University dean launches new strategy to help patients in rural areas
Dr James Hupp, dean of the East Carolina University Dental School, has addressed members of the Washington Noon Rotary in a bid to improve dental services for rural patients.
Dr Hupp is launching a new programme to allow patients from rural areas greater access to dental services by setting up a number of community-service learning centres. The centres will be staffed by professional dentists and dental students, who will experience practical training whilst working at the learning centres.
Currently, many towns in North Carolina are underserved and patients have to travel significant distances to see a dentist. Many patients cannot afford dental care and many also struggle to get to dental practices that are located far away. Consequently, standards of oral health in rural areas are generally low, which is a subject of great concern for health ministers and dental professionals.
The opening of new community centres will be mutually beneficial; the patients will benefit from local services and the students will experience some of the best possible on the job training. The dean is particularly keen to recruit students from rural areas, as he thinks they will be more likely to open practices in rural areas in the future; this will help to alleviate the problems of access to dental care in more remote areas of the state.
This is the first programme of its kind to be launched in the USA and Dr Hupp hopes it will provide a template for other universities and organisations to follow. Dr Hupp has described the new strategy as an ‘experiment’ but he is hoping that it will prove to be a great success.
The first centres will open in Elizabeth City, Sylva and Ahoskie but it is hoped that more centres across North Carolina will open further down the line.
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