Union Hospital & Dental School Partner to Improve Oral Health Access
Union Hospital and the University of Maryland Dental School formally announced a partnership agreement to provide dental care to citizens in Cecil County. Officials from Union Hospital and the Dental School, with government officials on hand as witnesses, signed a proclamation at Cecil College in Elkton, Maryland, on January 2, 2008.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Dental School will occupy a portion of Union Hospital’s Principio Health Center, the $15-million outpatient health center currently under construction in western Cecil County in Perryville. A 26-chair oral health suite will provide pediatric and adult dental services.
Kenneth S. Lewis, MD, president and CEO of Union Hospital, stated that the Perryville project is part of the hospital’s community outreach efforts. The new facility will provide much-needed access to health care for area residents. “The project allows Union Hospital to improve our patients’ experience when receiving outpatient services by bringing comprehensive care closer to where they live.” The new outpatient center is the next step in Union Hospital’s response to regional growth and the demand for quality health care services.
“We are enthusiastic about bringing much-needed dental care to an underserved area of Cecil County,” said Christian S. Stohler, DMD, DrMedDent, dean of Maryland’s dental school. “The equipment, the technology, and the people we are bringing to the facility all represent the highest caliber of service we can offer to our patients,” he added.
According to Dr. Norman Tinanoff, chair of the Department of Health Promotion and Policy, school nurses in Elkton reported that several hundred children in the school system had dental pain, while there reportedly was only one dentist in the community seeing Medicaid children. “A state survey confirmed that 35% of children in Cecil County have untreated caries,” said Tinanoff.
In addition to the chairs, the school is committing dental residents (who hold DDS degrees), students, faculty, hygienists, and support staff. The dental school residents will work on three-week rotations and will reside in the carriage house at the Riverfront Conference Center on the Donaldson Brown Estate. In a related effort, the school’s dental hygiene program will collaborate with Cecil College to provide dental hygiene education.
Completion of the dental clinic, which will accommodate up to 100 patients per day, is expected by September 2008.