New Chompers! Portable Dental Care Program Making an Impact During National Children’s Dental Health Month

February 19, 2016 (Syracuse, NY) –St. Joseph’s Health has launched CHOMPERS! Portable Dental Care Program (CHOMPERS!). This community-based portable dental care program is helping to effectively transform the quality and access of health care on Syracuse’s Near Westside. By providing portable dental care outside the bricks and mortar walls of St. Joseph’s Dental Office, this project has increased access to dental care for children ages five and under living in the Westside neighborhood, a diverse neighborhood with some of the highest poverty rates in the nation.

This program is supported by a $100,000 grant from the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York. The Health Foundation is a non-profit private foundation the mission of which is to improve the health and health care of the people of Western and Central New York. This grant has funded the purchase of new portable dental equipment and program expenses to introduce the service at the St. Joseph’s Dental Clinic at St. Joseph’s Primary Care Center-West location, and plans are in the works for St. Joseph’s portable dental program to expand in the near future, focusing on areas where there is great need for children five years of age and younger.

“Dental disease is the single most common chronic childhood disease in the United States, but it’s almost 100 percent preventable. Through our CHOMPERS! program, we are excited to work with partners like St. Joseph’s Hospital Dental Clinic to bring dental care to where children already are in the community and help them build lifelong healthy habits,” Health Foundation President Ann F. Monroe said. St. Joseph’s is the most recent expansion of the program.

“On December 8, 2015, the program saw its first patient – a very nervous 9 year old girl,” said Denise Dann, Dental Services Manager. “By the end of her appointment, which included a cleaning, she was relaxed and smiling.” Though CHOMPERS! St. Joseph’s seeks to increase capacity and reduce barriers to care, by providing access to dental services at Primary Care Center–West and throughout the community. Presently, families in need of dental care for their young children travel to St. Joseph’s main campus to see a dental professional. CHOMPERS! offers a dental hygienist onsite who can conduct assessments and improve access to care.

Matthew Hall, DDS became Medical Director for the Dental Clinic in 2011. He firmly believes that quality health care should not only be offered in a traditional dental care environment but also delivered directly to people within their own communities. An advocate for those he serves, Dr. Hall believes that healthier communities are built by not only providing quality health care but by also improving the design of the system used to deliver it.

“Creating this type of access to dental care is a milestone for healthcare in our community. We recently conducted an assessment of the community’s health needs, and this will fill a very specific need in the Near Westside neighborhood of Syracuse,” said Mark Murphy, Senior Vice President for System Development and Ambulatory Care Leadership at St. Joseph’s. “Our dedicated approach to population health is focused on creating community access to more of this type of preventative care. CHOMPERS! Portable Dental Care Program will be another great feature to add to our efforts in the New York State Health Foundation’s “Healthy Neighborhoods Fund” initiative on the Near Westside.”

To date 79 patients have received dental care through this new program: 31 children five and under, 43 children ages 6-18, and five adults age 19 or older. To access dental care as a patient, or to request additional information on how your organization might be considered as a possible site for St. Joseph’s portable dental program aimed at serving children five years of age and under, please call St. Joseph’s Dental Office at (315) 448-5477 and reference the CHOMPERS! Portable Dental Care Program.

St. Joseph's also recently implemented a comprehensive electronic health record system with EPIC Systems Corporation to connect all of its inpatient and ambulatory electronic health records, as well as core clinical, revenue cycle, and ambulatory practice management information systems to support a patient’s entire continuum of care. EPIC has also incorporated this dental program into St. Joseph's electronics health records. This is the first dental health record implementation EPIC has integrated into its comprehensive system. And in support of the CHOMPERS! initiative, EPIC has made a $4,500 gift to St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center Foundation.

"The support we have seen from a nationwide company like EPIC speaks volumes to the innovation and impact of this program," said Chuck Fennell, Vice President for Information Management and Chief Information Officer at St. Joseph’s.

In addition to the CHOMPERS!, the recently expanded Primary Care–West health center located at 321 Gifford Street in Syracuse offers primary care, obstetrical care, behavioral health services, onsite lab work, ultrasound and radiology services, an on-site dietician and nutritional program, and expanded evening and weekend hours.

St. Joseph’s Health is a non-profit regional health care system based in Syracuse, N.Y., providing services to patients throughout Central New York and northern Pennsylvania. From primary to specialty to home care, to our Magnet-recognized hospital, and in collaboration with our community partners, St. Joseph's Health is advancing the health of the communities we serve through an expanding range of healthcare services to ensure our patients achieve optimum long-term health. Ranked by Consumer Reports among the top 15 heart surgery centers in the country, U.S. News “Best Regional Hospital” and a 15-time winner of the National Research Corporation Consumer Choice award, St. Joseph’s is widely recognized for quality, value and delivering the highest patient satisfaction. St. Joseph’s Health is affiliated with Franciscan Companies and St. Joseph’s Physicians and a part of Trinity Health.

Cutline: Four-year-old Sincere Stephens has his first dental cleaning at PCC-West. Hygienist Deborah Raulli tells him to keep up the good work.