PAXTalk

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Prevention For Every Child in America - Discussion at NPN this week in California

Dear colleagues, A number of us will be at the National Prevention Network meeting in California this week to discuss making universal access to prevention part of the national agenda for health-care, public safety and economic competitiveness. I will be presenting how we can do this under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Federal Parity Act, Response to Intervention. Health Care Reform and other policy tools in session 6a on Friday, September 18, 8:30-10:00. Since my sessions are typically crowded, so show up early to get a seat. Please feel free to chat with me or Dr. Pat Aaby who is also attending. These discussion are a continuing outgrowth with multiple state governments and multiple Federal agencies. Several states are actively moving forward with these ideas that can literally save billions of dollars, and can clearly impact issues of substance abuse and related difficulties. We can talk in detail how you might bring the idea of Universal Access to Prevention forward, instead of the prevailing prevention rationing models. On a related note, we urge you to show the recent Pride Survey data report (www.pridesurveys.com) showing a national increase in alcohol, tobacco and drug use among 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in America to your local elected officials. This is like taking the blood pressure for the future of our country, since early use of tobacco and alcohol are serious predictors delinquency, early sexual behavior, school failure, violent crime, mental illness, lifetime poor health and economic productivity. The Pride Surveys track the Monitoring the Futures Survey almost exactly, and both the MTF and Pride have very high historical prediction and reliability. Why are these data important to the argument for Universal Access to Prevention by parents, teachers and communities? For the past 8 years, funding for prevention has been declining significantly and communities have been forced to ration access to prevention by logic models that limit access to smaller and smaller populations or groups. Real prevention is not even on the table for discussion in our mass media or legislative hearings, and screenings are not the same thing as real early prevention that is now widely scientifically documented and sensible to our grandmothers. This kind of perverse logic is setting America up from an epidemic of problematic behaviors in our children from mental illness, disabilities, school difficulties, and of course substance abuse. When confronting problems, disorders or diseases that have morbidities of 10% to 50% of the population such as the Polio, Swine Flue, depression, cancer, or ATOD addictions, you cannot halt—let alone reverse the prevalence—by reaching just 1% to 5% of the population with proven behavioral or medical prevention strategies. Nearly all must be "inoculated" to achieve population-level, public benefits. So join this discussion with us at NPN or online.

Posted By Dennis Embry At 10:25 AM • Comments (2) Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks :
http://paxtalk.com/pt/blog/track.aspx?id=20

Congratulations PAXIS Institute & 29th Street coalition on the large grant written up in the 'Arizona Daily Star' today (09-20-2009). Another project in a state that ranks prevention almost as low as education, if not lower. Tucson, it appears, will continue to have projects that lead the country using evidence-proven prevention practices to turn yet another neighborhood around for the betterment of all of Tucson. Hey, all you state legislators, get a grip on priorities for the state of Arizona. PAXIS Institute could save this state billions of dollars and it appears no one is paying attention (with the exception of federal government and the Drug Czar in Washington DC). I wonder what would happen if let's say 'The Good Behavior Game (TM)' was introduced and put into practiced in the legislative and executive branches of State Government. Viola, we'd have peace and adult who would learn to play well with on another for the benefit of the entire state.

Comment By Mindy At 9/20/2009 5:24 PM

I wish I could spell. I meant to write: 'we'd have adults who would learn to play well with one another for the benefit of the entire state.'

Comment By Mindy At 9/20/2009 5:27 PM

Please logon or register to comment.