This week we welcome visitors from around the country who are here to learn more about the Dental Health Aide Therapist (DHAT) program pioneered in Alaska to improve oral care in very rural communities.
This week we welcome visitors from around the country who are here to learn more about the Dental Health Aide Therapist (DHAT) program pioneered in Alaska to improve oral care in very rural communities.
In Alaska, DHATs have been providing preventive and basic dental care to families in remote villages since 2003. While the earliest DHATs were sent to a training program in New Zealand, the second cohort of Alaska-educated DHATs graduated from the two-year, intensive, training program last December. Read more about the history of the DHAT program here, here, here, and here.
The idea of using trained, mid-level providers to provide a level of basic service in areas where need exceeds the availability of dentists is gathering attention. In 2008, Rasmuson Foundation was the first organization ever to receive the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD) Public Service Award for its early and continuing support for the development of the Dental Health Aide Therapist (DHAT) workforce model.
And our visitors this week are considering the DHAT model to improve oral healthcare access in their home states of Kansas, Ohio, Colorado, Kentucky, Maine and Washington; and they include representatives from Dental Aid / Caring for Colorado Foundation, The Children’s Alliance, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, Pew Charitable Trusts, Betterment Fund, Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio, National Network for Oral Health Access / Salud Family Health Center, Dentaquest Foundation, Neighborcare Health, University of Washington, Columbia Valley Community Health, Kansas Action for Children, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Kauffman & Associates.
The group will start in Anchorage at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to learn details about the DHAT education system. In day two, the group will travel to Bethel to meet practicing DHATs and view the training facility where DHAT students spend the second of the intensive, two-year education program. While Alaskans consider Bethel to be a pretty large community, chances are high that it will be among the most rural, most remote places many of our visitors have ever experienced.
Concurrently, Rasmuson Foundation, Kellogg Foundation and the Bethel Community Services Foundation are counting down to the release of the first large-scale, independent medical study on the safety and quality of care provided by DHATs. We announced the undertaking of the evaluation here, and look forward to sharing the results as they are available. Stay tuned.
Photo: Visiting dental students provide care in rural Alaska earlier this Spring in a project supported by Rasmuson Foundation.
2 Comments
Posted by Jon Gould
As a participant on the learning trip, I’m more convinced than ever that this is essential work for improving children’s health status.
Meeting the students and new dental health professionals practicing in Alaska was a highlight.
I want to thank everyone at Rasmuson, ANTHC, DENTEX, and YKHC for an educational, diverse, and unique learning experience.
Jon Gould, Children’s Alliance, Washington State
Posted by George Cannelos
Congratulations – I’m a huge fan of the DHAT program, and a strong proponent of sharing lessons learned so that innovation from rural Alaska can help other regions of the country and the world. Bravo!