University of New England

Westbrook College Campus at UNE receives $100,000 from Northeast Delta Dental for groundbreaking dental education initiative

PORTLAND - The University of New England's Performance Enhancement and Evaluation Center (PEEC), to be located on the Westbrook College Campus, will receive a $100,000 donation from Northeast Delta Dental, a northern New England leader in the dental insurance industry, to fund groundbreaking high-tech educational training for the local dental community using patient simulation as the teaching tool.

Northeast Delta Dental has contributed to UNE programs since 1995, including $125,000 in scholarships to students in the Dental Hygiene Program.

"Northeast Delta Dental is extremely proud to be the lead sponsor of the PEEC dental patient simulation initiative," said Thomas Raffio, president & CEO of Northeast Delta Dental. "The Board of Directors of Delta Dental Plan of Maine feels confident that the training provided by the PEEC program will provide the highest quality safety and healthcare skills, to the benefit of the people who live and work in Maine and all of northern New England." 

Jeffrey B. Doss, D.D.S., HA '02, a member of the boards of trustees of UNE and Delta Dental Plan of Maine said, "Northeast Delta Dental's significant contribution to the University of New England's PEEC will enable advanced dental education that is not available anywhere else. We will be able to significantly elevate dental care and education in our region to an unprecedented level."

UNE's dental patient simulation training initiative is the only one of its type in the nation, using patient simulators to prepare dentists to provide the best care possible to their patients. UNE's goal is to provide high quality simulation learning experiences, through hands-on training with true-to-life scenarios, so that healthcare professionals are readily able to recognize, prevent, and manage emergency situations.

Combined with the 21st century technology of the clinical simulation program, UNE's new initiative will provide educational programs for all levels of learning in the Maine dental community.

"The College of Health Professions has a long history of providing oral health education. From the dental hygiene program on campus to the special educational programs held for dentists, our programs recognize the unique and important role of the oral health expert in the medical system," said Ellen Beaulieu, associate provost of UNE and a member of the Board of Directors of Delta Dental Plan of Maine. "We are so fortunate to have the support of Northeast Delta Dental to assist us in providing this unique and vital simulation education to the members of our dental community."

PEEC & Clinical Simulation at the Westbrook College Campus
Health professions students at UNE benefit from state-of-the-art technology and teaching practices incorporated in the Clinical Simulation Program, which will be part of UNE's Performance Enhancement and Evaluation Center (PEEC), located on the Westbrook College Campus in Portland. Once the funds are raised and the building completed, PEEC will be a facility devoted to improving clinical patient evaluation and management skills of not only health professions and medical students at UNE, but practitioners from a variety of organizations and healthcare institutions from around the state of Maine and throughout Northern New England. Groups who have already participated include area dentists, emergency medical personnel, and the National Guard.

The patient simulators are computer-model-driven, full-sized mannequins which can blink, speak, and breathe, have a heartbeat and a pulse, and accurately mirror human responses to many medical procedures, such as CPR, intravenous medication, and intubation. Placed in realistic clinical settings such as patient exam, trauma and operating rooms to produce a real-life environment, this process allows both clinicians and health professions students to be totally immersed in a patient care scenario where they can safely practice and build upon their clinical skills. With medical mistakes costing 100,000 lives per year, according to the Institute of Medicine, the ability to obtain this hands-on realistic learning experience could have a great impact on the lives of the patients UNE's students and other users will be caring for.

Northeast Delta Dental
Northeast Delta Dental, of Concord, New Hampshire, administers the dental benefits of more than 650,000 people in Maine, Hampshire, and Vermont. Its Maine sales office is in Saco. It contributes to oral health initiatives in Maine through the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation and supports many Maine community organizations. A regional and national award winner for its corporate social responsibility and best management practices, it is well known for its Guarantee Of Service ExcellenceSM program, which guarantees seven service areas and reinforces them with a group refund policy. 

(Press release posted Jan. 23, 2007)