PEDIATRIC DENTAL INITIATIVE OF THE NORTH COAST INC
Programs
Promotores de Salud Community Health Program
PDI's Program accomplishments are as follows: 1.Milestones:a.Before receipt of a Thunder Bay Foundation grant of $50,000, the PDI endowment account stood at $1,078,713. With the addition of this grant money plus investment by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, the endowment account balance as of June 13, 2017 was $1,222,979.The grant provided by the Thunder Bay Foundation may be used as our "match challenge" for PDI's Endowment Campaign in the futureb.On July 2017, PDI treated our 17,654th patient.2.New Program activities:a.The Promotores de salud, also known as promotoras, is the Spanish term for "community health workers". The Hispanic community recognizes promotores de salud as lay health workers who work in Spanish-speaking communities. They create and cultivate egalitarian relationships based on mutual trust, understanding and respect and are committed to sharing information and resources with empathy, love and compassion.The PDI promotores program began in January 2016 with the following goals:Provide oral health education to Northern California families with childrenEnsure that children with dental decay receive prompt treatment and provide the parents with necessary tools and information to maintain healthy teethAssist families to find a permanent dental home for their childrenParticipate in community events such as resource fairs, health fairs, and other schools outreach events. In the 2016/17 fiscal year, Promotores have reached 16,141 adults and 11, 266 children. Most recently, the promotores have trained to make in-home visits to families where a child has returned to PDI for a recurrence of severe dental decay or a child from the same family has been referred for treatment so that we are able to understand the problems that are causing these continuing dental problems.b.Tours of the surgery center have become more frequent and visitors consistently remark that they had no idea how large the problem of childhood dental decay was, or how much PDI did to work with families throughout Northern California. This has made us realize that we must look at new ways to get the message of dental decay being the nation's number one preventable childhood disease out to the community.c.With the help of a newly-formed communications committee, we have developed a campaign to inform the public of the prevalence of dental decay in children, its causes, and dangers and how to prevent it. We have initiated two promotions that over a 12-month period that will provide simple messaging about dental decay in children alternating in Spanish and English on:Billboards - messages on electronic billboards in Rohnert Park and Highway 80 at DixonBefore the movie ads in movie theaters in Santa Rosa.d.We are not a 3rd world country yet an epidemic of 3rd world proportions is ravaging our nation. Dental disease endangers the overall health of millions. It's associated with diabetes and respiratory and heart disease costing our health system billions of dollars. We are bombarded with ads for beverages loaded with sugar that rot the teeth. 25% of kids start kindergarten with tooth decay; young adults with decayed teeth can't get jobs; 31% of our seniors have no teeth. Simply by parents making sugary drinks a rare and special treat, and encouraging their children to drink water, our children would suffer less because of tooth decay and our nation would save billions of dollars by treating far fewer preventable diseases. PDI provides yard signs similar to election signs promoting water as a healthy alternative to sodas for people to place in their front yards.e.Through a 2015/16 $25,000 grant from Partnership Health Plan of California, we were able to purchase two specialized chairs that convert to surgery tables enabling dentists to treat young adults with special needs. These patients are often so traumatized by the idea of someone touching their mouth that many dentists feel unable to treat them. We are lucky to have two dentists who, although pediatric specialists, are willing to treat adult teeth. PDI's Special Needs Program, devoted to special needs patients aged seven to 21, began with one Monday a month reserved for these special patients. Already two extra days are devoted to this population and they now use PDI as their permanent dental home. 3.Events:a. PDIs major annual fundraiser, the Make Kids Smile (MKS) Awards Dinner raised more than $180,000 in February 2019 with every dollar raised going to help children who require oral surgery to relieve the pain of severe tooth decay.b. In April 2019 we continued with our newer event, Strike Against Tooth Decay bowling event. This is a family friendly and team-building fundraiser that is more casual and affordable. Aimed at younger members of our community who may not be able to afford the ticket for the Make Kids Smile Dinner, this bowling competition attracts business, nonprofits and young people, and in 2019 enjoyed its third year of success.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJul 1, 2020 – Jun 30, 2021Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$3.6M
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