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Anneliese Cawthon awaits her dental exam. |
The 4-year-old carefully leaned back and eyed the pediatric dentist suspiciously.
“Open wide,” said Tim Kramer, D.D.S., a pediatric dental resident with UNMC’s Pediatric Dental Clinic, “so I can count how many teeth you have.”
Cawthon did as he asked.
After a dental exam and fluoride application she was soon back out in the lobby playing with her friends and admiring a bracelet she fished out of her goody bag – a gift from the dental clinic that also included a new toothbrush.
Cawthon was among 58 students from The Educare Center of Omaha who recently came to UNMC’s Pediatric Dental Clinic, located on the ground floor of the Munroe-Meyer Institute, for dental screenings.
The screenings were part of an ongoing collaboration UNMC has with Educare to provide basic health services and education for the children enrolled at the early childhood center. It is an active partnership that has seen UNMC nursing students, medical students and dental residents take part in health fairs, health education classes and oral screenings.
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Back row, left to right: Keelon Wilburn, Anneliese Cawthon, Kishia Lewis. Front row, Karnell Bass, Summer Nelsons, Gustavo Gurrero, Sa ‘Javeane Phillips and Anyah Jenkins. |
Lewis, a teacher’s aide from Educare, accompanied a group of 10 3- and 4-year-olds from the center to the clinic for dental screenings. “It’s nice to see this kind of community partnership,” Lewis said. “The children are learning at an early age the importance of taking good care of their teeth.”
The Educare center, which opened in 2003, is a collaborative effort involving the Omaha Public Schools, the Omaha Public Schools Head Start program, the State of Nebraska and the Susan A. Buffett Foundation. The students who came to the screenings also were part of Educare’s newly designated Headstart/Early Headstart program.
United by the common goal of providing a better future for children and their families, organizers replicated the program established in 2000 by the Ounce of Prevention Fund in Chicago’s inner city.
The Ounce of Prevention’s Educare center has become a national model for the effective delivery of comprehensive early childhood care and education in an urban setting.
The $6 million Educare center in Omaha is located at 22nd and Paul streets on the campus of Kellom Academy. It offers year-round care and education for economically disadvantaged children from birth to age 5.
UNMC formed a partnership with the Educare Center in 2004 through the Susan A. Buffett Foundation. Since then UNMC has taken the initiative to make the health project successful. During the spring semester community health nursing students spent one day a week at the center teaching the children about good hygiene, nutrition and safety in play.
In February, UNMC pediatric dental residents conducted educational sessions. In March, UNMC medical students visited with preschoolers on what to expect when going to the doctor and in April, the Mobile Nursing Center took part in a health fair at the center and provided free cholesterol and blood pressure checks for parents and staff.