Contact Person(s) Vanessa Kortze 603.292.7208 |
|
Newmarket, NH – Lamprey Health Care received a $2,500.00 grant from Northeast Delta Dental Foundation to help fund its school-based dental program; a program that visits 9 elementary schools in Fremont, Raymond, Epping, Northwood, Nottingham, Candia, Deerfield and Newmarket to provide oral health education and dental services to children. Northeast Delta Dental Foundation has been a long-time supporter of Lamprey Health Care and its dental program, with this recent award being the 10th grant awarded to the program.
Betty Andrews, Secretary and Assistant Treasurer of the Foundation, said of the grant, "We fund a number of school-based dental programs in the states we serve--Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont--and this funding area is in accord with our mission to make oral health education and services more readily available. We're very pleased that we've been able to support Lamprey Health Care's dental program."
The primary goal of Lamprey’s School-Based Dental Program is to educate the children, parents and school personnel on the importance of a healthy mouth, and to provide them with the tools necessary to prevent dental disease. The program provides oral hygiene instruction, nutritional counseling, dental hygiene education and preventative care management tips for the children and the teachers, and then reinforces the program with oral screenings & cleanings, fluoride rinses, and sealants if necessary. Local dentists volunteer their time and resources to the program by providing sealants if needed to children in 6 of the schools.
The program engages both the children and their teachers in dental health and education, and the children graduate from the dental program as participants in their own healthy eating and dental habits. “In some cases, it’s a blessing for the family as they don’t have the insurance or financial means to take their kids to the dentist,” states Lamprey Health Care’s Dental Hygienist, Nancy Snow, who currently runs the school-based dental program. “The program has been a terrific way to encourage the children to follow healthy habits for good dental health, and we send them home with toothbrushes, floss and toothpaste that are donated to the program by organizations such as rotary,” she states. Grants such as the one provided by Northeast Delta Dental allow the dental program to purchase dental kits for the children, consisting of toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss, as well as fluoride rinses for participating schools.
Lamprey Health Care is a nonprofit community health care organization with medical centers in Newmarket, Raymond and Nashua, New Hampshire. The organization serves the Southern & Seacoast Areas of New Hampshire, and provides primary care & preventive health services to individuals of all ages and incomes, regardless of their ability to pay. For more information on Lamprey Health Care, its services and programs, please call us at 603.659.2494 or visit our website at http://www.lampreyhealth.org.
# # #