Monday Roundtable Luncheon
.jpg "Georgia Famuliner, R.N. photo")
Georgia Famuliner, R.N.
Chief Operating Officer
Smiles for a Lifetime
Smiles for a Lifetime is a non-profit pediatric dental program that is currently in five rural South Carolina school districts. The program provides preventive and restorative services to children in K4 - 12th grade who do not have a dental home. Smiles provides transportation to and from schools and operates full time during the school calendar. The program began in 2001 in Allendale School District. Due to the success of the first center, we expanded into school districts including Dillon Four in 2003, Clarendon Two in 2004, Clarendon One in 2005, and Hampton One in 2017. We are expanding to serve additional students. During this roundtable, participants will learn about the successful outreach efforts to increase consents. These efforts include school teacher incentives, participation in community events, and student incentives. The discussion will include how high school students were engaged through a survey determining their knowledge of oral health, if they were receiving services with Smiles or elsewhere, and their needs concerning access to services. An Art Contest was recently launched to increase general awareness of oral health and to promote enthusiasm for students to enroll in the Smiles program. We will share resources and samples of promotional materials, including stickers and bracelets, a descriptive Smiles pamphlet geared towards parents, the results of the art contest and the survey and how to engage your education partners. Participants will also receive data regarding how the outreach efforts increased consents.