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See You at Empire Conference! DHASNY's Empire Conference will be held November 2-4, 2012 at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY, featuring multiple CE on practice, procedure and developments in the profession and oral health, plus popular vendor exhibits and networking events. Watch for updates.
DHASNY Board in Action: Standards of Care Endorsed The DHASNY Board of Directors has endorsed the ADHA Standards for Dental Hygiene Clinical Practice that focuses on a patient -centered care model. In contrast to the service-oriented model, the patient-centered care model partners with the patient to identify the individual needs of the patient, defines a strategy to meet these needs (e.g., preventive, therapeutic, referrals), and monitors the patient’s progress on achieving and maintaining optimum oral health. This patient-centered care model is supported by the dental hygiene process of care. In making the endorsement, the standards are seen as promoting consistency, providing education on the responsibilities of RDHs in New York, and assisting clinicians in patient-provider relationships in patient-centered in multidisciplinary teams of health professionals. Endorsement follows a report by DHASNY’s Committee on Professional Practice and Education. Read the report and recommendations here. In other Board action: - Plans were made to further membership outreach and involvement at the state and district levels, pursue grant projects, and present the Empire Conference November 2-4 at Turning Stone Resort in Verona. - An update was given on DHASNY’s public policy priorities and directors shared district activities. - The delegation to the ADHA House of Delegates reported on plans to host the District II meeting of delegates in June in Saratoga Springs. - The President discussed volunteer initiatives for access to care – see President’s Perspective. |
Collaborative Practice Legislation Successful achievement of improved oral health for New York residents will require multiple solutions with a diverse array of engaged partners. Legislation to provide for dental hygienists to have collaborative practice agreements with dentists, part of DHASNY's agenda, has been introduced in the state Assembly and Senate. DHASNY believes the addition of collaborative practice to dentistry will make dental care more accessible by improving access to care, will enhance the workforce relationships, and help meet currently unmet oral health needs of many New Yorkers. Read more in our backgrounder and position paper and why it works factsheet, as well as the legislation.
Charting Career Paths: Catch DHASNY members on Youtube videos talking about their different dental hygiene career choices.
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 For Public Education: Factsheets Help You Maintain Good Oral Health DHASNY produces a series of consumer-oriented facsheets that help people focus on maintaining good oral health. You can download these helpful facsheets here.
President’s Perspective: Spring - A Time to Renew, Recharge Warm weather has us thinking of the Spring. Spring always suggests to me opportunities for something new - new flowers, longer days and a chance to recharge and renew. Volunteering helps us do just that. Giving back to the community. Planting the seeds of information and watching them grow. During Children's Dental Health Month in February and other times, many of us go to schools and nursery schools to teach dental care. It is great to see the level of giving. Please let DHASNY know where you taught and how many children attended. I was delighted to volunteer at an event sponsored by the Connecticut State Dental Association March 23-24 in Danbury, CT. It is called Connecticut Mission of Mercy, a weekend of free dental care for the underserved. You can see from my photo at left that it was a busy two days - 1,800 volunteers seeing more than 2,000 patients and providing $1.3 million dollars of free dental care services. Another worthy Spring volunteer opportunity is the Special Olympics "Special Smiles Program." Dental volunteers screen the athletes and evaluate their dental needs. The information gathered goes into a national database. Look for the Special Olympics event in your area. DHASNY and our partners in health care organizations are continuing to work to improve dental care in New York State. We continue to work toward our legislative goals of collaborative practice and redefining dental hygiene practice. Enjoy the Spring. Go out and get revitalized. Our profession thrives on our passion and dedication! Sincerely, Robin Grasso, RDH, President |
