Connect with us

Rhode Island

In R.I., there’s a lack of dentists caring for patients with special needs. This program is trying to change that. – The Boston Globe

Published

on

In R.I., there’s a lack of dentists caring for patients with special needs. This program is trying to change that. – The Boston Globe


Q: Can you give me a brief history of the Samuels Sinclair Dental Center at Rhode Island Hospital?

The Sinclair Dental Center was created through a $300,000 endowment from Colonel Samuels to build a space just so children could access dental care regardless of their ability to pay. At the time, the center had a social worker in-house who would check a patient’s eligibility and income, and you could pay 25 cents for your initial exam and then 5 cents a visit after that. If you could not afford that, you were given free care. We’ve had generations of patients come through here.

Then there was a big push nationwide to de-institutionalize the intellectually disabled population in the 1970s and 1980s. Locally, the Ladd School in Rhode Island closed, which was an institutional facility for special needs patients. Previously, they had received all of their treatment directly at those facilities — from haircuts to dental and medical appointments. When those patients were pushed into group home settings within the community, they needed places to go. We took them in, and that’s been our secondary mission here at the dental center. We probably treat approximately 90 to 95 percent of the intellectually disabled patients that are in group homes in the state.

How much do patients pay to receive care at the center now?

The majority of our patients do not pay out of pocket, and it’s mostly because most of these patients are on state aid and they have limited places to go. Adults special needs patients are pretty much only seen here.

Are there dental centers like this one everywhere?

The closest facility to ours is Tufts’ specialty care clinic, which has offices across the state of Massachusetts. But I still have patients that come here from group homes that are north of Boston, and a lot from Connecticut. It’s because what we do is not taught in dental schools or from textbooks.

Advertisement

What do you mean?

This is physical work. We do some medical stabilization for some patients. Our autism spectrum disorder patients tend to like the stabilization because they are the ones who usually like weighted blankets, and other tools like that. Patients with Down syndrome, on the other hand, tend to hate it. They don’t like when their personal space is being invaded. There are times where they are rocking and rolling in their chair, and you have to just move with them to get what you need to get done in their mouths — and do it really quickly.

Because of this, patients with special needs tend to need breaks during appointments, which makes these appointments five times longer than it would with a neurotypical patient. You have to have a whole different set of skills in order to have this job, not just go to dentistry school and call it a day.

This center and Delta Dental of Rhode Island are launching residency program, too.

We’ve had our general dentistry residency since about 2015. Historically we’ve taken two residents per year, and now we’ve started taking three. We’re only one of three special care dentistry sites in New England.

Advertisement

Delta Dental is helping us fund the launch of the state’s first Oral Surgery Residency Program, which will help us address the demand at both the local and national level. It’ll be a four-year Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery program that accepts two residents per year, and supports newly-related clinical [and other] positions at Rhode Island Hospital. We hope to get this up and running in the next two to three years.

Why is this new oral surgery residency so important?

In Rhode Island, we only have about 22 oral surgeons in the entire state of Rhode Island. None of them take Medicaid.

The number of people who are on public insurance in Rhode Island is staggering. What is your case load like?

We’ve seen increases in our visit volume every year by about 500 to 1,000 visits. And we’re handling that with the same amount of staff, but just working double and triple time to accommodate everyone. It’s really an access to care issue. If you have Medicaid as a child, you have a couple of other options in Rhode Island for places to go for dental care. As an adult, there’s hardly anywhere other than here [outside of some community health centers].

Advertisement

What is your end goal for this residency program?

My goal with our residency program we have here is to educate a new dentist coming out of dental school, give them the skills they need, and then have them take some of these patients to their private practice, wherever they practice. I don’t expect them to take the toughest patients, but going through a residency program here shows them that everyone can have dental care, it’s just a matter of how it’s performed, and what kinds of behavior modifications, time, and compassion you’re going to have to think about.

Why is it that so many private practice dentists do not take Medicaid?

Our Medicaid rates in Rhode Island increased slightly in July. Before that, our rates hadn’t been raised since 1991. There is no longer an overabundance of dentists in the state either, so now everyone is taking a few Medicaid patients to do their little part. A whole generation of dentists have retired, and taking in Medicaid patients isn’t keeping the lights on or allowing you to pay your staff by any means. It’s a money-losing endeavor.


Advertisement

Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.





Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Rhode Island

2 hospitalized after explosion at Block Island home

Published

on

2 hospitalized after explosion at Block Island home


Two people were flown to a hospital after a house on Block Island collapsed with five people inside following an apparent explosion on Saturday.

Police in New Shoreham, Rhode Island, say they started receiving calls around 7:40 p.m. after people on the island reported hearing a “loud noise” come from a home on West Beach Road, according to NBC affiliate WJAR.

First responders arrived on scene to find a severely damaged home with three people trapped inside, WJAR reported.

“Material from one side of the building came in, across the room and pinned individuals into the kitchen area,” Block Island Volunteer Fire Chief Chris Hobe said. “We had a refrigerator on top of a woman, we had a China closet, etcetera, all this stuff on top of people.”

Advertisement

It took about 45 minutes for first responders to safely remove everyone from the home, according to WJAR. Two people were treated at the Block Island Medical Center being flown in a Coast Guard helicopter to Rhode Island Hospital.

