Nurse of the Week: Nursing Student Katelyn Nordhoff Teams Up with Dentists to Provide Local Kids with Much-Needed Dental Care

Katelyn Nordhoff, 22, a junior nursing student at Indiana University, didn’t realize how few kids in nearby low-income neighborhoods receive regular dental care twice a year until she began a community clinical course this semester. The course is designed to teach students about health disparities in rural and low-income areas.

To complete her community hours, Nordhoff was stationed at Bloomington Housing Authority providing basic health screenings. She began to see a disparity in dental care especially after learning that many families she saw didn’t have normal health insurance, and even those with health insurance didn’t have dental coverage. Referring to dental care, Nordhoff told the Bloomington HeraldTimesOnline.com that, “It’s kind of something you don’t even think about when you think of health care.”

While working with kids from kindergarten through 4th grade, Nordhoff saw the effects of not visiting a dentist twice a year. Many of the kids hadn’t even been to the dentist twice in their lives. Wanting to help teach these young kids the importance of brushing and flossing twice a day, she asked for donations from local dentists and received enough materials to put together 175 dental kits with neon toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss. After passing out the kits to kids in the local Boys and Girls Club after-school program, Nordhoff taught them the best ways to brush and floss their teeth.

We’re honoring Katelyn as our Nurse of the Week for her inspiring work as a community nursing student helping low-income families and their children receive the health care they need when dental care gets too easily overlooked.