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175 Main Street
Hartford, CT 06106
860.246.2644
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About COHI
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The
Connecticut
Oral Health Initiative, or COHI
for short, is a state-wide
collaborative of dental professionals, business and community leaders.
Our Mission is Oral Health for All.
We work to persuade, educate
and inform decision makers and the general public about the important
issues involving oral health. We started in 1992 as a project of the
Connecticut State Dental Association and incorporated as a separate
501(c)(3) non-profit corporation in 2003. We are supported by your
tax-deductible contribution and grants from progressive foundations and
businesses.
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Minority,
Poor Children in Connecticut Have Worse Oral Health
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Kaiser Health Discrepancies Report
September 20, 2007
Minority children in Connecticut
experience severe tooth decay at twice
the rate of white children, and poor children -- regardless of race or
 ethnicity -- are three times more
likely to have multiple cavities by
third grade than those from families with higher incomes, according to
a report released on Tuesday by the Connecticut Department of Public
Health, the Hartford Courant reports.
The
report is a part of the national Every Smile Counts survey. State
investigators during the past year administered oral exams to children
enrolled in Head Start preschool programs, public school kindergarten
and third grade.
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Oral Health for All
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October 5, 2007 |
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Bush Vetoes SCHIP Legislation
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By Elaine S. Povich
October 2007
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3-President Bush today vetoed a bill that
would
have expanded SCHIP (the State Children's Health Insurance Program) by
$35 billion and covered 4 million more children-despite wide and deep
congressional support. The veto set up a political confrontation over
the popular program.
A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that more than seven
in 10 Americans supported the expansion of SCHIP. But Bush has remained
adamantly opposed. Speaking today in Lancaster, Pa., he said, "Poor
kids first. Secondly, I believe in private medicine, not the federal
government running the health care system."
Read the Full Story ...
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Opportunity to be Heard
on Oral Health Issues |
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A
Town Hall Conversation
on Health & Financial Security
AARP Connecticut
invites you to "Take a Seat at the Table" to discuss health and
financial security issues.
Hosted by NBC 30
Senior Political Reporter Tom Monahan
Monday,
October 15
Meriden
Four Points Sheraton
275 Research Pkwy., Meriden, CT
8:30 A.M. Registration & Free Continental Breakfast
9:30 A.M. Opening Program.
10:30 A.M. Shared Stories from the Audience
11:45 A.M. Program Concludes
This event is free.
To register, call 860.548.3167 or email ctaarp@aarp.org. |
Another Opinion
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| Bitten by Bias
Waterbury Republican-American Editorial
September 26, 2007
The state Department of Public Health recently sponsored an "oral
health survey" of preschoolers, kindergartners and third-graders to
"determine the need for additional dental programs and interventions."
To no one's surprise, the department, which is in the business of
programming and intervening, found lots of cavities.
...
The
DPH set the state's tooth-decay rate at 34 percent. Poverty pimps and
the news media blamed the government for "violating the rights of poor
people by denying them access to the same level of dental care enjoyed
by the rest of the state's residents" (our
emphasis). They faulted
greedy dentists for not accepting niggardly Medicaid "reimbursements"
to treat low-income patients, but stopped short of calling the Tooth
Fairy a racist. In one news story, "Connecticut's decay rates were the
lowest in the country" was mentioned almost parenthetically.
...
"The bottom line is, no matter what your race or
economic status, you are at risk of dental disease," Commissioner J.
Robert Galvin said. More obvious: No matter your race or economic
status, you are at risk of government incrementalism and media
sensationalism.
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