One person suffered a broken femur, while another sustained second-degree burns, WJAR reports. Both are expected to survive, according to Block Island Police Chief Paul Deane.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office was on Block Island Sunday morning to investigate and determined that the explosion was caused by propane, WJAR reports.

The homeowners reportedly called the propane company on Memorial Day weekend after noticing they did not have propane, and they were told their tank was off. When they returned for Father’s Day weekend, they went to turn on the propane, causing an explosion to occur involving an unsecured propane line underneath the home, according to the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Rhode Island

Rhode Island FC breaks through for first win at Pawtucket’s Centreville Bank Stadium – The Boston Globe

Published

on

Rhode Island FC breaks through for first win at Pawtucket’s Centreville Bank Stadium – The Boston Globe


It took a half-dozen matches, but Rhode Island FC has a victory to celebrate at Centreville Bank Stadium.

Maxi Rodriguez converted a penalty in the fifth minute of second half stoppage time, and RIFC beat North Carolina FC, 2-1, on Saturday night for its first USL Championship victory at its new home in Pawtucket.

The hosts had two losses and two draws in their opening dates on the shores of the Seekonk River (plus a US Open Cup loss to the New England Revolution on May 7), scoring just twice in the 450 minutes. They matched that Saturday, starting when Albert Dikwa put home a header in the 18th minute.

Advertisement

Rafa Mentzingen answered in the 35th for North Carolina, which had won a league-best four in a row. That appeared it would be enough for a draw despite a heavy push from Rhode Island, which was credited for 11 of the match’s 13 shots in the second half.

Frank Nodarse drew a penalty in the waning moments, however, and Rodriguez buried the spot kick despite netminder Jake McGuire guessing the correct direction.

The victory began a run of six straight home matches over the next seven Saturdays for Rhode Island (4-6-3), including visits from the expansion Portland Hearts of Pine on June 28 and Hartford Athletic on both July 19 and 26.





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Rhode Island

Law barring vets from treating animals via telemedicine is outdated | Opinion

Published

on

Law barring vets from treating animals via telemedicine is outdated | Opinion


play

  • Rhode Island law requires in-person veterinary exams before telehealth can be used, creating access barriers for pet owners.
  • House Bill 5555 aims to allow Rhode Island veterinarians to utilize telemedicine, expanding access to care amidst a veterinary shortage.
  • Telemedicine could help address challenges like cost, transportation, and pet anxiety, potentially preventing pet relinquishment.

Telehealth has become a mainstream mode of health care – safely and conveniently connecting people with medical professionals, with no clinic visit required unless the health care provider determines the patient needs to be seen in person. While telehealth is widely available to physicians and their human patients, including babies and nonverbal adults, an outdated Rhode Island law prevents veterinarians from treating animals using telemedicine technology unless the veterinarian has physically examined the pet.

This antiquated approach means that pet owners are forced to wait for hard-to-get appointments so that veterinarians can examine an animal in person as a prerequisite to providing any care via telehealth, including in situations when such an exam may not be necessary or pet owners face barriers to getting pets into clinics.

Fortunately, legislation has been introduced to expand access to safe, convenient veterinary telemedicine, helping to bridge gaps in care caused by the ongoing veterinary shortage. Sponsored by Sen. Melissa Murray and Rep. Jon Brien, House Bill 5555 would empower state-licensed veterinarians to use telemedicine technology, giving them another tool to provide high-quality, accessible care, especially for pet owners who face financial, geographical or physical obstacles to seeing a veterinarian in person.  

A nationwide veterinary shortage has made it harder than ever for pets to get care, and many pet owners in Rhode Island and beyond are struggling to access veterinary services. National data indicates that approximately one-third of pets do not regularly see a veterinarian for a variety of reasons: finances; transportation problems; because they have large, fearful, or travel-phobic animals; or because they live in a community that has few or no veterinarians. Lane closures and construction delays on Rhode Island’s bridges and roadways have made it increasingly difficult to get pets to the veterinarian. Telemedicine would help pets receive some of the care they need without having to leave home. 

Advertisement

Many animal conditions can be safely treated through telemedicine, giving veterinarians and pet owners more choices when it comes to accessing important common medications for parasite prevention, treating itchy skin, ear issues, travel or separation anxiety as well as other behavioral problems, nutritional issues, veterinary hospice care, and more. Virtual appointments can sometimes even be more telling than in-person appointments because veterinarians can see the animal’s movement, behavior and environment while the animal is calm and comfortable in its own home rather than stressed in a clinic.

Lack of access to veterinary care is among the top reasons families are forced to make the heartbreaking decision to relinquish a pet to a shelter. In recent years, the Potter League has invested millions of dollars to improve access to veterinary care in our state, but even that huge investment is not enough to keep all Rhode Island pets safe, healthy and in their homes, where they belong. Expanding access to veterinary telemedicine would be an indispensable tool and could mean the difference between affordable access to care or no care at all. 

At the Potter League for Animals and the ASPCA, we believe that highly educated, licensed veterinarians should be entrusted to assess when pets need to have an in-person examination, as well as those situations when telemedicine is a safe and satisfactory treatment decision. 

Advertisement

Please join us in urging the General Assembly to pass Proposed Sub A for House Bill 5555 to empower veterinarians with another tool to provide high-quality, accessible care and ensure more pets can access the care they need. 

Brad Shear is CEO of Potter League for Animals. Jennifer Hobgood is senior director of Access to Care Policy, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending