Public Employee Press

Dental staff warn public on closings

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Chanting “No dental, No teeth!” and “No justice, No peace!” dozens of union activists protested Feb. 26 against the mayor’s plan to shutter 43 dental clinics as early as May 1.

Demonstrators from DC 37 locals 768 and 1549, the Doctors Council, UFT and SEIU 1199 leafleted outside the Dept. of Health in lower Manhattan to alert morning commuters to the threat to the school and community clinics.

“Through good and bad economic times, mayors have kept the free clinics open for over 104 years,” said Fitz Reid, president of Local 768, which represents registered Dental Hygienists and Dental Assistants. “But even when the city had a billion-dollar surplus, Mayor Bloomberg and Health Commissioner Frieden pushed to suspend the program.”

While the city has spent millions on advertising campaigns urging New Yorkers to stop smoking and cut trans fats, the Health Dept. is virtually silent on its free dental care for the city’s poorest children.

Commissioner Dr. Thomas R. Frieden favors closing the school dental clinics for good to save the city $3 million in fiscal year 2010, said Local 768 Chapter Chair Dale Brooks. And PEP has learned that he is disposing of the dental equipment like a foreclosed property to any taker for a nominal administrative fee.

Mayor to end free dental care
“Unions are uniting to protect services that are essential to young New Yorkers in underserved communities,” Reid said. “Our members provide 50,000 free visits a year to 17,000 poor and immigrant youth who will have not any dental care at all if we’re gone.” Since most of the clinics are in public schools, students get free dental treatment without missing classes.

The layoff list includes eight Hygienists, 36 Assistants and a dozen administrative staff, whose jobs will end in June, and 32 Dentists, whose jobs will end in May, Reid said. “The mayor wants to balance the budget on the backs of workers and the poor.”

“Some kids we see have never been to a dentist,” said Local 768’s Gail Fishbein, who works in Brooklyn and Staten Island clinics. “We are their only resource for free dental care.”

“Teeth require constant maintenance,” said Hygienist Gail Kashdan, who works at the Corona clinic and three school facilities in Queens.

DC 37 is fighting for budget restorations for the clinics, and union leaders are hopeful that outreach and coordination with City Council members, parents and community groups will turn things around. “This demonstration is part of the fight for a fairer budget that could keep the clinics open,” Reid said. “We have a moral obligation to protect our city’s children.”