EyeSmile Team Marks First 2022 Interprofessional Service Trip
Pacific University’s College of Optometry and School of Dental Hygiene studies participated in their first overnight interprofessional service trip in The Dalles, Ore. the weekend of April 2-3. The team consisted of eight optometry students, eight dental hygiene students, two optometrists, a staff member and each program’s mobile clinic vans.
During this trip, stude
nts from each training program provided free vision and dental services to the patients of One Community Health in The Dalles and Hood River. Students got the opportunity to work together and learn the scope of practice from each other’s health professions program by shadowing, educating and working inside each of the mobile clinics.
The optometry team provided 33 dilated eye exams
and 26 pairs of glasses at no cost, while the dental team provided 105 dental treatments to 23 patients. Overall, the Pacific team along with our community partner, One Community Health, provided care and health education for 56 patients. The goal of this service trip was to provide vision and dental care services to a community with barriers to healthcare, as well to provide a valuable interprofessional experience to our students through the collaboration of each separate healthcare educational programs.