One by One
Healthy Capital District, Recipient

Healthy Capital District

Albany, New York

Supporting healthy smiles

For more than 25 years, Healthy Capital District has worked to improve community health across New York’s Capital Region. By partnering with local hospitals, health insurers, county health departments, charities and other organizations, the nonprofit has developed initiatives to address the key barriers that prevent people from accessing care. Since the nonprofit’s founding by a small group of public health leaders, it has helped more than 150,000 children and adults receive health services they might not have otherwise accessed.

Among the Healthy Capital District initiatives making a daily impact is Seal a Smile, a school-based preventative dental care program. With the support of Whitney Young Health, a federally qualified health center, Seal a Smile delivers no-cost oral health services, including dental screenings, cleanings, fluoride treatments and sealants, as well as classroom education on oral hygiene. Dental hygienists provide care during the school day using portable equipment. They also respond to emergency dental situations and provide urgent dental care coordination for families to access services outside of school. The program is now in more than 70 schools and provides services to about 3,500 children in local school districts or Head Start programs.

Promotional bags help carry out the mission

Because a signed consent form is needed from a student’s parent or guardian before they receive care, the Seal a Smile team handles—and transports—a lot of paperwork. “We give educational presentations at each school. We go from classroom to classroom and we talk about taking care of your teeth at home, which is the most important thing to do for your mouth,” said Rebecca Klimek, Seal a Smile clinical director. “And then we talk about our program and hand out consent forms. We’re always scrambling to find bags that can hold the hundreds of consent forms we need to carry to the schools.”

A one by one grant provided tote bags for the program. Promotional bags help the dozen Seal a Smile team members carry consent forms on school visits and transport equipment for mobile services. From toothbrushes and toothpaste to tools, gloves, masks, cleaning wipes and bibs, the essentials needed for a pop-up dental care station are carried from place to place in branded bags. Those who put on the educational presentations also use the bags to carry puppets, oversized teeth models and teaching tools. “We’re a nonprofit. All of our services are offered at no cost to families, schools or school districts, so we don’t have an enormous budget for marketing,” Klimek said. “It’s awesome for our staff to be able to have these bags.”

The promotional tote bags also become thank-you gifts. Team members leave a tote bag for the parent coordinator, school nurse or whoever else might have helped facilitate the visit. It helps remind them the Seal a Smile team is there to help.

A note from Cheryl

Healthy Capital District has spent years improving lives across the Albany metro area—including those of the students and families served by Seal a Smile. We were proud to provide nonprofit promotional items to help advance this important mission. If you’re interested in a one by one grant, visit onebyone.4imprint.com.

For more information about Healthy Capital District, please visit https://www.healthycapitaldistrict.org/

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