Course recommendation - Trafficking in America
Hello ACDE Friends! On September 24, 2021, the University of Washington partnered with the Washington State Hygienists' Association and offered the course "Trafficking in America: A Learning Forum for Dental Professionals". The course was presented by Linda Blackiston, BS, RDH - trained as a hygienist, now working to bring attention to and free people from trafficking.
Linda presented a multi-faceted course - what is trafficking (it's more than what you think), who is impacted by trafficking, what do you do if you see someone in your dental chair that you see signs of that person potentially being trafficked, or who were brought in by a person you think could be that person's trafficker?
This may be something you don't want to think about, or it would never happen to you, but it does happen, and this course was an eye opener. We had dentists and hygienists openly saying that yes, they have had patients they suspect were being trafficked. With this class, now they have some resources of who or which organization to contact for help (and those numbers on hand for when they are needed!), tools to know what part of the dental exam could be triggering, and who should you look to locally, state/province-wide or federally?
Please consider this as a class - such an important topic and empowering to our dentists and their team members to equip them to help others who might be in a position where they can't help themselves.
We had it for 4 hours - recommend to hold it for 2-3 hours instead. I do have a recording if you would like to see it.
Linda Blackiston <lblackiston@thesamaritanwomen.org>
Director of Community Engagement
The Samaritan Women - Institute for Shelter Care
602 S. Chapel Gate Lane | Baltimore, MD 21229
410.459.3424
Thanks for reading!
Sally in Seattle
Thanks for the suggestion, Sally!