MADRES Program

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

The program, MADRES, is titled from the Spanish word for mothers, and stands for Maternal Access to Dental-related premature birth Risk-reduction Education and Services. In Chesterfield Health District, uninsured persons have limited access to dental services and dentists may be reluctant to provide services to pregnant women. Language is another barrier for their non-English speaking Spanish population. The program goals are to decrease the risk for oral infection in women of childbearing age to increase preterm labor risk-reduction education. A grant from the march of Dimes funds a Spanish-speaking outreach worker to serve as an educator and translator. The Health District’s dental and prenatal staff collaborated to provide dental assessment and cleaning for their prenatal and preconception clients. Data was collected on the dental habits of these clients in the year prior to obtaining the March of Dimes grant, and the results showed that 70 percent had not seen a dentist in over a year.