March Funded Partner Spotlight – Partnership in Oral Health

DW Admin on March 16, 2012

Since inception, MHM has provided nearly $500 million in healthcare services through our clinics and programs, as well as through our partnerships. MHM is proud to partner with organizations that share our mission and organizational objective of delivering healthcare and social services to the least served in the South Texas region. By strengthening other organizations' capacity to provide services, we achieve our overarching goal of increasing access to care.

With this community healthcare model in mind, the partnership between the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School (UTHSCSA-DS) and San Antonio Christian Dental Clinic (SACDC) seemed rather fitting. Located at Haven for Hope, the largest, most comprehensive Homeless Transformation Campus in the U.S., SACDC provides charitable dental care to indigent persons in keeping with Christian ministry and has been a MHM funded partner since 2007.

SACDC provides a wide range of dental services utilizing a corps of volunteer dental professionals. Through this, they offer Haven for Hope residents and the surrounding community dental exams, cleanings, restorative dentistry, extractions, surgery and prosthodontics. Oral health education is provided to further empower patients and support improved oral health.

 

In late 2010, SACDC requested that the Dental School rotate dental students to its facility to provide primary dental care to patients as a means to supplement the care provided by the private sector volunteer corps of dentists who contribute their services. These rotations also help to enhance students’ clinical knowledge and skills in delivering primary dental care to the homeless population and underserved. In 2011, MHM funded the conversion of the existing dental radiology system to a digital system at SACDC to facilitate UTHSCSA-DS dental student training rotations, also reducing x-ray exposure to patients by 90%.

As a likely ally in health care, the UTHSCSA-DS became a MHM funded partner in 2002. Founded in 1970, the Dental School is a place where students, faculty and staff come together to share knowledge and skills. The mission of the Dental School is the acquisition, dissemination and use of knowledge toward the enhancement of oral health. This mission is addressed through six interrelated action components: education; research; patient care; community service; faculty and staff; and infrastructure.

In 2011, the Dental School added the Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency program allowing for dental care at SACDC in the form of extractions, root canals and other more complicated procedures to patients of the clinic.

 

Along with direct services provided to patients in need – who, most likely, without these types of programs and clinics may not have received care – this partnership has also instilled a sense of civic responsibility in the caregivers of such services. This is evident through a testimonial offered by a Dental School student after completion of work at SACDC:

"I got to know a patient yesterday, and we became very close after just a cleaning! She was one of the most grateful patients I have ever been blessed to work on. She made me feel like I made a difference and it was one of those moments where I love what I do (dentistry). I came to understand her plans for the future, and about her life on campus. As we hugged goodbye, I was wishing that I would somehow see her again, and I hope that I will. For some reason, I know I will never forget her face…just when we were getting used to the swing of things and appreciating this clinic, it is time to leave. I’m grateful to have this experience…"

MHM continues to fund this partnership for SACDC to continue to provide dental care for those who have little to no resources as well as for Direct Dental Services and Training of UTHSCSA-DS students at SACDC. It is estimated that dental students/residents will provide 2,000 dental visits of SACDC's anticipated 38,000 dental visits in 2012.

Both agencies are committed to addressing MHM’s goal of access to dental care for the underserved with the added impact of training a troop of dental students to sustain the effort.

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February Funded Partner Spotlight – Triple H Equitherapy Center

DW Admin on February 17, 2012

Since inception, MHM has provided more than $405 million in healthcare services through our clinics and programs, as well as through our partnerships. MHM is proud to partner with organizations that share our mission and organizational objective of delivering healthcare and social services to the least served in the South Texas region. By strengthening other organizations’ capacity to provide services, we achieve our overarching goal of increasing access to care.

MHM’s partnership with the Triple H Equitherapy Center is a prime example of this community healthcare model. Founded in 1995, the Triple H Equitherapy Center provides people with disabilities and wounded warriors nationally accredited equine assisted activities and therapy. Located in Pipe Creek, Texas, the center offers five unique equine therapy programs for children and adults with a range of disabilities and needs along with two specialized projects to include the “Horses for Heroes” and “Open the Gate” project.

“Open the Gate” serves children ages 6 to 17 from Kendall, Bandera, Kerr, Medina, and northern Bexar counties whose life experiences have triggered social or mental disorders that require judicial intervention or residential treatment. Contributing factors can include physical or emotional trauma, emotional or mental disorders, and poverty, among other life challenges.

                                                 

Through the “Open the Gate” project participants experience recovery with optimism, autonomy, respect and dignity, partnership and personal growth. They are encouraged to expand their capabilities, fostering self-confidence and self-esteem. This enables them to go beyond their circumstances and “opens the gate” to opportunity as positive citizens of our society. Clinical outcomes of the program revealed successes on several levels. One such story of comes from A.J.*, a participant from Meadowlands–a long term residential treatment and care facility for children ages 6-17.

Upon entrance into the Open the Gate project, A.J. carried an air of overconfidence hinging on arrogance due to prior experience with horses. This caused him to express frustration during encounters with less-experienced participants; he began to take on a competitive, adversarial posture with his peers. A.J.’s participation in the program required attendance at reoccurring group sessions where he was approached positively and made aware of his negative, confrontational tendencies. With time and positive reinforcement, he worked hard to re-channel this energy and it enabled him to accommodate others by helping his peers pick out hooves, assisting with tacking up horses and encouraging others to tack and ride independently. Ultimately, A.J. developed into a positive peer-mentor for the group, carrying with him the skills necessary to practice patience, understanding and empathy.

The center has collaborated with Meadowlands, a Roy Maas Youth Alternatives residential facility, along with county juvenile justice programs and other community intervention programs for at-risk youth to reach program participants.

The Triple H Equitherapy Center has been an MHM Funded Partner since 2008. As of December 2011, MHM has contributed over $690,000 in funding to the center to assist with mental and behavioral health services. The center looks to receive $190,000 in 2012 to continue programming.

To learn more about the Triple H Equitherapy Center, visit their at www.triplehequitherapy.org or find them on Facebook.

*To protect the privacy of program participants, a pseudonym has been used in the testimonial presented in the above article.

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Jaime Wesoloski

President & Chief Executive Officer

Jaime Wesolowski is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Methodist Healthcare Ministries. A healthcare executive with three decades of leadership experience, Jaime is responsible for the overall governance and direction of Methodist Healthcare Ministries. Jaime earned his Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration from Xavier University, and his Bachelor’s of Science from Indiana University in Healthcare Administration. As a cancer survivor, Jaime is a staunch supporter of the American Cancer Society. He serves as Chair of the American Cancer Society’s South Texas Area board of directors and he was appointed as Chair to the recently created South Region Advisory Cabinet, covering eight states from Arizona through Alabama. Jaime believes his personal experience as a cancer survivor has given him more defined insight and compassion to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of patients and their families.