Health Canada First Nations and Inuit Health Atlantic Region

Transcription

1 Children s Oral Health Initiative COHI Health Canada First Nations and Inuit Health Atlantic Region

2 Objectives Provide an overview of COHI for the Atlantic Region Describe the function/activities of the COHI Aide Outcomes of COHI

3 Demographics Canada s aboriginal population is around 800,000 First Nations and Inuit communities can be remote, fly-in, rural Atlantic Region 28,756 Registered Clients (COHI Communities only) SVS data 3,596 are between the ages of 0 7 years old Eligible for COHI (13%) 0 4 = = 1487 There are many children who are not registered as of yet with a band number

4 Natuashish, Labrador fly in community

5 There are 38 Aboriginal communities in the Atlantic region, that include the Mik maq, Maliseet, Innu, and Inuit NL 8 NS 13 NB 15 PEI 2 COHI is active in 28 First Nation and Inuit communities in the Atlantic Region, the breakdown is as follows: NL = 8 NB = 12 NS = 8

6 What We Know First Nations and Inuit Children are at 3-5 times higher risk for developing cavities when compared to the general population Data indicates that 90 % of First Nation and Inuit children have dental decay By the time children reach school age, they have rampant decay There is a higher need to use G.A. once rampant decay is present, with a high proportion of children needing GA before their 6 th birthday

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8 What We Know Dental Disease is the largest expenditure by FNIH on any single disease entity Only % of the eligible population accesses the Non Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) program each year

9 Evidence for COHI protocols Studies have shown that children receiving both regular fluoride treatments and sealants, experience 93 % reduction in new cavities Fluoride contribution is 16% over the use of sealants alone

10 Where does COHI fit? The Children s Oral Health Initiative (COHI) started as a pilot project in 2004 in a few communities across Canada Movement from a treatment-based dental approach to one of a more balanced prevention and treatment based approach Promotes use of community based people to help spread the oral health message.

11 What is COHI? COHI is a prevention based initiative that focuses on: Children aged 0-7 Parents and Guardians of these children Prenatal women and families COHI Services are provided by: Dentists Dental Therapists Dental Hygienists COHI Aides

12 COHI Service Providers - Atlantic 1 Dentist RDO 9 Dental Therapists 1 Dental Hygienist 21 COHI Aides

13 COHI Services Dental Screening Fluoride Varnish applications * Sealants Alternative Restorative Therapy (ART) Promotion of products containing Xylitol * Oral Health Information Sessions * The services marked by an asterisk are those that can be delivered by a COHI Aide

14 Who Is the COHI Aide? A community worker, part-time position Trained in a 3 day course, in basic dental health Acts as the main link between the community and dental professional Works on developing partnerships within the community Delivers and collects authorization forms Delivers three COHI Services Fluoride Varnish application Promotion of products containing xylitol One on One oral health sessions

15 Who Is the COHI Aide? Some Aides have a background in the health field and are already community employed, working as community health representatives, LPN, home care workers. Because of the small sizes of most FN/I communities in our region, all COHI Aide positions are part-time, usually 1-2 days per week

16 COHI Aide Training Five competencies Knowledge of COHI Basic Oral Health Care and Dental Knowledge Delivery of the COHI services Organizational and Communication Skills Professionalism and Community Health 2 days of theoretical portion of training 1 day practical portion of training & is ongoing

17 Nunatsiavut COHI Aides

18 Outcomes Out of the 18 communities nationally that have had COHI since it s inception, 9 communities have achieved the World Health Organization standard of half of the children entering school with a DMF of 0 4 Of the 9 communities were in the Atlantic Region, which includes Conne River Of these 18 communities, all but 3 showed improvement in DMF scores Numbers derived from data

19 Outcomes There has been a slight decrease (3%) of children that are in need of OR services since COHI Client participation rates have increased from 26,000 in to 35,500 as of Number of children 0-7 years old increased from 10,400 to 19,500 as of The number of fluoride varnishes in the first year 11,100 and 4 years later increased to 20,600

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21 Questions???