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Kansas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Expansion
University of Kansas Master of
Public Health Degree Expansion
Kansas Action for Children (KAC) Support
Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition (TFKC) Capacity Building
Faith and Leadership Initiative
Dental Hubs and Spokes: Expanding Access to Oral Health Care in Kansas
Kansas Health Care Collaborative
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 30 percent of the counties in Kansas are designated as “Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas,” with less than one dentist for every 5,000 people. An additional 54 counties lack dental health professionals who provide care to low-income populations. Poor oral health has been linked to a number of medical conditions, including heart disease, diabetes and strokes. These serious health implications, combined with the shortage of services in many parts of the state, make access to oral health care a major concern for Kansans.
The dental hubs and spokes model is an effort by the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved (KAMU) to increase geographic expansion of access to oral health care throughout Kansas, particularly for low-income families. This concept is to create dental hubs within existing primary care safety net clinics to provide dental care services in a central, underserved location. Satellite locations, or “spokes,” will then be located at schools, nursing homes and other community centers to extend services throughout a region.
Funds from this grant will be used to assist in the start-up of at least two additional dental health hubs, thus bringing KAMU closer to its long-term goal of 15 hubs. The overall project is a partnership with Kansas Department of Health and Environment and five other private foundations.