Oceana Community Health

Medical-dental integration improves health outcomes in Southeast Florida

Location: Florida
Grant amount: $25,000

Oceana Community Health operates as a community resource for all, focused on meeting Southeast Florida’s healthcare needs, with cultural competence, provider collaboration and patient education. Founded nearly five years ago, it has three physical locations in Florida, including Boynton Beach, Fort Pierce and Miami, offering patient-centered primary and preventive healthcare for patients facing economic, geographic and cultural access barriers.

What began as a small, dedicated initiative to address critical gaps in access and health literacy has rapidly evolved to span seven counties. Oceana offers a multitude of health services such as preventive screenings, behavioral health and dental care at its physical locations, as well as through mobile outreach. Much of the team is multilingual, which builds trust and ensures patients fully understand their diagnosis and the services available to them.

With a dedication to advancing health equity and expanding access to timely, quality medical care, Oceana will use the grant to support Its diabetes and dental access initiative. The program aims to improve diabetes identification, management and oral health outcomes for underserved populations, particularly in areas affected by recent hurricanes, which can heavily disrupt healthcare access and availability.

From a single dental visit, a clinician could see an underlying or compounding issue such as diabetes, that is contributing to the severity of tooth decay in a patient. And the reverse is also true,” said Oceana Community Health Executive Director Dr. Yousef Motii. “This initiative is all about the integration of connected fields of medicine, in particular with oral health. This grant will strengthen the bridge between dental care and diabetes management, that often goes overlooked in the community, to really deliver impactful patient care.