Dorchester Families Start Living SMART
Community Health Programs Oral Health Promotion Director Kathy Lituri, Felicia Smith DMD 15, Thomas Horton DMD 14, Lillelenny Santana AS 2012, and Danielle Collins (a former dental hygiene student of Lituri’s) volunteered at the Living SMART Community Health Fair on June 11. The fair was held at the Perkins Community Center in Dorchester.
Living SMART is a campaign that was designed for the Dorchester community to get smart about living a healthy life. The acronym SMART stands for select healthy foods, make an appointment with your doctor, adopt an exercise regimen, reduce your stress, and tell others about living smart. The related health fair targeted local families and included a zone featuring community exhibitors and providing health care resources, a kid’s zone to engage children in physical activities, heath screenings, HIV testing, and health workshops. The fair was sponsored by the Young Professionals Network (YPN) of The Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts. Smith is a member of this group and served as one of the organizers of the fair.
She says she got involved with the group because, “When moving to Boston, I wanted to establish a network with young professionals aspiring to accomplish goals such as closing equality gaps, improving race relations, and empowering underserved communities. Before I joined the YPN of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts I had prior knowledge, as an adolescent growing up in Chicago, of the Urban Leagues’ historic contribution to the civil rights movement and 20th Century Freedom Movement. The turning point for my affiliation with YPN Urban League was when I was informed of the chapter’s development of a Public Health Committee. This was the first Public Health Committee in the YPN Urban League.”
Smith reached out to Lituri to get the Dental School involved with this fair. She said, “Since our organization is focused on strengthening the community resources through partnership, we solicited the expertise of Ms. Kathy Lituri and the Dental School students for promoting oral health through education and dental screenings. From personal experience working with Ms. Lituri on previous events, I knew she had a wealth of knowledge on engaging various communities in and around the Boston area on oral health issues.”
GSDM volunteers promoted oral health and provided screenings to the children and adults in attendance. They also participated in a round-robin discussion on oral health promotion in the kid’s zone.
Smith encourages other dental students to get involved, adding, “Joining the YPN Urban League is a great opportunity for dental students to network with other young professionals and other leaders, expand leadership skills, and develop an active role in the community on various issues.”
Photos are available on facebook and flickr .