Integrating child dental care at Community Smiles: the director's goals fulfilled....
Community Smiles/Dade County Dental Research Clinic provides dental care to the indigent population of Miami-Dade County. A local board of directors governs the organization, with dental procedures performed by volunteer professionals from the community. The research clinic partners with community organizations to obtain sustained funding from diverse sources. The clinic has a long-term commitment to the growth and development of children in the community. Certainly, changing the structure and focus of the clinic toward children's dental care and seeking community funding and resources to institute this program was an experiment. In his four years as clinic director and chief executive officer (CEO) at Community Smiles, the late Dr. Robert M. Wolf brought increased clinic productivity and organizational change that expanded community involvement. Dr. Wolf's tenure at Community Smiles brought general increases in patients care in terms of patients visits, new patients and number of procedures performed. However, the key to his administration as clinic director and CEO was the production and integration of a children's dentistry program into the mainstream activities of the clinic. Furthermore, he oversaw the successful corporate reorganization of Community Smiles as the clinic emerged under a non-profit corporate structure employing multi-faceted community resources. Emphasizing new dental programs for children in the community is culturally and socially competent--positively impacting the public health. Community Smiles became a venue where disparities were largely eliminated and access to dental treatment increased. Health care was promoted as Community Smiles became a place that helped build a healthier community.
Flaer
Paul J
PJ
Florida International University/College of Public Health, Miami, USA. pflaer@aol.com
Benjamin
Paul L
PL
Lopez
Manuel G
MG
Patterson
Chip
C
D002648:Child; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003752:Dental Health Services; D005431:Florida; D006801:Humans; D017664:Uncompensated Care