Since 2005, Oral Health Partnership has focused on improving the oral health of underserved Brown County children through dental services and education. In the 18 years since its inception, the nonprofit organization has made quality children’s dental care its North Star.
“We are always asking, ‘How can we help more kids?’” says Jim Van Miller, D.D.S., OHP founding member and emeritus board member. “We have a phenomenal team that makes things happen for the kids who need our help, and we are in and of our community. Our patients feel like they belong because they do belong.”
The OHP team serves children at five locations (the fifth was added in February 2022), as well as through school-based programs. OHP also provides hospital services for children with special needs or who may need general anesthesia during their dental treatments. 2022 was a record-setting year, as the OHP team served more than 11,000 economically disadvantaged children’s dental needs through more than 25,000 dental appointments. Care is provided by mission-driven individuals in a professional environment that is also welcoming, open and understanding.
“One of the things we are most proud of is that we provide care with dignity. Feedback to a customer survey this fall was phenomenal,” Van Miller says. “We are providing really high-quality care, and the patients recognize and appreciate that.”
Oftentimes, the care children receive goes far beyond free dental care and oral health education. This is something to which Kealey Neuville, D.D.S., can attest. Neuville, who primarily serves patients at OHP’s Howe Community Resource Center location, sought an opportunity to make a difference every day.
“OHP comes down to the heart of each staff member and employee,” she says. “When you walk in, you enter an environment that’s like a private practice with a high level of expertise that’s very welcoming and has an accepting spirit. I like to say, ‘Welcome to the greatest dental experience of your life.’ We teach the kids the importance of taking care of their teeth and good oral hygiene, creating lifelong habits. But we also have the opportunity to be positive influences in their lives.
“I make it clear that they’re worth [investing time] in their oral health,” she adds. “I tell them good things, whether that’s acknowledging how easy they are to talk to, how smart they are, how brave or whatever I see that makes them special.”
Today, OHP employs six full-time dentists and seven full-time dental hygienists. Other providers and additional team members comprise what Van Miller believes is the state’s largest nonprofit dental organization. It’s quite a feat for an organization that began when a dedicated group of community volunteers sought to address the alarming number of children in Green Bay emergency rooms with dental pain and issues. The Healthy Teeth, Healthy Kids initiative started with a mobile, in-school dental clinic. The Oral Health Partnership grew from that and, in 2007, opened its first clinic at the Howe Community Resource Center.
“The partnership of businesses, groups, schools and others is why we are called Oral Health Partnership,” Van Miller says. “All these people agreed to come together to address the issue. Our first year, we saw 87 kids but with immense care and dedication came more — more partners, more dental equipment, more team members, to address the need that was clearly present and continues to be present.
“We couldn’t do what we do without the partnerships that allow us to see more than 100 kids a day from the lowest-income families in Brown County.”
Dental decay is no longer the leading cause of students missing school. Nationally, 30% of any eligible Medicaid children receive dental care; in Brown County, it exceeds 50%. And still, OHP focuses on how it can further elevate its work.
“We hear stories all the time about how it’s completely changed lives,” Van Miller says. “A mom may tell us she’s never heard her 3-year-old talk so much, and she’s eating, and it’s because she’s no longer in pain. Or kids are getting better grades or are more engaged at school. Kids are talking and coming to life because they’re not in untreated pain. That makes the work so worth it.”
