Geisinger Health Foundation Receives First Federal Charitable Foundation Grant

Geisinger Health Foundation received a $35,000 First Federal Charitable Foundation grant to support Geisinger Health Plan’s (GHP’s) mobile dental health unit and purchase three LanguageLine InSight Video Interpreting translation devices to better serve residents in the Greater Hazleton area and northeast region.

Geisinger Health Foundation will use $10,000 of the grant funding to support its Mobile Dental Health Unit, which provides a full spectrum of preventive and diagnostic dental health services for all children in pre-K through grade 12.

The 38-foot-long vehicle allows GHP’s dental health team to travel to schools, community centers and pediatrician offices to administer dental exams, X-rays, cleanings, fluoride treatments and sealants, as well as provide home oral hygiene care education and instruction, and nutritional counseling. Services are provided at no cost to the patients or location.

Geisinger Health Foundation is also using $25,000 to purchase LanguageLine InSight Video Interpreting translation devices. The video remote interpreting is available on tablet, smartphone or laptop and allows limited-English speakers, as well as the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, to feel heard and seen by another person.

Through this device, a patient can interact with the digital interpreter, and the dental team will better understand the patient. The device can translate 41 different languages, including American and British Sign Language.

“Thanks to the First Federal Charitable Foundation and these new translation devices, our team will have a better understanding of the needs and concerns of the patients we see on the mobile unit,” said Michael Halupa, DDS, medical director of dental services at GHP. “This enables us to provide exceptional care to everyone, regardless of their language, culture or ability to communicate.”

For information about the mobile dental unit, call 570-452-7430 or email MobileDentalUnit@geisinger.edu.