-664-5173.
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Watch Your Mouth Massachusetts is supported by grants from the Oral Health Foundation and Dental Services of Massachusetts.
Watch Your Mouth Coalition.
