By Halie Peterson, SMILES Dental Grant Planning Coordinator, High Plains Community Health Center
April 28th and 29th marked the second learning session for the SMILES dental project grantees. It seems like we were just at the first learning session in November trying to wrap our heads around just how this project was going to work and now we are in the process of planning implementation in our communities.
The learning session started out with all six sites giving presentations on their individual progress and how each intends to implement the SMILES project in their own community. After listening to all the presentations it became clear that everyone has a different model, but everyone has the same goal of providing quality, accessible oral health care to Colorado. It also became clear that nobody has every aspect of this new model figured out and we still have many questions to answer.
One of the biggest questions was about ITR and the legislation surrounding it. We were fortunate to have an experienced speaker, Dr. Ewoldsen, give a great informative presentation and demonstration so we could play around with some of the materials that will be used in ITR. We also had Dr. Jeff Kahl who has been working diligently on the new ITR legislation in attendance to explain just how it is going to work.
Another big part of the learning session was learning from the other grantee sites and also being able to brainstorm with your own team. The time to chat with colleagues was much appreciated as this gave us a fresh perspective and gave us new ideas on how we can possibly change or tweak our own implementation ideas. This time also helped us realize that everyone is facing similar barriers and problems and gave us time to talk through these and come up with solutions.
One difference we found between us and the other sites is that many other sites already have oral health programs in place in their communities, mostly school-based programs. Our community lacks in oral health programs and this is why we are so excited about the SMILES dental project.
For us personally at High Plains Dental Clinic we are looking to start implementation of this project at our satellite medical clinics in Holly, CO and Wiley, CO. These sites became our targets for many reasons including distance to dental provider, space available, and provider and team support. For us we are looking to start small and gain little wins that we can build upon to expand this program, furthering access.
We still have many questions to answer like how do we bill for this new model of care, how is this new telehealth going to work for our community, what is the workflow going to look, will the community embrace this new model? These are all questions that generate some fear and apprehension about this program but as Linda Reiner, Vice President of Caring for Colorado, would say, we are not settlers we are pioneers. Change is not possible without challenges and we are excited for the positive change this project is going to bring to our community.
