Halifax Community College recently received some wonderful news. The college has been awarded a five-year $119,650 grant by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in Winston-Salem. Local school superintendents, principals, school nurses, and dentists are partnering with the college to ensure the program's success. The Halifax County Health Department has committed to assist us in aggressively pursuing additional government funding to sustain this necessary program after the grant has expired.

Funding will create a pilot program called the HCC Healthy Smiles Dental Care Program that will provide free, basic dental care for a portion of the area's elementary (K-5) school children. Our Dental Hygiene Program personnel and students will work with these children who otherwise would not get dental care. The Healthy Smiles program will help alleviate the barrier to dental access for a large number of elementary school children in Northampton and Halifax counties through a comprehensive program of individual assessments, sealants, fluoride treatments, x-rays, education, and parental involvement to encourage habitual oral care as a family lifestyle.

After an on-campus clinic visit, students will receive a Healthy Smiles care package containing toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, and age-appropriate how-to-brush guides and calendars with a reward system for monitoring daily brushing. Educational guides, donated by Crest, will also be provided for parents and guardians to encourage involvement. Patients with decay will be referred to local healthcare providers. School visits will also be made by our Dental Hygiene students weekly to offer oral hygiene educational information to non-program participants and reinforcement for Healthy Smiles' students.

According to D. J. Markham, Dental Hygiene Instructor at HCC, "This unique project provides valuable preventive oral health to impoverished children in our area and encourages habitual oral healthcare as a lifestyle." Therefore, the target population for the program includes children in the 17 elementary schools within the four school districts—Halifax and Northampton County Schools, Roanoke Rapids City Schools and Weldon City Schools. Statistics show that the primary barrier to dental care is accessibility for poor children. The majority of children in this area are recipients of Medicaid services and only a handful of dentists in the area accept these patients due to the low reimbursement schedule of Medicaid. Additionally, statistics reveal that by the second grade, more than half of the students in the United States have decaying teeth. In impoverished areas where dental care is limited, the statistics are equally alarming.

The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust was created in 1947 by the will of Mrs. William N. Reynolds of Winston-Salem. Three-fourths of the Trust's grants are designated for use for health-related programs and services across North Carolina and one-fourth for the poor and needy of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. Support from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust will help to jumpstart a life-changing opportunity for poor children in the Roanoke Valley. I greatly appreciate this support to help address a major need in one of the poorest areas in the state.

From the President's Perspective, this is a much-needed program and one I hope to see succeed and thrive. It really must succeed—our children's health depends on it. I encourage every family that is eligible to take advantage of this valuable opportunity. The first Healthy Smiles clinic is scheduled for September 12 and will continue every Wednesday through the end of May each year for five years.

To learn about other HCC programs, stop by campus, call us at (252) 536-HCC1, or check us out online at www.halifaxcc.edu. Also, feel free to send me an email message at president@halifaxcc.edu with your thoughts or ideas about HCC.