The concept
The UDDP model concept was developed in 1999 by CHYRON Group co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Henry Hood. Recognizing that community integration was putting greater pressure on community healthcare providers - who, research has shown, are inadequately trained to care for people with intellectual disabilities - Dr. Hood created a model that established an outpatient clinic within a local intermediate care facility. This outpatient clinic would not only serve community-based patients with ND/ID, but would also train future dentists to care for them, and conduct patient-centered research focused on improving their quality of health and life.
In 2001, the precursor to the UDDP model received legislative approval in the Commonwealth of Kentucky through House Bill 144. In 2002, the Underwood & Lee Clinic opened its doors in Louisville, and established an affiliation with the University of Louisville School of Dentistry. Later that same year, the clinical protocols put in place by the clinic founder were featured in the Surgeon General’s Report entitled “Closing the Gap”.
Patients and their families drive great distances - sometimes as far as 300 miles each way - to obtain services at the clinic.