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Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs
July 24, 2024
Students explore dental careers hands-on
Young people draped in yellow
scrubs, face masks, and bright blue
gloves bent over a table, a pair of
hemostats wedged between their
fingers, quietly and intently thread-
ing the thick and pliable skin of
banana, stitch after stitch.
That was one of the dozens of
scenes captured during Dental
Week earlier this month, when 16
current high school students and
recent graduates from across Or-
egon were at the School of Den-
tistry exploring what a career in oral
health care would be like. Students
from Warm Springs who partici-
pated were Keith Charley III, Lily
Moses and Yamilei Adams.
A highlight for the students was
suturing the skin of the banana.
“We sutured in the shape of Ws,”
said Logan Ajifu-Santos, a Parkrose
High School student.
The 10 young women and six
men also experimented with wax-
ing a dental model, assisted by fac-
ulty member Christina Truong,
D.M.D. Each student held a probe
like a pencil, heated to 250 degrees,
and dipped it into a sticky wax be-
fore dripping it onto a tooth model.
They were building a tooth cusp ridge.
The experiential part of learn-
ing can often be the most reward-
ing and effective way to hold
someone’s interest. That’s why
these experiences are baked into
Dental Week, a new initiative in-
tended to draw more young
people—especially under-served
populations—into the profession.
Diverse backgrounds
The students were from the
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Leadership
OHSU
Warm Springs Dental Week student at OHSU.
Springs, Klamath Tribes and Kla-
math County, Jefferson County,
and Portland, Parkrose and
Woodburn school districts.
Of the group, 38 percent iden-
tify as American Indian-Alaskan
Native, 12 percent as Black Afri-
can American, 26 percent as
Latino-Hispanic, 12 percent as
multiracial-other than white and 12
percent as white.
A local clinician, Thien-Y
Hoang, D.M.D., from Permanente
Dental Associates, opened the
week with an overview of oral
anatomy and basic dentistry vo-
cabulary, such as occlusal (chew-
ing surface) and dentin (under
tooth enamel) People get their
lower front teeth first by age 6 or
7 and the upper front teeth next.
Overall, 20 teeth appear within the
first year of life. By the time of
adulthood, one typically has 32
teeth, according to Hoang.
The program is a collaboration
with the OHSU School of
Dentistr y, Permanente Dental
A s s o c i a t e s , a n d O n - Tr a c k
OHSU! This was the first of what’s
expected to be two annual sessions.
On Track OHSU! is a health
and science pathways outreach pro-
gram working to increase the num-
ber of middle and high school stu-
dents from underrepresented back-
grounds in the health sciences and
Oregon’s biomedical workforce.
Permanente Dental Associates
is an accredited partner of Kaiser
Permanente Dental, providing com-
prehensive, quality dental care in
Oregon and Southwest Washington
for 50 years.
Some expect to be dentists
someday, like Osvaldo Legaria,
from Woodburn, who will attend
Chemeketa Community College in
the fall. Others are still exploring
possible career tracks, like Diana
Santiago who also recently gradu-
ated from Woodburn High School.
That’s why she was at Dental Week,
as well as taking part in other On
Track programs.
“Find ways to differentiate your-
selves,” said Dean Ron Sakaguchi,
D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D., M.B.A., as he
offered words of wisdom about the
oral health care field. He suggested
the students explore research as one
option to stand apart.
“Take advantage of opportuni-
ties that come to you. You can
never know how what you learn
today—like this Dental Week expe-
rience—could apply to your career.”
Journeys into the field of den-
tistry can take many forms.
Cyrus Lee, D.M.D., CEO and ex-
ecutive dental director of
Permanente Dental Associates and an
OHSU School of Dentistry alumnus,
didn’t have a direct path after college.
Instead, he took two years off.
“This time was an opportunity
to look at myself and decide what
the next chapter would be,” he said.
Lee had done research projects
with OHSU while in college and
extended that work while he con-
sidered dental school. He also tu-
tored immigrant children and taught
at an alternative high school.
“Make the most of your de-
tours,” said Lee.
Diversifying the health care
workforce leads to better health out-
comes, according to research. How-
ever, there is a health care workforce
shortage that is hampering improve-
ment efforts. Oregon’s current bio-
medical workforce is not representa-
tive of the state’s demographics. Den-
tal Week is an effort to change the
current trajectory for dentistry in the
state to the benefit of the profession
and the community.
