D2s Gabriella Orona Bateman and Ivy Avanessian Fua have been awarded an American Student Dental Association (ASDA) Taking Oral Hygiene Awareness to Rural and Underserved America grant for 2014.
The grant is intended to support the funding of oral hygiene education initiatives implemented by predoctoral ASDA members with faculty supervision.
Orona Bateman and Avanessian Fua are Community Service and Outreach Co-chairs for ASDA @ UCSF, the organization's chapter at the UCSF School of Dentistry.
Explains Gabriella Orona Bateman: "We are collaborating with the Berkeley Free Clinic (BFC) to help provide support to an underserved community in the Bay Area. The BFC is located 15 miles from San Francisco, and was founded in 1969 as a resource for individuals that lack access to health services. The Dental Section currently provides cleanings, extractions, and restorative services to those in need, but currently lacks prevention services.
"The BFC has suffered from decreased funding in recent years, and this grant will allow our ASDA chapter to provide oral hygiene instruction and education to the BFC community, even if individuals are not selected for access to free dental care by the lottery system.
"This year, our goal at BFC is to start a new oral hygiene educational program termed 'Dental Mythbusters: Fact or Fiction.' Our vision for this endeavor is to shed light on common misconceptions people may have about dentistry, and highlight the facts in an entertaining way, while also providing essential oral health education to this target population."
ASDA @ UCSF is dedicated to improving the community through dental and non-dental volunteer activities, and strives to empower individuals and communities through emphasizing oral health education, self-knowledge, and increasing awareness and access to dental resources.
In 2013 the UCSF ASDA chapter was also one of few schools to have been awarded this grant, with the initiative led by ASDA @ UCSF community outreach coordinators Jolie Goodman and Iveta Markova.
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Gabriella Orona Bateman and Ivy Avanessian Fua
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