Title: Jennifer Sanders Receives Anthony Westwater Jong Memorial Award
Author:
Section/SPIG: Oral Health
Issue Date:
Community Dental Public Health Student Awards
Pre-professional Award Sponsored By Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
138th APHA Annual Meeting
Denver
November 8, 2010
Jennifer Sanders, DMD (Anticipated 2012), a student at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has a
 |
| (L to R) Aimee Johansen, Dental Group Mgr, Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Jennifer Sanders, Oscar Arevelo, APHA Oral Health Section |
strong interest in public policy and believes that creating appropriate policy is the first important step in improving access to health care including dental care. Growing up in a rural area in
Alberta,
Canada, she saw people facing numerous barriers to accessing care. In rural
Alberta, many had to travel hours to the nearest metropolitan center in order to get care beyond the most basic health care. Under the direction of Dr. Sena Narendran, Jennifer assessed the proposed mid-level provider concept. Jennifer’s study investigated the scope of services provided by dental hygienists, their opinions and awareness of the existing auxiliary and proposed midlevel dental providers: Expanded Function Dental Auxiliary (EFDA), Dental Therapists (DT), and Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioners (ADHAP). Jennifer has managed this project through all its phases and she is currently writing a manuscript for publication. Literature on dental professionals’ awareness and support for mid-level dental providers appears to be sparse.
Jennifer also spends time providing care to undeserved populations. She participates in Case Western Reserve University’s Healthy Smiles Sealant program, where dental students place pit-and-fissure sealants on the permanent molar teeth of second and sixth grade children from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Jennifer has also participated in the Case School of Dental Medicine’s Family First program that includes risk assessment for oral diseases among individual family members, in an attempt to delineate environmental and genetic components of risk. She also volunteers at the Greater Cleveland Free Medical Clinic, providing dental health education and basic dental care to the indigent. During summer 2010, Jennifer traveled to Guatemala to provide dental care to the Mayan people of Chichicastenga.