Dentaltown May 2017 - 72

Hearing of the positive results from the implementation of the
program,8 the New York Department of Education requested that
the chapter provide curriculums to all its Manhattan substance
abuse counselors.
Forming partnerships with the New York Parks Department,
the YMCA, the Boy Scouts, the Police Athletic League,9 the United
Nations NGOs10 and the Miss New York Organization,11 Fialkoff
decided to bring the "Truth About Drugs" campaign to those
challenged daily by drug-related crime and tragedy on the street: law
enforcement officials and officers. He started with the NYPD School
Safety Officers, campus cops posted in the New York school system.
Training sessions started with safety officers from the Brooklyn South
branch and the rest followed, borough by borough, requesting their
own events. Fialkoff had his hands full, training agents in Staten
Island, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan until he had effectively
trained all 5,000 officers and agents in the city.12
Seeing the reach for effective drug education materials and the
need for health professionals to take a leading role, Fialkoff presented

Fialkoff and Miss New York 2015 Jamie Lynn Macchia with students after a
drug education and prevention presentation at a New York school.

the program at the Greater New York Dental Meeting,13 the Greater
Long Island Dental Meeting, the Queens County Dental Society
and the CONAOD XXI convention in the Dominican Republic,14
signing up dentists from around the world to participate.
By 2015, the New York Drug Free World chapter had presented
to more than 100,000 teens in New York, with a resultant 19 percent
drug abuse drop in youth.

Joining the Drug-Free Movement
The fastest, most effective way
to deliver the truth about drugs to
your community begins with a study
of drugfreeworld.com's booklets and
videos, which viewers can order any
or all of the 14 booklets in the "Truth
About Drugs" series, including "The
Truth About Prescription Drug Abuse,"
"The Truth About Painkillers" and "The
Truth About Heroin." And they're all free.
For community presentations to groups and schools,
order the "Truth About Drugs"
education package, which
includes a 19-lesson curriculum replete with lesson
plans, award-winning PSAs
and documentary, posters
and booklets.
After conducting several
presentations, dentists can
request proclamations from
their local council members.
These can be displayed in

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MAY 2017 // dentaltown.com

waiting rooms, and photos can be sent
to local dental societies for coverage in
newsletters. National dental publications can also highlight these events,
generating a groundswell of health care
professionals actively working to improve
their communities, aiding constituent
dental societies' initiatives of controlling
drug abuse, and turn the tide on opioid
and opiate abuse.

Youth and adult versions of the
Drug-Free Pledge are also available online
to post and promote for signatures at
community events and activities.
And for those dentists looking to
educate health care professionals on the
program, Fialkoff's organization provides
training on how to create and host drug
awareness and prevention events.
"We can as leaders help to change
all of the downturn that
has occurred over the past
decade," says Fialkoff. "The
'Truth About Drugs' program
honestly educates the very
children who will in short
order be in charge of our
futures and country. The
American Dental Association
and each one of us will be
recognized as those who
turned things around in a
time of vital need."
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown May 2017
