{"id":502359391,"date":"2018-12-10T10:10:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T16:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2018\/12\/10\/keeping-local-seniors-smiling-happily"},"modified":"2018-12-10T10:13:53","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T16:13:53","slug":"keeping-local-seniors-smiling-happily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2018\/12\/10\/keeping-local-seniors-smiling-happily","title":{"rendered":"Keeping local seniors smiling happily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of seniors in St. James will be able to access low-cost dental care thanks to a new pilot program. <\/div>\n
The St. James Assiniboia 55-plus Centre has been awarded $10,000 from the Canadian Medical Association to conduct oral health care clinics for seniors in the community. The centre is the sole Manitoba organization to receive a CMA Healthy Canadians Grant this year. <\/div>\n
“In August we found out that we were the lucky recipients,” said Meaghan Wilford, executive director of the 55-plus Centre. “We hope to reach 200 seniors in the area by having three clinics.”<\/div>\n
The first clinic was held on Nov. 29 for seniors living at a 55-plus housing complex on Country Club Boulevard and included a one-hour education session followed by free screenings with a dental hygienist from the University of Manitoba’s College of Dentistry. <\/div>\n
Alan Hume lives in the building and stopped by the clinic because he has been dealing with a broken tooth for several months. <\/div>\n
“I know if I go to the dentist, how much it’s going to cost to get it fixed, now I’ll find out what these people can do for me,” he said. “I saw this and I thought it would be a good opportunity because I wouldn’t have to travel.”<\/div>\n
Hume and other seniors with dental issues are eligible for a follow up appointment with U of M’s mobile clinic for up to $125 worth of dental work. Clients only have to pay $20 and the 55-plus Centre will cover the rest of the cost with the grant money.<\/div>\n
“We would like to provide one service, so either a filling or a cleaning, for as many seniors as we can who aren’t able to go to any other of the clinics due to mobility,” Wilford said.<\/div>\n
Right now, the clinics are a one-time event, but Wilford would like to get funding for a more permanent program in the future.<\/div>\n
The focus on oral health in seniors is an initiative of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s local Healthy Aging Resource Team (HART), which works closely with the 55-plus Centre. <\/div>\n
Lisa Newman is a HART facilitator and says many of the clients she works with complain of dental issues but don’t have the resources to visit the dentist.<\/div>\n
“The cost of oral health is very expensive to the average person, let alone someone who’s elderly and on a strict budget,” she said. <\/div>\n
Newman says the education component of the clinics is important because neglecting oral health problems can have an impact on overall health, especially in seniors. <\/div>\n
“We tend to forget that it’s not just about healthy gums and healthy teeth,” she said.<\/div>\n
Not only does poor oral health cause issues like dry mouth and periodontal disease, it also has a direct link to heart disease, pneumonia and diabetes. <\/div>\n
HART also runs cooking programs at senior centres in St. James and Newman has noticed some seniors avoid certain foods because of dental issues, which can lead to malnutrition.<\/div>\n
The 55-plus centre is offering two more oral health clinics in 2019, one at the seniors centre at 22 Strauss Dr. and one at the organization’s office at 3-203 Duffield St. — dates for those sessions haven’t been set. <\/div>\n
Call 204-987-8850 or visit stjamescentre.com for more information.<\/div>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":280017691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21,12],"tags":[],"education-subject":[],"media-literacy-topic":[],"post_topic":[],"content_type":[24],"class_list":["post-502359391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-metro"],"acf":{"short_title":"","seo_title":"","deck":"New pilot program to offer dental care for seniors","story_tag":"","byline":"Eva Wasney","updates":null},"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2018\/12\/10\/keeping-local-seniors-smiling-happily","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Keeping local seniors smiling happily","url":"http:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2018\/12\/10\/keeping-local-seniors-smiling-happily","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2018\/12\/10\/keeping-local-seniors-smiling-happily"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/ew-oral-health-dec5.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/ew-oral-health-dec5.jpg"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"feedloaderapi"}],"creator":["feedloaderapi"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Our Communities","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2018-12-10T16:10:00Z","datePublished":"2018-12-10T16:10:00Z","dateModified":"2018-12-10T16:13:53Z"},"rendered":"