Flu clinics, oral health learning sessions: Seacoast health news
Dartmouth Health awarded $1.9M grant to expand epilepsy program nationwide
LEBANON – Dartmouth Health’s HOBSCOTCH Institute for Cognitive Health and Well-Being was selected for a $1,875,000 five-year federal grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Institute will use this grant to implement the HOBSCOTCH program (Home Based Self-Management and Cognitive Training Changes Lives), an evidence-based self-management program, across the country to help improve the lives of people living with epilepsy.
An estimated 3.4 million Americans live with epilepsy, and up to three-quarters of them suffer with cognitive issues related to their disease and the treatments used to control seizures. Dartmouth Health’s program helps patients learn skills to better manage their memory and thinking problems and the effects these challenges have on daily life. Currently, the HOBSCOTCH Institute, based at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), is able to offer its telehealth deliverable services to hundreds of epilepsy patients across the United States, but this grant will allow for the Institute to significantly expand its impact both regionally and nationally over the next five years.
“The goals of this project are based in the science of public health, with this effort aiming to increase healthcare system capacity to provide people and communities with equitable access to quality epilepsy care that includes evidence based self-management. The Institute aims to make improving cognitive function and quality of life a reality for all people with epilepsy, regardless of their location or status,” said Elaine T. Kiriakopoulos, MD, MPH, MSc, co-founder and director of the Institute and principal investigator on this effort. “By implementing a ‘hub-and-spoke’ approach with outposts of HOBSCOTCH referral and delivery centers spread throughout the United States, providers and epilepsy patients nationwide can benefit. Providers will have support from an expert multidisciplinary team at the Institute’s central hub and patients will receive one-on-one support from skilled and trained Cognitive Coaches to learn valuable strategies for managing their disease and improving well-being.”
Regionally, the Institute will collaborate with the Northern New England CO-OP Practice and Community Based Research Network to streamline the referral process to the program, with a goal of improving access and better supporting people with epilepsy in rural and underserved communities. Nationally, a network of 19 epilepsy centers—including the Mayo Clinic, Yale New Haven Health, and the University of California San Francisco Weil Institute for Neurosciences—were recruited to participate in this five-year project, forming the HOBSCOTCH Institute Translational Network. This network consists of epilepsy centers that have demonstrated strong and consistent interest in collaborating with the Institute over the past two years with early program adoption and patient referral.
“Working with our partners at some of the country’s highest-caliber medical centers, we are confident this five-year effort will make our program a best practice standard of care for people with epilepsy and cognitive challenges,” said Barbara C. Jobst, MD, Dr.med., FAAN, FAES, chair of neurology and neurocritical care at DHMC, creator of the HOBSCOTCH program, co-founder of the Institute and co-principal investigator. “Dartmouth Health has long been a leader in epilepsy care, and this federal funding will enable us to share HOBSCOTCH, which has been so helpful to countless epilepsy patients in our region, on the national stage.”
Funding for this project will begin on Sept. 30.
Dartmouth Health schedules 2023 flu clinics
LEBANON – As fall approaches, vaccinations against this year’s strain of influenza will become available in the coming weeks. Dartmouth Health is standing up flu shot clinics at multiple locations across the region.
Clinics will be held from September through December. The clinics are offering regular-dose vaccines and enhanced vaccines for people ages 65 and over.
Clinics at Dartmouth Health sites require appointments, made through the myDH patient portal. Dartmouth Health also has compiled a list of walk-in clinics, no registration required, at community sites in New Hampshire and Vermont. For dates and locations, visit: Dartmouth-Hitchcock.org/Flu.
NH Oral Health Coalition announces state-wide Learning and Listening sessions
CONCORD — As the 2023-2024 school year begins anew, the NH Oral Health Coalition (NHOC) is launching a state-wide effort to gather input from key stakeholders and community on school-based dental health programs across N.H.
“We’re excited to meet with local communities to share key information about the impact of oral health programs in area schools as well gather feedback and input,” said Gail Brown, Executive Director of the NH Oral Health Coalition. “Good oral health is essential to whole body health and critical to the learning process for children.”
Over the next several weeks, NHOHC and experienced oral health professionals will be conducting a series of meetings. The schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, Sept. 6, 9 to 11:30 a.m., Dartmouth Hitchcock Public Health Conference Room, 46 Centerra Parkway, Lebanon, N.H.
Thursday, Sept. 21, 9 to 11:30 a.m., Home Healthcare, Hospice and Community Services, 312 Marlborough St., Keene, N.H.
Tuesday, Sept. 26, 9 to 11:30 a.m. AHEAD, 262 Cottage St., Littleton, N.H.
Wednesday, Oct. 11, 9 to 11:30 a.m., Community Campus, 100 Campus Drive, Portsmouth, N.H.
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 9 to 11:30 a.m., Northeast Delta Dental, Two Delta Drive, Concord, N.H.
Each event is free of charge and local community members and stakeholders are welcome, but pre-registration is required. Please contact Brown at Gbrown@nhoralhealth.org to save your seat. “Heart-felt thanks to the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation for their kind support of this project,” she said.
Brown added that programs are also being planned in Laconia and Rochester and NHOHC will be announcing dates for those sites soon.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Flu clinics, oral health learning sessions: Seacoast health news
