Dental assistants can play a greater role in ensuring the safety of the clinical environment, prompting the Dental Assistants’ Foundation (DAF) to award the Organization for Safety, Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP) Foundation a $95,000 grant. OSAP will use the funding to support research, scholarship, and education for these valuable employees.
“The DAF recognizes the mission and goals of the OSAP Foundation to be in alignment with the DAF’s mission and goals as it applies to the education of dental assistants,” said DAF chair Ellen Landis.
The grant was given in memory of Anna Nelson, CDA, RDA, MA, an advocate for advancing dental assistants’ understanding of and compliance with the guidelines, regulations, and best practices to prevent disease transmission in dental settings. It also is being awarded in the wake of the DAF’s dissolution, as its leadership distributes its assets to organizations with similar missions.
The OSAP Foundation will use the grant to fund a comprehensive safety education, scholarship, and research program geared toward dental assistants. Its goal will be to underscore the importance of dental assistants, particularly in regard to their role in infection control.
Specifically, the program will support dental assistants who serve or want to serve as the infection control coordinator in their practice setting. In fact, OSAP has named September its Dental Infection Control Awareness Month, spotlighting guidelines, resources, and the role that infection control coordinators can play in practice safety.
“OSAP is focusing on the infection control coordinator this month and is offering multiple free resources to support this important member of the dental team,” said OSAP executive director Therese Long. “We are anxious to further advance these efforts through this new grant and by leveraging our partnerships and resources.”
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