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Dental of Iowa Foundation Awards $227,548 to Genesis to Improve Oral Health of Patients

Carole Ferch, RDH, I-Smile Silver Coordinator
Scott County Health Department

For each 1,000 admissions to hospitals, five to 20 patients will be diagnosed with pneumonia during their hospitalization. The infection can be life-threatening. Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation has awarded a grant of $227,548 to Genesis Medical Centers with the goals of improving the oral health of hospitalized patients and preventing pneumonia admissions.

Genesis Medical Center staff will use the grant funding to implement a program of prevention of pneumonia in patients who are not on a ventilator in the hospital setting. A similar program is already in place for a patient requiring mechanical ventilation. The program will include improved oral care products for patients and staff training to emphasize the importance of oral care to patients in a hospital environment.

Pneumonia is the most common healthcare-associated infection in the world. Each case of pneumonia in a healthcare environment substantially increases the cost of care and raises mortality rates.

“We know the mouth is the gateway to good health and prevention of illness,’’ said Jordan Voigt, president, Genesis Medical Center, Davenport. “By providing consistent oral care using improved oral care supplies, Genesis believes it can reduce hospital-acquired pneumonia significantly in our medical centers.

“This initiative will benefit patients by lowering their risk of serious infections leading to prolonged hospital stays. Each hospital-acquired infection requiring or extending hospital admissions is not only a possible danger to patients, but it is also expensive for the patients and for Genesis.’’

Annette Holst, RN, MSN, Nursing Professional Development Specialist, said the implementation of the oral care project at Genesis Medical Center would include eliminating barriers to oral care, increasing staff and patient access to quality oral care products, and, improving staff and patient education.

“Study results have shown that providing consistent oral care two to four times each day may decrease non-ventilated hospital-acquired pneumonia by 40 to 60 percent,’’ said Holst, who helped write the grant application. “In areas where projects like this have been undertaken, the results have been very positive. Programs like this reduce non-ventilated cases of pneumonia and reduce lengths of stay.’’

Even though its name is synonymous with oral health, Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation is shifting its funding strategy beginning in 2020 to create stronger ties between oral health and overall health. While a majority of the funding will continue to be concentrated in oral health, the new Beyond 2020 Foundation strategy also looks for opportunities to improve overall wellness, mental health and vision health through grassroots community health initiatives.   

“This shift enables the Foundation to be a larger catalyst for change to help improve the overall health and wellness of all Iowans,” said Jeff Russell, president, and chief executive officer, Delta Dental of Iowa. “The Foundation’s impact on oral health care for all Iowans remains central in our focus and that will not waver. To have a greater impact we must include and support the connection between oral health and overall wellness including vision and behavioral health.”

The Foundation’s funding portfolio will range from smaller grants to support one time, short-term projects such as providing oral health supplies to larger grants that support infrastructure and systemic change in collaboration with community partners. The broad range is intended to spark innovation and improve the overall health and wellness of all Iowans.