CCPH Fellows 2002/2003: Sheranita Hemphill

Sheranita Hemphill, a professor at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, has taught in the Allied Health Division's Department of Dental Hygiene since 1986. As the course director for Community Dental Health, she has instituted service-learning as an integral part of the dental hygiene students' learning experiences. As a member of the Center for Healthy Communities, an academic and community partnership in Dayton, Ohio, she has facilitated multi-professional students' service-learning experiences; presented numerous faculty development workshops on service-learning throughout the country and has co-authored two publications about service-learning.

Sheranita's academic credentials include an associate degree in dental hygiene, a bachelor's degree and a masters in education, and a masters in public health. Professionally, she has provided leadership and service to several discipline and/or professional organizations. Professional affiliations include the American Public Health Association, the American Dental Hygiene Association, the Academy of Dental Hygiene Studies, and the Ohio Coalition on Oral Health.

Project Title

The development of a model service-learning dental hygiene program and a dental hygiene educator's service-learning toolkit

Project Description

A Model Service-Learning Dental Hygiene Program (MSLDHP) and a dental hygiene educator's Service- Learning Toolkit will be developed in order to assist dental hygiene educators in the integration of service-learning into the curriculum. Service-Learning in the dental hygiene curriculum will augment national efforts to improve the oral health of the public. Goals of the proposed work as a fellow are:

1) To foster an increase in access to oral health services for children at high-risk for dental disease
2) To cultivate an increased propensity for public health advocacy among the dental hygiene students.

Essential components of the Service-Learning Toolkit will include:

1) Faculty development ideas
2) Mentoring, practical and technical resources
3) A bibliography
4) Protocol for curriculum integration and partnership development.

The Service-Learning Toolkit will be supplemented with the results of the MSLDHP undertaken as part of the proposal.

The MSLDHP will include several components:

1) A literature review regarding service-learning and its impact on access to health services including oral health
2) An annotated bibliography documenting the literature review findings
3) Publication and/or presentation of the annotated bibliography
4) Service-learning training for dental hygiene students, elementary school teachers and dental hygiene faculty
5) Oral health screening of urban elementary school children using the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors' Basic Screening Survey
6) Oral health referrals and follow-up provided by the dental hygiene students in conjunction with the school nurse
7) Education of the children and their care givers
8) Data analysis and presentation.

The results will be both quantitative and qualitative and will be presented in scholarly forums.