• 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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Newsletter

Vol. 3, issue 9
September 2008

Upcoming Events

The end of summer is here. Ready or not, this means that the school year, shorter days, and signs of autumn's crisp air are just upon us. Enjoy the last days of summer with this month's Watch Your Mouth newsletter!

This month, learn more about how you can get involved with the Back-To-School campaign, a national effort to help uninsured children and families; review a study published in Pediatrics, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, about the importance of providing oral health trainings among pediatric residents to improve access to oral health services for children; understand tips on how advocates can take control of shaping public discourse and policy on children's issues; and find out more about our partner, Ecu-Health Care.

Last but not least, join me in welcoming Watch Your Mouth's newest staff, Christine Keeves. Also, stay updated this busy fall season and check out the oral health resources and events on the left side of the page.

It's Back-To-School Time!

back to school

This school year, we can ensure that children in our communities have access to health and dental coverage by getting involved in the Back-To-School campaign (BTS), a national health care outreach and enrollment campaign coordinated in Massachusetts by Health Care For All, in partnership with the Watch Your Mouth campaign. BTS offers support in the form of free and colorful outreach materials, templates for press releases, letters to parents, news articles, and assistance for planning outreach events. Spread the word about health care options for children in your community today! Click on the link below for the downloadable materials order form. Free materials are available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Vietnamese. Order Back-To-School Outreach Materials for your Community

Oral Health Training: The Role of Pediatric Residents

school kids in the grass

We know from the Surgeon General's report released in 2000 that oral health status plays a crucial role in overall health. We also know that children with dental disease have trouble keeping up in school and with their peers, which in the long-term, can lead to life- long health problems, from heart disease to diabetes to pre-term birth. Knowing that the mouth is the gateway to the rest of the body, preventing cavities, tooth decay, and chronic health conditions starts with general health check-ups. Engaging medical professionals who traditionally do not screen for dental health is an important way to prevent dental disease and treat decay at earlier stages. Because pediatricians care for children in the earlier years, they play a critical role in improving the oral health status of all children.

In 2003, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended strategies that pediatricians can adopt to decrease the rate of dental disease through oral health assessments and dental visits by a specific age. A study conducted in Pediatrics, the official journal of the AAP, looked at how providing oral health training to pediatricians increases their confidence to provide oral health screenings and ability to understand the systemic approach to oral health care. Learn more about the role that pediatricians can provide in dental care and download the link for AAP's study below.

Read the Full Study in Pediatrics

The Dominant News Frame and Children's issues: A Skewed View of America's Children

The media's approach to issues such as children's health and well-being has historically helped shape the way public policy evolves. How the message is "framed" - the mental shortcuts used to express, understand and evaluate information - has a significant impact on public reasoning.

According to the FrameWorks Institute's research, the dominant frames on children's issues have taken a shift - from framing children's issues as ways to cope with "the problem child" to a new focus on how to protect "the imperiled child." Previously, media coverage tended to focus on the problems associated with young people. With this new lens, children are seen as "victims" who are vulnerable to danger and in need of protecting. This month's e-zine highlights the importance of this frame shift, its negative consequences on public policies, and the challenges ahead for advocates to revive policy priorities focusing on children.

Read the full E-zine

September Partner Spotlight: Ecu-Health Care

By: Charles "Chip" Joffe-Halpern, Executive Director

ecu-health staff shot

Started in 1995 by a dedicated group of health and human service providers and clergy, the mission of Ecu-Health Care, Inc is to provide health coverage to the uninsured residents of northern Berkshire County. We are a non-profit all-purpose health care access program serving individuals of all age groups. Our programs include: providing outreach and enrollment for all public health programs, we have a volunteer physician program where area doctors provide reduced fee care for those not eligible for MassHealth or Commonwealth Care, and we provide SHINE (Serving Health Information Needs for Elders) counseling for Medicare recipients. We have also organized a group of dentists who provide discounted dental care to area residents with no dental coverage. Ecu-Health Care now also provides financial counseling services for the patients at North Adams Regional Hospital.

In the 1990's, Ecu-Health Care pioneered the use of broadcast and print media to advertise the availability of all health insurance programs. We now air over 200 television ads a month on mainstream cable stations, including CNN, TNT, MTV, VH-1, and NESN. We have periodic flyers in newspapers, and we even have a MySpace site in an ongoing effort to inform younger individuals about health reform and the health insurance mandate. We are proud to say that since 1995, we have admitted more than 3,300 area residents into our voluntary physician program, and we have helped more than 7,500 residents enroll into public health programs. From our beginnings as a grassroots organization, we are now considered an essential health and human service organization in North Berkshire. We have also helped four other communities in Massachusetts start their own local health care access programs.

Ecu-Health Care is located in North Adams, MA. Check out our website at www.ecuhealthcare.com and MySpace page.

September is here and there are a lot of new things to look forward to this season. Speaking of new, join me in welcoming Christine Keeves, Watch Your Mouth's Oral Health Communications Coordinator. Christine holds a Masters Degree in Public Health and has a great deal of experience in communications. She also brings a passion for social justice and an understanding of oral health issues from a previous role at the Health Policy & Health Services Research Department at Boston University's School of Dental Medicine. Feel free to introduce yourself to her; Christine can be reached at ckeeves@hcfama.org or 617.275.2919.

Thanks,

Czarina



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