The Friends of Barron annual dental clinic has affected the legislative process in Colorado. A recent legislative action, House Bill 1045, concerned the application of Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) by dental hygienists and was introduced by Representative Jonathan Singer and Senator Tate. During the House committee hearing, one of the people to testify was Deb Astroth, RDH, BSDH, a member of the Barron dental mission team. She mentioned in her testimony the history of use of SDF with the children of Barron.
The committee unanimously voted to sent the bill to the full House where it was passed and sent to the Senate. The Senate committee invoked a rarely used procedure to Supermotion the bill to the full Senate without a hearing as the full committee was supportive.
The Senate passed the bill and Governor Hickenlooper signed the law on March 22, 2018.
Friends of Barron is thrilled to participate in this marriage between science and politics. Without the intensive database maintained by FOB volunteers, compelling statistics that lead the way to legislative decisions would not have been available.
Thanks must go out to the Estrella Del Mar community for supporting our work both monetarily and physically, but also to the dedicated cadre of dental professionals who have traveled to Mazatlán annually for the last seven years. Working under MASH-type circumstances, they brave floods, outages, chaos and crowds, working their magic amongst the elementary school students in Barron. All of them. All 200 of them. Every year.
FOB is very proud to have contributed to the impeding health and welfare of the children of Colorado.
Jose Francisco – Age 19 – Jose is enrolled in the Polytechnic University of Sinaloa studying to become an Engineer of Animation and Visual Effects. During the week, he works 24 hours a week in a hotel and in a cyber cafe and contributes half of his monthly earnings to his college education. In Barron, he volunteers helping younger kids participate in the arts and in sports. He hopes to set up sports tournaments and works at finding uniforms and equipment for kids to use while participating in these tournaments.
Jose Carlos – Age 20 – You might have seen him working at La Tienda de Chula’s Store in Barron. He’s the one with the big smile and with pretty good English. He was a FOB scholarship student during Prep School, but decided to postpone his University entrance for a year so he could work. He spent a year working in the fields around Barron and quickly decided that he needed a higher education if he was going to be able to get a good job. In 2017, he entered the University of Sinaloa as a student pursuing a degree in Public Accounting. He works 35 hours a week during school and 80 hours a week during vacation to help pay for his education. He is a sports enthusiast and for this community project (it is a requirement for Scholarship students to propose and implement a community project) he sees sporting events as a way to involve Barron’s youth and help keep them away from the usual problems of alcohol and drugs. He is an “A” student.
Ana Iris – Age 18 – Ana is enrolled in the Instituto Technologico de Mazatlan studying to become a Biochemical Engineer. With this degree, she hopes to work in Nutrition for big food producing companies like Pinsa or Bimbo. In her spare time, she likes to participate in traditional folkloric dances. For her community project, she wants to help obese people understand their nutritional issues and the need for exercise. She sees the need in Barron for a local gymnasium. Her ultimate goal is to study abroad and learn English. During school, she plans to work 24 hours a week and 48 hours per week during vacations with the goal of contributing $4000 pesos a month towards her own education.
Jose Francisco – Age 19 – Jose is enrolled in the Polytechnic University of Sinaloa studying to become an Engineer of Animation and Visual Effects. During the week, he works 24 hours a week in a hotel and in a cyber cafe and contributes half of his monthly earnings to his college education. In Barron, he volunteers helping younger kids participate in the arts and in sports. He hopes to set up sports tournaments and works at finding uniforms and equipment for kids to use while participating in these tournaments.