Health Fairs

[twaite]

Hello,

I'm wondering if there are any Denturist helping out nursing homes or adult care centers. Do you work in the care center? How did you get your contacts and has anyone ever gone to a health fair?

I went to one in my area, but I didn't seem to get very far. I offered to come there and do everything on site. They said ok, we'll call you when we need help. As you can imagine they haven't called.

What have been your experiences?

Teresa

 

[Flipperlady]

Hello,

I'm wondering if there are any Denturist helping out nursing homes or adult care centers. Do you work in the care center? How did you get your contacts and has anyone ever gone to a health fair?

I went to one in my area, but I didn't seem to get very far. I offered to come there and do everything on site. They said ok, we'll call you when we need help. As you can imagine they haven't called.

What have been your experiences?

Teresa

Hi Teresa,

I'm not a denturist but will try and brainstorm a little. First off I'm not sure how denturists are veiwed in your area. If I ran a nursing home and someone made a cold call, I'd want to see the credentials such as DDS. In that case maybe you could team up with a dentist and split the profits. The new dentists around here are always setting up booths at the local events. I think I would make a nice booth to set up at the local senior events and after awile you'll have some name recognition when you go into the nursing homes.

 

[Smilestyler]

I go to several nursing homes within the same health region. One region looks after multiple hospitals and long term nursing homes. I am the only one that participates in this health region, and I am not aware of other denturists or dentists in other health regions. I began going at the request of families and was later approached by a director of one facility, and then word spread. I have always had good experiences. I recommend to have with you a special care aid (person who works there) because they are familiar with the residents, and can warn you about stuff. Sometimes a family member should be there. It is really difficult to get anything done, because circumstances are never ideal to perform chair side procedures. And I take all lab work back to my office and return later to the home which means at least 2 trips for everything. Oral health is almost always poor, therefore, the work is basic maintenance and never optimum treatment. The work mostly consists of repairs, adjustments, lots of names imbedded, sometimes relines.

 

[AJEL]

Theresa each state has regulations about this. In IL a DDS must have a contract with senior care, and they get very nasty even if a "denture spirit" repairs something for no charge. I have had DDS offer to sue me for their fee even though I repaired something on the request of a family member (broken lower daughter brought by lab).
Now if you are thinking of having a booth at a job or health fair go for it girl. I have gone to one put on my the county with 2 DDS, I did quick repairs while pt watched, the DDS got a few new accounts & I got some atta boys. I put it down on my schedule C as advertising (it was a loss, but great PR). the count charged per booth & extra for electric I needed.