ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 24, 1997 TAG: 9701240082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
Beginning with the fall semester, instructors in the Virginia Western Community College dental hygiene program will lecture to students in Roanoke and Danville at the same time.
The Virginia Healthcare Foundation has given the Roanoke college $39,000 to beam its accredited dental hygiene program to Danville Community College, where 12 students will be accepted in the start-up class. Danville is asking the General Assembly for additional funding of $200,000 to make sure the program continues for at least two years.
Danville has a shortage of manpower in all types of oral health professions, said Anne Hutcherson, who coordinates the VWCC dental program and who wrote the grant proposal that caught the attention of the state foundation. Hutcherson has been at Virginia Western since 1985.
She said part of the grant will be used to renovate a clinic George Washington High School uses in its dental-assisting vocational program , which allows dental hygiene students to get hands-on experience while running a free public clinic.
With 13 percent of its population earning below the federal poverty level, Danville has a great need for free oral care, Hutcherson said.
The clinic at Virginia Western sees about 800 people annually, she said.
Danville Community has tried to establish a dental hygiene program in the past. In the early 1990s, it got approval from the Council of Higher Education, but the program was never funded. As an alternative, the college talked about busing students to Roanoke for classes, but that cost too much, Hutcherson said.
"Technology makes it much more feasible," said Ed Polhamus, arts and sciences division chairman at Danville Community.
The program will accept students every other year, he said.
The tele-medicine dental hygiene program is the first in the state, and Virginia is only the second state to try such an effort, Hutcherson said. It allows students to stay in their home area, which encourages them to remain and work in the home area, she said.
Once the Danville program has been tested, Virginia Western will consider extending the program to other communities that need more hygienists, Hutcherson said. However, the intent is to meet needs, not to create a surplus of professionals, she said.
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