Published October 24, 2016
MONROE, La. — The dental hygiene program at the University of Louisiana Monroe recently
received a $2,500 grant as well as a $500 partner appreciation grant from Entergy
in support of ULM’s Mobile Dental Hygiene Unit.
The check was presented by Philip May, Entergy Louisiana President and CEO, at a luncheon
sponsored by Entergy on October 7, 2016.
The dental hygiene program won the $500 partner appreciation grant along with the
Louisiana Ag Educational Foundation, American Red Cross, and the North Louisiana Economic
Partnership. To win, each agency had to submit a photo of one of the events that Entergy
helped sponsor.
Entergy is an integrated energy company serving over 2.8 million customers in four
states. Over the past two years, the grants that have been awarded to agencies in
the north Louisiana region totaled $500,000. Since 2012, Entergy has donated $15,000
to ULM’s dental hygiene program.
Jordan Anderson, assistant professor of dental hygiene, said, “These generous funds
will continue to help us provide dental hygiene care at no cost to residents in the
northeast Louisiana parishes. The funds will assist in the acquisition of patient
education supplies, such as tooth brushes, floss, tooth paste, as well as equipment
in the unit itself.”
This semester, the mobile unit is stationed in Ouachita Parish where dental hygiene
services are being provided to children and adults at Jack Hayes Elementary School.
Supervised by licensed dental hygiene instructors, students provide teeth cleanings,
x-rays, fluoride treatments, sealants, oral cancer screenings, patient education,
and nutritional counseling.
The Mobile Dental Hygiene Unit is a satellite clinic administered by the ULM dental
hygiene program. The ULM Dental Hygiene Clinic first opened in 1972 with only 10 operatories.
The program now has 22 operatories, including those on the Mobile Dental Hygiene Unit,
at the campus clinic located in Caldwell Hall, and a satellite clinic at Riser Elementary
and Middle School. More than 2,000 patients receive dental hygiene treatment in these
three ULM clinics each year.
“Patients have been treated on the Mobile Dental Hygiene Unit in Richland Parish,
Morehouse Parish, Ouachita Parish, East Carrol Parish, and Caldwell Parish,” Anderson
noted. “Multiple schools call us every year requesting our services. We look forward
to treating more patients in the Northeast Louisiana area.”
For more information about ULM’s Dental Hygiene clinics, visit ulm.edu/dentalhygiene/ or call 318-342-1616.
