BOSTON, Massachusetts--Jane Doe has announced it will award Delta Dental of Massachusetts with the Spirit Award for Community Leadership for its Dental Outreach to Survivors program, an initiative that provides oral health care to individuals and families affected by domestic violence.
"The extraordinary corporate leadership demonstrated by Delta Dental of Massachusetts has and will continue to make a difference in the lives of so many survivors and their children," said Mary R. Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc.
The Dental Outreach to Survivors program, a partnership with Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, the Boston Public Health Commission and the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence (ATask), ensures that oral health professionals and students are trained and knowledgeable in providing culturally competent, compassionate oral health treatment to individuals with complex medical and social issues.
"Delta Dental has helped create an innovative model that if replicated by others in the health care arena will significantly impact and reduce the number of women, children, and men affected by domestic violence," said Jamie Kim Ramola of ATask.
Studies show that nearly 75 percent of all domestic violence injuries involve head, neck or mouth trauma. As health care professionals, dentists, hygienists and oral surgeons are in a unique position to identify the signs of domestic violence and offer support and appropriate intervention to their patients who are survivors.
"This provides hundreds of survivors of domestic violence, including many children, with the routine, preventive care critical to a healthy future," said Dr. Kathy O'Loughlin, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Massachusetts. "It is important to us that these families are not left behind."
"We are enormously grateful to Delta Dental for their vision and support of our students," said Dr. Kanchan Ganda, Professor of General Dentistry at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.
"Real world experience is crucial in the learning process. Not only do our students treat survivors of domestic violence during their training years, but they are better equipped and more aware of domestic violence indicators in patients when they leave school. Our involvement in this initiative has also helped to educate our faculty members and alumni in the treatment of patients who are survivors of domestic violence."
