Recent Immigrants Benefit from GSDM Outreach Effort

On April 1, 2014, recent immigrants to the Boston area benefited from a community outreach effort led by the Boston University chapter of the American Student Dental Association (ASDA) and the Global & Population Health office at Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM).

The Notre Dame Educational Center (NDEC) Dental Health Fair offered health promotion, education, age appropriate activities, and referrals to NDEC students. Volunteers gave oral health screenings to 26 attendees of the fair. The event was organized by ASDA Community Outreach Co-Chairs Ingy Alhelawe DMD 15 and Neelam Shah DMD 14, in collaboration with Oral Health Promotion Director Kathy Lituri. GSDM volunteers have held this event biannually for several years.

Founded in 1860, NDEC is a comprehensive adult educational center, which offers many resources for immigrants. Among the programs offered by NDEC are English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes, a high school diploma program, and a literacy program. They also offer support services, such as career counseling, immigration counseling, tutoring services, and education counseling.

“It was a great event with many participants from NDEC and ASDA volunteers,” said Shah.

The GSDM volunteers were: Ingy Alhelawe DMD 15, Sana Banday AS 15, Yousef Behbehani DMD 16, Rubbiya Charania DMD 16, Justine Karanian DMD 15, Shireen Khan AS 15, Michael Lee DMD 15, Linda Linsinbigler DMD 15, Kathy Lituri, Monica Schmidt DMD 17, Neelam Shah DMD 14, and Jake Ward (pre-dental).

Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter said, “Thank you to Kathy Lituri and all the volunteers that worked to make the School’s outreach at the Notre Dame Educational Center an enduring success.” He continued, “It is through efforts like this that the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine succeeds in its mission of excellence in community service.”