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August 21, 2008
Prison care
Alternative access to care for South Dakota students.
by Sharon Kinzley, RDH, BS and Audrey Ticknor, RDH, MA
The strengths of the University of South Dakota (USD) Dental Hygiene program are typified by the diverse clinical rotations students experience. In addition to caring for patients at the campus clinic, students participate in clinical rotations at a public health clinic, nursing homes, a Native American school, a residential facility for the mentally disabled, and various private practices.
Perhaps the most challenging rotational experience for the students is the time they spend providing dental hygiene services for inmates in the state’s prison facilities for men.
break in, not out
Unique to the University of South Dakota Dental Hygiene program is its symbiotic relationship with the State of South Dakota Department of Corrections (SDDOC).
Hindered by limited financial funding, the SDDOC is unable to employ enough dental personnel to meet the increasing dental needs of the state’s growing inmate population.
These men are housed in four facilities at three cities across the state. There are dental clinics at all four sites and approximately 3,200 inmates presently incarcerated throughout the system. Besides one full-time dentist and several dental assistants, the rest of the dental personnel are employed only part-time. It is imperative that there be an alternative source for dental hygiene services, and the USD dental hygiene department provides a major part of that care.
Fortunately, the two sites in Sioux Falls (different facilities), Yankton and Springfield are within a one-hour drive of the USD campus in Vermillion, South Dakota. These facilities house maximum level to low and minimum security inmates. Women prisoners in South Dakota are housed in Pierre, located more than four hours from the Vermillion campus. Therefore, the department does not take part in the dental care of these inmates.
Through a contractual agreement between SDDOC and the university, the senior dental hygiene students provide care to inmates requesting dental hygiene appointments. Students and faculty meet at the sites and conduct clinics three days a week. Students are assigned to the prison rotations several weeks of both semesters, allowing for frequent experiences.
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