The 2006 Colgate/ADHA Community Outreach Award was presented to the Mohawk Valley Dental Hygienists Association and its president, Oral Health Section member Heidi Philley, RDH. The Award was recognition of the "Andean Fluoride Varnish and Dental Health Education" program. This outreach program was a partnership of VEDA, the Pediatric Dental Society of Peru and the AS IS Bible Clubs, located in the Andes Mountains of Peru, near the city of Huanaco.

Heidi Philley, and five other women (family and friends) traveled to the city of Huanaco in the Andes Mountains, where her sister and husband (linguists and Bible Translators) have their home and have worked for over 30 years. Heidi designed a Fluoride Varnish program and Mohawk Dental Hygienists Association contributed dental supplies to the project. Her church donated over 800 toothbrushes. For one week, she and her companions helped train and educate the Bible Club leaders on how to apply the Fluoride Varnish to the children's teeth. Heidi's niece and daughter (both Spanish speaking) did the Dental Health Education component in the schools and clubs. A pediatric dentistry resident joined them to collect screening data for the Pediatric Dental Society of Peru. Over 500 impoverished children had fluoride varnish applied to their teeth; another application will be done later this year, thanks to the generous donation of fluoride varnish from Omnii Oral Pharmaceuticals.

Few of the children seen had a dental experience of any kind, so the $2,000 award will be used for dental treatment for these under-served children. It was wonderful to see children having a positive experience, with an effective preventive dental procedure carried out in a familiar setting. The OSAP "Guide for Safety and Infection Control, For Oral Healthcare Missions" was used to ensure safety and infection control for all program participants.