Terence will spearhead the AOHE Initiative, part of the DentaQuest Foundation’s Oral Health 2020 Movement, as it moves into its second year. Informed by the results of the community assessment, TBHC has identified key focus areas to address service gaps and create new social norms around oral health in our community. Terence’s unique insights, gleaned through grassroots engagement with community partners and area residents, will bolster his personal devotion to the cause of health equity as we continue to help our members do what they do better in 2016!

Welcome to the team, Terence!

Attendees reflected TBHC’s commitment to bridging gaps between stakeholders. A broad cross-section of organizations represented the far-reaching impact of deficiencies in the oral health system. Understanding that significant change begins at the grassroots level, the Collaborative sought to bring diffuse stakeholders with common interests to the same table.

In March of 2015, TBHC launched the AOHE Initiative as a vehicle for significant systems and public policy change. The overarching goal for this initiative was the establishment of new social norms around oral health as part of the DentaQuest Foundation’s national Oral Health 2020 Movement. Carrie Hepburn, Executive Director for the Collaborative, kicked off the February planning session by spotlighting this emphasis on social justice with a visual distinction between equality and equity. She went on to outline THBC’s vision, goals, and systems change framework for 2016 and beyond.

To establish the basis for these objectives, Carrie deferred to Erin Sclar, a consultant for TBHC, to convey the results of the AOHE community landscape assessment. Nine in ten survey respondents agreed that oral health was important, but half reported being in poor oral health. Attendees noted the challenges in assessing education due to disparate perceptions of what constitutes good oral health. Half of all survey respondents additionally reported being unable to afford dental care, while more than a third delayed care due to uncertainty about cost and a majority avoided care because of fear or anxiety.

Attendees discussed these and other barriers at length, and many recounted their own struggles to overcome those barriers within the communities they served. This sense of shared struggle visibly energized the room, and attendees buzzed around to network as they broke for lunch (provided by Inside the Box Café).

After lunch, the planning session moved towards establishing priorities. Attendees split into small groups to brainstorm ideas for addressing barriers in four areas: care, community, finance, and policy. The Collaborative Labs’s Executive Director, Andrea Henning, led the group in a discussion of each recommendation in order to narrow it down to the best suggestions. Attendees then voted for their top priorities in each category, which included: incentivizing dental professionals to work in underserved communities; improving early education efforts to break intergenerational cycles of poor oral care; further integration of primary and oral health care; and further collaboration with faith-based organizations to improve access to existing resources and education.

As the AOHE Initiative marches into 2016 and onward towards 2020, the input, advice, and guidance of the Collaborative’s members, partners, and the people of Tampa Bay will be the foundation of all that we hope to achieve. This planning session helped us to better understand their needs and perspectives, all the better to leverage our resources to continue helping them do what they do better.

One such quote read, “I haven’t taken a picture in three years because of my smile. I need help getting teeth pulled and dentures on top, please.” Another read, “I would really like care for my teeth. I just don’t have the money. I don’t even smile anymore.” These are the words of Tampa Bay community members who took part in the Achieving Oral Health Equity (AOHE) community assessment, either by completing an oral health survey or participating in a focus group.

These quotes shed light on a broad range of issues associated with oral health access. “I’ve got an HMO, and it’s hard to find a dentist that will accept that,” said one, while another said, “I have no access to insurance options. It’s not clear what is and is not paid for. There is a lot of confusion around what benefits I have and do not have with my Medicare and Medicaid package,” demonstrating the confusing and conflicting information (or lack thereof) which community members deal with. Other quotes highlighted different barriers: “I have no time to visit a dentist because of my work schedule, and I can’t get access to a good dentist because of the cost.”

In March of this year, TBHC launched the AOHE initiative and began working towards significant systems and public policy change, aiming to establish new social norms around oral health. Through authentic grassroots community outreach, and in partnership with existing efforts, the Collaborative has undertaken an extensive oral health community assessment of the prevailing attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs across the Tampa Bay area. TBHC’s goal is to reduce oral health disparities and address racial, social, economic, and systemic barriers — such as those related in the quotes above — to improve oral health outcomes for all.

Because the AOHE initiative is community-driven, the Collaborative is committed to ensuring that the voices of those most impacted by our efforts continue to be heard. Stakeholders who participated in the community forum witnessed this principle in action first-hand. The Collaborative’s Program Coordinator, Marissa Davis, and the Collaborative Labs Executive Director, Andrea Henning, welcomed forum attendees by challenging them to consider three questions as they proceeded with the day’s agenda: where are we now, where do we want to be, and how can we get there together?

Stakeholders were asked to contemplate what goals at the national, state, and local levels would drive the movement towards achieving oral health equity; what Florida’s oral health landscape currently looks like; what barriers currently exist within the community for someone seeking dental services; and how stakeholders could work as a network towards this common goal.

Carrie Hepburn, Executive Director for TBHC, provided context with an overview of the Collaborative’s role in achieving oral health equity as part of the DentaQuest Foundation’s Oral Health 2020 Movement, and invited stakeholders to share some of their oral health best practices. Then, she introduced the DentaQuest Foundation’s Vice President for Foundation Programs, Michael Monopoli, and Grants and Program Associate Andrew Bishop, who elaborated on the Oral Health 2020 Movement and the urgent need for increased awareness of oral health disparities. President and CEO of the Florida Institute for Health Innovation, Dr. Roderick King, continued the conversation with a presentation on the state of oral health in Florida.

Andrea Henning then led a team activity, called “The Five Whys,” to determine some of the root causes for Florida’s poor oral health outcomes. Participants used the Collaborative Labs’ live polling technology to home in on the top three. A lack of provider resources (professional dental personnel, capacity, funding, etc.) was identified as the leading root cause by stakeholders. Issues with navigating insurance benefits and a lack of income were tied as the second leading cause. Education-related shortcomings rounded out the top three.

While sharing TBHC’s preliminary oral health community assessment data, Marissa Davis emphasized the connection between these root causes and the barriers reflected in the community data. The discussion came full circle as attendees were once again asked to consider: where are we now, where do we want to be, and how can we get there together?

Affirming that oral health inequities are a matter of social justice, Marissa called attendees to action with a favorite quote from Henry Ford: “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” Carrie Hepburn followed up with a debrief, reiterating that TBHC is not trying to duplicate efforts, but instead to leverage existing efforts into opportunities for collaboration toward the shared goal of achieving oral health equity.

The spirit and substance of the day was captured by a tremendously talented artist with the Collaborative Labs, Jonathan, who described his stunning artistic rendering as “bridging the gap to progress with winds of change.”