Many hygienists retired during pandemic
South Royalton’s HealthHUB recently received a $350,000 congressional earmark to provide restorative dental care for area adults as well as upgrade the mobile operatory for its existing school-based dental hygiene program. However, HealthHUB is running into the same problem so many area businesses face: it can’t start offering services because qualified employees are in short supply, founder Dr. Rebecca Foulk said in a recent statement.
Competition for Registered Dental Hygienists is particularly intense because many experienced hygienists retired when their supervising dentists closed down for long months during the pandemic, and training programs for that profession were curtailed for two years for the same reason. HealthHUB founder and president, Rebecca Foulk, MD, said, “We’ve always had good luck finding dedicated hygienists because we offer a lot of independence and top salary to introduce dental care and oral health education to mostly low-income kids who can’t get it anyplace else. But multiple job ads posted everywhere we can think of have not been successful.”
Dr. Foulk said dental patients in the White River Valley community might be able to help. “If you know of a retired hygienist or one who works far from home, tell them there is important work in a brand new, mobile operatory that travels to schools in South Royalton, Strafford, Chelsea, Sharon, Bethel, Tunbridge, Stockbridge, Randolph and Rochester. It’s the kind of pioneering dental care that will make you proud of your profession.” A complete description of the program can be found at healthhubvt.org.