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Abstract #155077

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Alison Buckser, MPH¹, Martha Dellapenna², Mary Inglis³, Jennifer Giroux⁴, and Colleen Bichajian¹. (1) Public Health Solutions, 543 Lloyd Ave, Providence, RI 02906, 401.331.2737, abuckser@aya.yale.edu, (2) RI Dept of Human Services, 600 New London Avenue, Cranston, RI 02902, (3) RIte Works, 206 Elmwood Avenue, Providence, RI 02903, (4) Outreach Programs, Rhode Island College, 600 Mount Pleasant Avenue, Providence, RI 02908

Like many states, Rhode Island is facing a serious shortage of all oral health workforce professionals, including dental assistants. A unique partnership of Rhode Island government agencies and nonprofit organizations decided to address the problem by creating a thoroughly unusual but highly effective program. In addition to bringing newly trained professionals into the workforce, the Dental Assistant Partnership Program (DAPP) would help parents from low-income families enter a viable career path that could support their families. In 2006, after three years of planning and overcoming a variety of barriers, the DAPP graduated its first class of five interns. All the interns were recruited from Rhode Island's Family Independence Program (FIP) RIteWorks program, which helps families receiving state cash assistance enter the workforce. In addition to ten weeks of classroom and lab training, volunteer dentists from around the state trained the interns in their dental offices. The DAPP has found stable funding, continues to graduate newly trained dental assistants, and helps find them positions with dentists. This presentation will describe the oral health workforce crisis, the history and design of the program, barriers that must be addressed, and the success of the graduates.

Learning Objectives:

• 1) Understand the current crisis states are having in recruiting oral health professionals;
• 2) Describe the necessary steps to recreate this program in other states;
• 3) Recognize potential barriers and solutions in setting up the program.

Keywords: Oral Health, Medicaid

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Name of Organization	Clinical/Research Area	Type of relationship
Sullivan Schein Dental Equipment Co.	oral health	donated dental equipment to the project

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Audio (mp3) recording
• Slides (pdf) or Handout
• Multimedia recording