Save the Special Needs Clinic

Dental community unites to save the

Special Needs Dental Clinic

With the lease of the Special Needs Dental Clinic in North Perth being discontinued as of June 30, a parent of one of the dental clinic’s patients is petitioning to have the lease extended until a suitable equivalent facility can be found. When Joan Martin took her daughter Ruth to the Special Needs Dental Clinic in January, she was shocked to find out about the clinic’s imminent closure.

“Ruth needed a follow up appointment, and the dentist looked at me and said: ‘I am not too sure where the follow up will be’. The dentist said they had notice that their lease is not going to be extended past the 30th of June and they did not know where they were going to go.”

Joan quickly set up a petition for concerned parents and carers at the front desk of the dental clinic to request an interim extension of the lease until a purpose-built facility is completed. Identity WA has also promoted the request to sign the petition to its members and Joan has met with Sam Carrello from Dental Health Services and the Acting CEO of the City of Vincent.

Joan is worried about the struggle to find an equivalent interim measure if the lease is not extended for the 2,500-plus people with special needs who rely on the service.

“You have people come to the clinic who are non-verbal, people with high anxiety, people with autism,” Joan explains. “One of the joys of the Special Needs Dental Clinic is that they have four large surgeries. You, as a support worker or parent, can go and sit beside the person in the dental chair and hold their hand, for instance. The staff are trained and are fantastic. They desensitise patients over a long period of time so that patients like Ruth can go to the dental clinic with no problem at all.”

The disruption to the service is also a great concern. “There is only one Special Needs Dental Clinic in Western Australia,” Joan adds. “At one of Ruth’s appointments, the next patient had flown in from Carnarvon, and there is a 14-month waiting list for recall. There's talk of moving to the large clinic at Fremantle, but it's upstairs, there is no parking immediately there and it has a shared waiting room. It is not an equivalent.”

Joan will present the parents’ petition, along with letters from concerned parents, at the City of Vincent’s Council Meeting on March 23.

ADAWA has formally lobbied the City of Vincent and the Hon. Roger Cook (Deputy Premier of Western Australia/Health Minister) regarding the closure of the North Perth Clinic. Many ADAWA members also got behind the petition to show their support.

“Dental health is imperative for general health,” Joan adds. “There is a strong possibility the most vulnerable in our community will not be receiving adequate care in the interim until a new purpose-built Special Needs Dental Clinic can be established, or we can be relocated to an equivalent site.”

We live in Ellenbrook and are willing to travel to North Perth to see this clinic. On the first session, Max was a little scared, but the dentist we use was so patient and caring and knew now to speak to Max to get him to co-operate. I was so impressed. On the first visit, he willingly sat in the dentist chair after about 10 minutes and opened his mouth (may seem little to some people but a massive improvement from the meltdowns only a few months before). On today’s visit, he climbed straight up into the chair and our dentist was able to use the polishing drill on his teeth and examine his mouth. This is something that 12 months ago I thought would never happen unless he was sedated.

- Hayley Bamford

Extract from parent letter in support of the Special Needs Dental Clinic

GOOD NEWS STORIES

Dental screening day at OHCWA for Healing Smiles patients

Sadly, the number of women seeking help from Healing Smiles grows by the day. Established by West Australian dentists, Healing Smiles provides pro bono dental treatment to women who have experienced family and domestic violence.

As the list of cases grew ever longer, our dental volunteers swung into action, arranging a screening day at the Oral Health Centre of WA, to assess the many women in need of dental treatment. It was a busy and productive day, as dentists, oral health therapists and volunteers put these women on the road to recovery. Thank you to OHTs Natalie, Fatimah, Charity, Carol and Tayeba, and volunteer Fran, as well as Drs Tracey Gold and Lida Sayadelmi.

Image caption: (left to right) Recent OHT grads Natalie Rinaldi. Fatimah Etemadi, Charity Ng, Carol Nevin (Curtin OHT staff), Tayeba Hussani and Fran (non-dental volunteer).

Honorary Life Membership

Congratulations to Dr Terry Pitsikas AM, who was recently awarded an Honorary Life Membership in the 2020 ADA Awards. Dr Pitsikas was awarded an Honorary Life Membership from the ADAWA Branch back in 2003. This latest honour is much deserved. Well done, Terry! Lockdown snippets

Going into lockdown was a big surprise for us all, but the WA dental community did an amazing job under pressure and we cannot thank our members enough for their cooperation, patience and resilience. In case you missed it, here are some lockdown snippets:

ADAWA council

ADAWA councillors and executive did everything they could to support and inform members throughout lockdown. They worked tirelessly throughout the week and made sure they kept in touch the social-distancing way – via Zoom meetings!

New resources for social media

The ADAWA media team has started creating new social media resources for practices to share on their own socials. Keep an eye on the Australian Dental Association of WA Facebook page to keep an eye out for social posts that you can share. facebook.com/adawaoralhealth

Partners in Practice

During lockdown, ADAWA launched their Partners in Practice program to Practice Managers, Dental Assistants, Oral Health Therapists, Dental Therapists and Dental Hygienists. The program is something we have been working on for some time, but we accelerated the launch to ensure everyone in WA dentistry was getting the same messaging during lockdown. Eventually, we aim to provide support for Practice Managers, refresh our jobs board and hold networking events. Please spread the word to your staff and dental colleagues and ask them to join the ADAWA Partners in Practice Facebook group, facebook.com/groups/757742305160879