Over the past 10 years, many Long Islanders have spotted a giant, eye-catching red van making its way through Nassau and Suffolk Counties — Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine’s Mobile Oral Health Services Clinic. Beyond sightings on the highways, the 40-foot clinic on wheels has garnered attention for the oral healthcare services it has provided to underserved communities in its decade of existence.

Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine’s Mobile Oral Health Services Clinic.

Offering a comprehensive scope of services, the Mobile Oral Health Services Clinic is fully equipped with three dental operatories and is manned by a team of experienced dental faculty, dental hygienists, dental assistants and pediatric dentistry residents.

It is readily evident that access to care has expanded through the Mobile Oral Health Services Clinic’s existence. Since the 15 patients of its inaugural year, the mobile clinic welcomed close to 800 patients in 2019 alone and is nearing 5,000 patient visits overall. Visitors are offered services, including oral health education, screenings, cleanings, fluoride treatments, routine operative care, sealants and emergency care.

The Mobile Oral Health Services Clinic partners with organizations providing critical services to vulnerable populations, including homeless shelters; human service agencies; elementary schools; Head Start Programs; Women, Infants and Children Programs; Give Kids A Smile® events; and health fairs.

Relationships with community programs through the Mobile Oral Health Services Clinic expand well beyond the initial visit. The mobile clinic returns to locations with regularity to ensure continuity of preventive and restorative care. Perhaps more importantly, all patients of the Mobile Oral Health Clinic are welcomed as patients of the Dental Care Center, the School of Dental Medicine’s teaching clinic, therefore establishing a “dental home.”

“The Mobile Oral Health Services Clinic has been essential in the dramatic expansion of oral healthcare outreach and services by the School of Dental Medicine in the past decade,” said Interim Dean Dr. Allan J. Kucine. “I am honored to have been part of the initial team integrating the mobile dental clinic into our programs and now look forward to the announcement of the gift of an additional mobile dental clinic in 2021. We will continue to expand these necessary services to our community with pride and dedication.”

Read the full story: https://news.stonybrook.edu/featuredpost/dental-medicines-mobile-oral-health-services-clinic-celebrates-10-year-anniversary/

A new outreach program coined “DIY Prosthetics” introduces Long Island K-12 students to the basics of engineering design. More than 50 pre-college students of diverse backgrounds (gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic class) have participated in the program and crafted their own cardboard prosthetic hand using only simple household items. The project’s goal was to provide supplementary education to children ages middle school to high school and to inspire the next generation of STEM workers.

Students creating a prosthetic hand. 

“The University Community Relations Office is proud to bring the campus and grade schools together for exploring career paths and learning new concepts,” said Joan Dickinson, assistant vice president of community relations. “The DIY Prosthetics project is a great example of SBU’s engagement and commitment to serving Long Island.”

Developed together by Stony Brook’s Dr. M. Ete Chan and Michael Ly ’22, the program aims to foster community relations between the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) and local Long Island organizations through a cross-collaborative approach.

During the program, students are taught the fundamentals of iterative design and learn about various prosthetic devices through notable references and representations in pop culture, such as Luke Skywalker’s prosthetic hand from Star Wars. Students also gained insight into how musculoskeletal tissue acts to move the body and how model components like cardboard, drinking straws, and string together attempts to replicate this functionality.

Each event offers students an adapted look into the BME field based on their age group and the employed teaching method.

“Partnerships and collaborations expand opportunities and open doors for scholars. By Joan Dickinson connecting our LILTA summer scholars with the SBU Department of Biomedical Engineering, our students were afforded a meaningful STEM activity to better understand the concept of prosthetics,” said Dafny Irizarry, president of the Long Island Latinos Teachers Association.

The “DIY Prosthetics” series provides an exciting opportunity for pre-college students to learn about engineering over the summer months. The outreach program plans to continue promoting early interest in STEM education throughout the next future years.

Read the full story: https://news.stonybrook.edu/homespotlight/biomedical-engineering-academy-provides-hands-on-experience-to-middle-school-students/

On the last weekend in April, 2021, Stony Brook University students took part in the Southhampton Warner Island Beach Cleanup. Students from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) boarded the RV Peconic, traveled across eastern Shinnecock Bay, disembarked in shallow water, and waded ashore to clean up the beach.

Ten adventurous seniors participated for the first time, along with faculty and staff from the Southampton campus. Plastic, paper, discarded fishing line, ropes, and various forms of trash were removed from the island.

Student participants cleaning up Warner Island Beach. 

“Our students have a strong environmental ethic and often participate in coastal cleanup events to help protect our marine and coastal wildlife and to improve our coastal environment for all,” said Kurt Bretsch, Semester by the Sea director and SoMAS faculty member.

The group was blessed with clear weather, and the island was teeming with wildlife. They spotted harbor seals, horseshoe crabs, seagulls, and more.

“Traveling to Warner’s Island is especially meaningful for our students since it allows them to annually contribute to the Town of Southampton’s Great East End Clean-Up initiative at a location that is inaccessible to most members of the community and a frequent destination for field trips during our Semester by the Sea program,” said Bretsch.

This eighth year of the annual activity was especially important for the Southampton community as participants remembered Ryan Durie, a beloved fellow student, and friend who passed away this year.

Read the full story: https://news.stonybrook.edu/homespotlight/semester-by-the-sea-students-clean-up-warner-island-beach/