Six Community Forums to Discuss Mobile Dental Service
14/10/2009
| Mobile Dental Service Community Forums
A series of six community forums regarding the introduction of mobile dental clinics for children and adolescents in the MidCentral District Health Board district will be held next week.
Photo of the clinic room in a new mobile dental clinic which is the same as the five mobile dental clinics coming to MDHB.
The forums are an opportunity for public input into designing the timetable and travel route of the mobile service in the MidCentral District Health Board region.
At the meetings the public will have the opportunity to hear from the project team, and local dental therapists, and to take part in selecting sites.
Site selection needs to take into consideration access for children, physical space available, access to ablutions, availability to parking and public transport, long term plans for schools, and site security. Community input will also contribute to decisions on how long a clinic should remain at each site.
Five new mobile dental clinics, in addition to the existing three, will be in service around the region by mid 2010, along with three two-chair fixed clinics in Palmerston North, as part of a national programme aimed at meeting the Ministry of Health’s vision of “Good Oral Health for All, for Life”.
Four single-chair, and four two-chair mobile clinics will operate in the MDHB district in an attempt to lift the current chair use rate of 37 percent to 80 percent and improve access to dental care for low income, rural, Maori and Pacific children and adolescents by taking the service to where the children are.
A decision on the location of the clinics, fixed and mobile, is expected to be made in November 2009 and will be widely communicated. This will involve detailed discussion with schools and include the schedule for mobile services.
Public meeting times:
- Tuesday 20 October: Otaki Rotary Hall, Aotaki Street, Otaki, 1pm–3pm; Horowhenua Health Centre, Liverpool St, Levin, 6.30pm–8.30pm.
- Wednesday 21 October: RSA, Broadway Ave, Palmerston North, 3–5pm; Feilding Civic Centre, Aorangi St, Feilding, 6.30–8.30pm.
- Thursday 22 October: Dannevirke Council Chambers, 26 Gordon St, Dannevirke, 10am–12pm; Pahiatua Town Hall, Kiwi St, Pahiatua, 6.30–8.30pm.
For more information about the new service go to: www.midcentraldhb.govt.nz/oral-health or www.talkteeth.govt.nz