Children's Oral Health Program (COHP) Educator

Welcome to Zufall Health!

Position Summary

Reporting to the SVP of Dental Services, the COHP/registered Dental Hygienist will conduct oral health education programs, monitor schools participating in the voluntary school-based fluoride mouth rinse program, conduct “Sugar-Less Day to Prevent Tooth Decay” and other education activities such as Projects: REACH, PEDS and as determined by the New Jersey’s Children’s Oral Health Program (COHP). Assist the Regional Coordinator in conducting surveys geared to update available dental services in the New Jersey "Dial a Smile" dental clinic directory.

Essential Functions, Duties, and Responsibilities

• Assist the Regional Coordinator in;

• Implementing a regional fluoride mouth rinse program for school age children.  Solicit school participation, prepare yearly fluoride mouth rinse order, assure distribution of materials, educate, and monitor schools and prepare and submit required reports to the regional coordinator.
• Developing, implementing, and maintaining a tracking loaner system for preventive oral health education teaching kits to be used in schools in non- high need and high need areas
• Developing and implementing age appropriate “train the trainer” programs to educate a multidisciplinary team of health care providers including but not limited to school nurses, pediatricians, obstetricians, social service providers and other health care personnel.
• Developing formal networks with community agencies that provide oral health services to school aged children
• Providing telephone consultation to schools, community and faith-based organizations and local health departments within the northern region related to children’s oral health
• Identifying the high need/high risk areas within the defined regional counties to target school based oral health education efforts for students
• Developing and implementing the “Oral Health Survey” targeting third grade students in select schools on a biennial basis
• Implementing the Statewide annual “Sugar-Less Day to Prevent Tooth Decay” Initiative throughout the defined regional county area
• Conducting regional activities related to Children’s Dental Health month
• Developing targeted newsletters, brochures, web-based materials, and outreach materials and participating in resource dissemination
• Implementing the “Special Smiles” Initiative by providing education programs to special needs children
• Participating in educational activities developed by the COHP such as Project: REACH and Project: PEDS which target medical, obstetrical, pediatric, and dental providers with the overarching goal of reducing the incidence of early childhood caries
• Referring children, pregnant people to on-site dental clinic services
• Establishing an oral health component into the Nurse-Family Partnership Home Visiting Program
• The preparation of narrative progress reports and statistical summaries at the end of the quarterly reporting period on SAGE
• Providing completed expenditure reports at the end of the quarterly reporting period on SAGE
• Performs other duties as assigned

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to attend to multiple tasks at the same time and to prioritize assignments and responsibilities to ensure compliance with established deadlines and protocols
• Effective oral and written communication skills in English are required. Additionally, oral communication skills in Spanish is a plus
• Must be able to commute to multiple sites within central regional counties – milage reimbursement available
• Requires a comprehensive knowledge of dental education techniques and procedures for all phases of preventive dentistry
• The ability to work with people from a wide diversity of social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds is necessary
• The Registered Dental Hygienist must be able to creatively work with other health care professionals from a variety of disciplines to achieve maximal results for the center’s patient from a system of integrated primary health care
• The ability to distinguish letters and symbols as well as the ability to utilize telephones, computer terminals and copiers is required
• Work under stressful conditions as well as irregular hours may be required
• Learn and apply the trauma informed care principles with the scope of the position

Education, Training, and Experience

• Completion of an accredited program in Dental Hygiene
• Registered Dental Hygienist
• Current CPR (BLS) Required

• The Registered Dental Hygienist must be cognizant of the expectations and concerns of the center’s dental patients and be able to respond in an empathetic and professional manner.

• Frequent exposure to communicable disease, body fluids, toxic substances, medicinal preparations, radiation, and other conditions common to a clinical environment may routinely be encountered