The Wellmark Foundation Provides Funding to Continue Children’s Oral Health Education Program in South Dakota

October 8, 2007

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Contact:
Angela Feig
515.245.4551
feigab@wellmark.com

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The South Dakota Dental Foundation in Pierre, S.D., received a $67,200 grant from The Wellmark Foundation to continue a statewide oral health education program for children. The initiative was launched in 2006 through a Wellmark Foundation grant.

South Dakota Great Faces - Great Smiles: An Ounce of Prevention II is the second phase of the program designed to improve oral health and reduce oral health diseases in children of low-income families across the state. This phase will focus on improving health literacy through continued oral health education of children and parents in underserved populations.

“Although tooth decay is the single most common chronic disease of childhood, it is quite preventable with the proper education,” says Paul Knecht, executive director of the South Dakota Dental Foundation. “Recent surveys have shown that underserved children and parents in South Dakota are in great need of oral health education,” says Knecht. “In this phase of the program we will continue to provide parents with information to prevent tooth decay in their children and to encourage development of healthy oral hygiene habits.”

Plans include development and distribution of education materials, development of a social marketing campaign, distribution of oral health supplies to families participating in Head Start and Women, Infants and Children programs, and development of a training program on oral health literacy for dental professionals.

The program is a collaborative effort of the South Dakota Oral Health Coalition. Partners include Delta Dental of South Dakota, the South Dakota Department of Health and South Dakota Head Start. For more information about South Dakota Great Faces - Great Smiles: An Ounce of Prevention II, contact Paul Knecht at paul@sddental.org or (605) 224-9133.

The Wellmark Foundation has provided more than $12.77 million to fund 374 health-related grants in Iowa and South Dakota since 1997, including a total of $1,854,175 to date in 2007. “The Wellmark Foundation works to improve the health of Iowans and South Dakotans,” says Matthew McGarvey, director of The Wellmark Foundation. “The South Dakota Dental Foundation has helped to increase the oral health literacy of hundreds of South Dakotans through this successful collaborative program. This next phase will help to improve the oral health of many more children and parents across the state.”

The Wellmark Foundation is a private, non-profit foundation created by Wellmark, Inc., doing business as Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa. Visit The Wellmark Foundation's Web site at www.wellmark.com/foundation for a list of grant recipients and grant application instructions. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and The Wellmark Foundation are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.