The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has handed out its Tobacco-Free Champion Awards.
The winner in Orillia is Joanne Farrell – she is the interim Coordinator of the Dental Hygiene Program at Georgian College.
Farrell is being recognized for her efforts to ensure that all students and faculty are trained in minimal contact intervention – which is designed to raise awareness of the health effects tied to tobacco use.
Farrell says she is surprised to be recognized – but she adds the recognition reaffirms the need for such an approach to smoking cessation.
Farrell says dental hygienists are health care providers – and as such, are obligated to talk to their patients about the negative effects tobacco has on oral and overall health.
