Plan for the Application Year NPM # 13:

A) Percent of women who had a dental visit during pregnancy and

B) Percent of children, ages 1 through 17, who had a preventive dental visit in the past year

During fiscal year 2018-2019, the Division of Community Health Services established the Oral Health Services Unit. Priorities for this new service unit included the hiring of a Dental Hygienist, Yvonne Mikalopas, in March 2019, and the hiring of a Dental Director, Dr. Darwin K. Hayes, in July 2019, with the goal of creating a viable and sustainable State Oral Health Plan aligned with national oral health standards and measures.

The award of a HRSA grant also allowed for the establishment of two oral health initiatives to address two urgent public health crises: opioid addiction and childhood obesity.  In partnership with Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, The Opioid Education for Oral Health Workforce and Dental Students Program modules educates dentists and dental students on best practices for prescribing opioid medications, pain management in the dental setting, and treatment guidelines. This free program, originally launched on May 8, 2019, has been updated to include Continuing Dental Education Credits to be conferred by Rutgers University School of Dental Medicine, under an additional Memorandum of Agreement.

Under a Letter of Agreement with three regionally based Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) as of April 2019, The Oral Health Nutrition and Obesity Control  Program seeks to educate parents of children characterized as having body-mass index that correlates to overweight or obese on proper nutrition for good oral health, and strategies to reduce dental caries, dental disease, and obesity in children age 6 to 11 who are uninsured, on Medicaid or Medicaid-eligible, as well as, create a transferable model for use by dental practitioners. In December 2019, five additional FQHCs were added to the nutrition program due to the availability of carry-forward funding authorized by HRSA. Proper nutrition is vital to both oral health and overall health. According to Healthy New Jersey 2020, there has been a dramatic increase in NJ adults, teens and children who are overweight or obese. The Oral Health Services Unit has established key stakeholder contacts, has contributed expertise to special needs projects, and has collaborated inter-departmentally to increase oral health literacy.

Additional goals of the Unit include a third grade oral health survey through partnership with the NJ Department of Education, increasing oral health care access and education for pregnant women through an inter-divisional and inter-departmental Doula education project, and a pilot Fluoride Varnish program within the Children’s Oral Health Program, to launch in the Fall of 2020. As members of the Head Start Collaborative Advisory Committee, the Unit plans to work toward the goal of increasing access to dental care and the establishment of dental homes for Head Start and Early Head Start children and families.

Plan for the Application Year NPM # 14:

National Performance Measure 14:

Plans for the upcoming year to address NPM #14 include:

Promoting Mom’s Quit Connection (MQC) to expand reach to pregnant and parenting mothers in NJ;

• Continue the development of a tobacco training curriculum specifically for Healthy Women, Healthy Families community health and central intake workers to provide tobacco education in the field.
• Utilize focus group success to pilot an onsite smoking cessation group for prenatal/postpartum Healthy Start clients in Camden, NJ.
• Redesign and enhance momsquit.com website to engage wider range of clients and promote new GOMO app.

Increasing Capacity for Direct Service in NJ;

• Continue to expand MQC’s existing services to enable face-to-face and telephone counseling in the Northern and Central regions of the state, through increased presence of MQCF staff in prenatal and pediatric health care settings.
• Promote onsite trainings and webinars to maternal and child health professionals in Central and Northern NJ.

Preventing relapse after delivery;

• Continue the development of the smoking cessation interactive app using GOMO Education Platform that provides customized messaging and interactive activities from first trimester through postpartum period.  Uses a “concierge” concept that tailors messaging to personal, emotional, social, and environmental issues happening in the client’s life throughout and beyond her pregnancy.
• Develop and implement a “Tobacco-free Ride NJ” campaign to reduce exposure to second and third hand smoke among children riding with smokers.