$100,000 grant for museum’s Native arts
The Museum at Warm Springs
this month received a $100,000
grant to support Native arts.
The funding will support Na-
tive arts through programming fo-
cused on supporting artists and
inter-generational sharing of ar-
tistic skills and knowledge, as well
as supporting the museum’s orga-
nizational stability.
The grant comes from First the
Nations Development Institute,
bsaed in Colorado, through its Na-
tive Arts, Language and Knowledge
Program. The grant is made pos-
sible through the generous support
of Margaret A. Cargill Philanthro-
pies.
“This generous grant from
First Nations Development Insti-
tute will provide much-needed
and extremely welcome support
for our annual traditional master
arts workshops for Warm Springs
artists, who are central to the
Ceremonial
burn pit
The ceremonial burn pit is
available for grieving families to
use for their loved one’s personal
belongings. Please contact Land-
fill staff to arrange a time to
access the area. Please make sure
staff is available after their daily
tasks. This is generally in the
mornings, but pre-arranged times
can be any day of the week.
Staff are not responsible for
the burning of personal items, a
family member or their desig-
nee need to present from start
to finish and contact the Warm
Springs Police Department and
Fire Management’s Dispatch
prior to ignition.
The landfill number is 541-
553-3163. The answering ma-
chine is checked on a
regular basis.
Joie Simtustus, Confeder-
ated Tribes of Warm Springs,
Environmental Health and
Sanitation.
Permanent
supportive
housing
First Nations
Elizabeth Woody photo
Tule reeds at the museum for a mat making class.
museum’s programming,” said
Elizabeth A. Woody, museum ex-
ecutive director.
Last year and the year before,
224 students participated in the
museum workshops. “And we are
so pleased that we’ll be able to con-
tinue hosting these important work-
shops during the two-year grant
period,” Ms. Woody said.
The grant monies also will sup-
port three rotating exhibitions in
the Changing Gallery.
This will begin with the
Thir ty-First Annual War m
Springs Tribal Member and
Youth Exhibit, opening in No-
vember, Ms. Woody said.
The First Nations Develop-
ment Institute has worked to
strengthen American Indian
economies to support healthy Na-
tive communities.
First Nations is a Native-led
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization,
investing in and creating innovative
institutions and models that
strengthen asset control and sup-
port economic development for
American Indian people and their
communities.
First Nations began its national
grantmaking program in 1993.
Through year-end 2023, it had
successfully managed 3,385
grants totaling nearly $80 million
to Native American projects and
organizations in 45 states, the Dis-
trict of Columbia, and U.S. Ter-
ritory of American Samoa. For
more
infor ma tion,
visit
firstnations.org
The Supportive Housing
Program of the War m
Springs Housing Authority
has partnered with the Behav-
ioral Health Center to de-
velop Permanent Supportive
Housing. This includes a num-
ber of units on land across
from the trailer court area.
Per manent Supportive
Housing is a direct rental and
housing assistance program
for members of the Warm
Springs community who are
chronically homeless, with
limited income, having men-
tal health issues, physical dis-
abilities, and or drug and al-
cohol use disorders, who also
have an acute housing need.
Eligibility standards are as
follows: The person must be
an adult community member
of Confederated Tribes; and
be a severe or chronically
homeless resident referred by
the Behavioral Health Center.
Another example: If you
were homeless and went to
residential treatment to get out
of the elements and then left
treatment and came back
homeless.
Other standards: Lack of
supportive housing; have
medical, mental, substance
use issues, or physical issues
that are detrimental to being
in the elements.
Be homeless or at high
risk of being homeless.
The potential tenant
should provide proof of in-
come. Examples include:
Tanif, Snap, SSD, SSI, Child
Support, Employment, G.A.,
etc., if the person has any.
The person must have in-
come below the 60-percent
guidelines to qualify.
To obtain housing, go
through the screening pro-
cess for qualification to en-
sure you meet the necessary
criteria for Permanent Sup-
portive Housing.
If you meet the tenant cri-
teria for Permanent Support-
ive Housing, then a case man-
ager will begin to work with
you and Warm Springs Hous-
ing Authority to find an avail-
able home.
Per manent Supportive
Housing assists with placing
a tenant in a safe home. Ten-
ants are responsible for prov-
ing their rental needs.
The project includes ten,
one-bed, 650-square-foot
homes, and a duplex for a
small family. Support on-site
will be provided by a Behav-
ioral Health Center profes-
sional.