The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) and the ADA have teamed up to support school nurses in their efforts to promote awareness of oral health in schools, the ADA announced.
The 2011 campaign, Empowering School Nurses to Change Oral Health Perceptions, is funded by a $160,000 grant to NASN from the DentaQuest Foundation. The campaign, which will be primarily Web-based and free to the public, will be launched this summer.
The goal of the initiative is to provide school nurses with oral health resources and messages that can be distributed for use in classrooms and health offices.
"School nurses work to ensure that students are healthy and ready to learn. Since 98% of children spend their days in school, addressing oral health through the school nurse makes sense," said Amy Garcia, executive director of NASN.
NASN will work with ADA to help distribute National Children's Dental Health Month materials and to develop new materials as needed. A needs assessment of school nurses will be conducted in February to help NASN and ADA determine the resources that will be most beneficial in schools.
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