Event:
Media are welcome as dental students from the University of Illinois at Chicago will perform on-site exams, provide health education, offer disease-prevention services, and dispense Colgate-Palmolive products such as toothbrushes and toothpaste for under-served Head Start children and disabled children at the El Valor community service agency at 1951 W. 19th St. in Chicago.
Students will work with youngsters on Colgate-Palmolive’s “Bright Smiles Bright Futures” bus and Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center’s dental van at El Valor on Wednesday, April 5, beginning at 9 a.m. There will be opportunities for interviews and photos, and a photographer also will be on hand.
Participants:
The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry is a leader in patient-centered clinical care that is comprehensive for a culturally diverse population, and addresses community and regional healthcare needs through outreach initiatives, educational programs, and consultative and referral services.
El Valor is a multicultural non-profit organization with roots in the Latino community that supports and challenges urban families to achieve excellence. Its programs exist to enrich and empower the underserved, the disenfranchised, and people with disabilities.
Now in its 15th year, the award-winning Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® global oral health education program continues to spread smiles to children everywhere. In the U.S. alone, Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures Education program reaches over 4 million children and their families every year.
Advocate Health Care is an organization of physicians and health care professionals dedicated to serving the health needs of individuals, families, and communities in northern Illinois. Advocate, a not-for-profit organization, operates under the mission “to serve the health needs of individuals, families, and communities through a wholistic philosophy rooted in our fundamental understanding of human beings as created in the image of God."
Issues:
Limited access to dental care is a vital topic at this time. Dental care for the underserved is scarce in Chicagoland, Illinois, and the nation; thousands of people are doing without dental care because of lack of insurance, inability to pay, lack of access to governmental services, and private dentists’ requirements for payment at time of service. Nearly 2 million Illinoisans have no medical coverage, and of those who do, up to 40% are not covered for dental care. Lack of dental care can lead to other serious medical conditions.
The UIC College of Dentistry is heavily involved in public service and takes care of many indigent patients, providing approximately $1 million in uncompensated dental care per year. The College’s Ryan White Dental Clinic is the main source of dental care for HIV/AIDS patients in Illinois and is one of the main sources for pediatric emergency care in Northern Illinois