It’s been six years since the U.S. Army partnered with the American Red Cross at Fort Polk, La. in a pioneering dental assistant program that trains military spouses, veterans and other military family members in a specialized field of work. Individuals are once again reaping the benefits.
The hiatus was mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the availability of dental clinics as partners in the program. Now it’s back, with dozens of trainees participating in the program in Louisiana, across the country and worldwide.
“It was really the pandemic. Outside dentists and dental assistants didn’t want to come on post out of fear of getting sick,” Lina Arena, a regional program manager for the Red Cross, told Military.com. “There has to be buy-in from dental clinics for the program to be a success.”
Fort Polk, La., is one of dozens of military installations operating the Red Cross dental assistant certification program.
The installation’s partnership with the American Red Cross and Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital’s Shira Dental Clinic provides military spouses, dependents and other eligible military members an opportunity to gain professional healthcare training while supporting patient care and military readiness.
Graduation Day at Fort Polk
Recently, the Fort Polk program graduated a small group of military spouses for dental assistant careers. Arenas said the goal is to give them portable skills they can take anywhere their military service member might be deployed.
Anna Gulley, a military spouse, said she enrolled in the program after spending several years as a stay-at-home mom.
“I wanted to find a skill I could turn into a career,” Gulley told Military.com. “I wanted to teach my children the importance of learning, proving to them that you’re never too old to learn.”
Gulley and her classmates Misty Fumi, Jill Jaragoske and Kayla Sharp are all military wives who received American Red Cross Dental Assistant Program certificates at a June 5 ceremony, recognizing the completion of their training in general dentistry, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral surgery, radiology and dental laboratory procedures.
In existence since the 1970s, the Red Cross dental assistant training program offers more than 25 active dental training programs every year on military installations in the U.S. and overseas. Nearly all the programs at other bases have been continuously operational except for a brief pause during the height of the COVID pandemic, with Fort Polk being the outlier.
According to the Red Cross, priority is given to active-duty military dependents, retirees and veterans with military base access. Trainees often spend 30 to 40 hours per week or more, for six to seven months, of intensive classroom and textbook education, followed by hundreds of hours of hands-on assistance.
Training Program Offers Transferable Skills
The program is a non-licensing course, but the certificate of completion is highly transferable, allowing military spouses and others to find jobs at or near other federal installations—especially when their active-duty service member could be deployed elsewhere.
Arena said it’s about helping military spouses contribute to their families while simultaneously building outside skills.
The Red Cross wants to be the holding hand that says we can help put you in contact with opportunities that can be transferable in other states and around the world.
Gulley said one of the best aspects of the program is helping patients improve both their oral health and confidence.
“Seeing a person come in with pain and leave without it, or finally be proud of their smile again after hiding it, is so rewarding,” she said.
Jaragoske, who previously worked as a dental assistant before stepping away to raise her family, said the program was an opportunity for her to resume the career she loved.
“We had just moved to Fort Polk when I saw that the Red Cross was offering this program. I couldn’t sign up fast enough.” Jaragoske said. “There were many nights where I was studying in the high school parking lot while I waited for our eldest to return from an away soccer match.
“It was exhausting but very rewarding to push myself through it.”
Col. Patrick Miller, a hospital commander, praised the graduates during the ceremony for their commitment and perseverance. In remarks shared with Military.com, Miller directly congratulated the class.
“Over the last seven months, you made a deliberate choice to invest in yourselves,” Miller said. “You chose to step outside your comfort zone, learn a highly technical profession and challenge yourselves in a way that demanded both courage and grit.”
The graduates balanced their family responsibilities, personal obligations and the demands of military life while continuing to pursue their goals, he added.
“The ceremony isn’t just a recognition of the clinical skills that you’ve acquired,” he said. “It’s a celebration of the character that you’ve demonstrated.”
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