ADHA Access July 2012 : Page 6

Installation Message to the 89th ADHA Annual Session By Susan Savage, RDH, BS, ADHA President I { want to share a story about a time when I found myself at a crossroads and chose to challenge myself in a way that would completely redefine my life and my future. When I graduated from dental hygiene school back in 1988, I couldn’t wait to get my first job and begin help -ing patients as a clinical hygienist. As luck would have it, I went to work for a long-time family friend. Working in that practice provided me with a great experience in a friendly environment that I still remember fondly to this day. But after three years of working in this comfortable setting, as often happens, life intervened. In 1989, my mom passed away, and this loss caused me to start thinking about my life and my future. I considered what was really important to me and set out to make some goals for myself. I knew that I couldn’t get what I wanted out of life by remaining on the safe and comfortable path that I was travelling at that time. As I considered my options, I realized that I wanted to move beyond my safe world of traditional dental hygiene and that I was inspired to do something to help other peo-ple who had few or no options for oral health care. I knew that I wanted to do something that was going to make a real difference in the world. I knew that I couldn’t get what I wanted out of life by remaining on the safe and comfortable path that I was travelling at that time. Then I thought about Dr. Karen Yoder, my public health instructor in dental hygiene school, and all of the exciting opportunities that she had taught us about as a part of her class. I did a little research and wrote a letter—this was back in the days before texting and email, if you can even imagine that. Anyway, I wrote to the Indian Health Service in Washington, D.C., asking for more information about career opportunities that I found posted in the back of the Journal of Dental Hygiene . Within a month, I found myself on the phone with Candace Jones, RDH, MPH, from the Indian Health Service, who was the hygienist in charge of the Alaska Public Health Service dental hygiene program. We talked for over an hour on the phone, and I was impressed by what I heard, because in a very short time, I was planning a journey to Anchorage with a connection way out to my site visit in Bethel. Then things began to happen fast. Four months later, I moved to Alaska. Believe me, it wasn’t without sec -ond thoughts. In fact, when the plane landed in the village where I would be living and working, I was sure that they had let me off at the end of the earth. What unfolded was a wonderful, life-changing experi -ence that altered the course of my journey forever. I had fulfilled my dream of helping Alaska natives who truly had no options to get the dental care that they needed, and in addition, I met my husband John, who was a dentist with the Alaska Public Health Service. After our time in Alaska, we moved to Washington State, where we own a family dental practice. We started a family, and I got involved with the fantastic people in the Washing -ton State Dental Hygienists’ Association. All these events helped to shape the person that you see before you today. I want to emphasize that none of this would have hap -pened if I hadn’t gotten outside of my comfort zone and tried doing something that I had never done before. As I read and thought about the ADHA environmental scan, I saw a connection to my own professional life story. I, too, have been at critical points professionally, and as I begin this chapter of my life as ADHA president, I am committed to leading ADHA and the profession through this critical point in our evolution and adapting to the changes ahead. In that spirit, I challenge each of you to get outside of your personal comfort zone, in ways both small and truly life-changing. We need to meet the demands and bright promises that our profession will offer in the future. Being a part of ADHA leadership on any level calls for each of us to build an organization that supports, empow -ers and develops dental hygienists. At this critical time in our history, we would be remiss in our duties if we didn’t encourage dental hygienists to be ready to adapt to change and prepare for the future. But just as I had to think criti -cally about the direction I wanted my life to take, each of us needs to know where we want to go and how we’re go-ing to get there. Sharing this lesson means that we all need to learn to set our own professional goals and aspirations and map a course to help achieve them. ADHA is here to guide you on your way. Our respon -sibility is to bring the 2012-2015 strategic plan—created through the insights of the environmental scan—to life! This visionary document explores the future of oral health and the changes that we as dental hygienists must make to contribute to the health and well-being of society. The scan intentionally focuses on issues that could challenge as-sumptions about the profession and requires ADHA and all of us to explore new and often challenging opportunities. ADHA must rise to all of the challenges and opportunities described in the environmental scan and strive to practice collaborative leadership. This means that by working in tan -dem with other groups, ADHA will remain the driving force in shaping the way that dental hygiene is practiced in the future. I am excited to now build upon successful ADHA programs such as the inaugural Dental Hygiene in a Changing World workshop in Chicago. Based on feedback from the workshop participants, we will continue to improve the workshop and focus our efforts on assisting dental hygienists in pursuing new employment or entrepreneurial career options. Yet another initiative building momentum at ADHA is our effort regarding accreditation. We established a solid founda -leadership message continued on page 8 6 JUL 2012 access

Leadership Message

Susan Savage

I want to share a story about a time when I found myself at a crossroads and chose to challenge myself in a way that would completely redefine my life and my future. When I graduated from dental hygiene school back in 1988, I couldn’t wait to get my first job and begin helping patients as a clinical hygienist. As luck would have it, I went to work for a long-time family friend. Working in that practice provided me with a great experience in a friendly environment that I still remember fondly to this day. But after three years of working in this comfortable setting, as often happens, life intervened. In 1989, my mom passed away, and this loss caused me to start thinking about my life and my future. I considered what was really important to me and set out to make some goals for myself. I knew that I couldn’t get what I wanted out of life by remaining on the safe and comfortable path that I was travelling at that time. As I considered my options, I realized that I wanted to move beyond my safe world of traditional dental hygiene and that I was inspired to do something to help other people who had few or no options for oral health care. I knew that I wanted to do something that was going to make a real difference in the world. Then I thought about Dr. Karen Yoder, my public health instructor in dental hygiene school, and all of the exciting opportunities that she had taught us about as a part of her class. I did a little research and wrote a letter—this was back in the days before texting and email, if you can even imagine that. Anyway, I wrote to the Indian Health Service in Washington, D.C., asking for more information about career opportunities that I found posted in the back of the Journal of Dental Hygiene. With in a month, I found myself on the phone with Candace Jones, RDH, MPH, from the Indian Health Service, who was the hygienist in charge of the Alaska Public Health Service dental hygiene program. We talked for over an hour on the phone, and I was impressed by what I heard, because in a very short time, I was planning a journey to Anchorage with a connection way out to my site visit in Bethel. Then things began to happen fast. Four months later, I moved to Alaska. Believe me, it wasn’t without second thoughts. In fact, when the plane landed in the village where I would be living and working, I was sure that they had let me off at the end of the earth. What unfolded was a wonderful, life-changing experience that altered the course of my journey forever. I had fulfilled my dream of helping Alaska natives who truly had no options to get the dental care that they needed, and in addition, I met my husband John, who was a dentist with the Alaska Public Health Service. After our time in Alaska, we moved to Washington State, where we own a family dental practice. We started a family, and I got involved with the fantastic people in the Washington State Dental Hygienists’ Association. All these events helped to shape the person that you see before you today. I want to emphasize that none of this would have happened if I hadn’t gotten outside of my comfort zone and tried doing something that I had never done before. As I read and thought about the ADHA environmental scan, I saw a connection to my own professional life story. I, too, have been at critical points professionally, and as I begin this chapter of my life as ADHA president, I am committed to leading ADHA and the profession through this critical point in our evolution and adapting to the changes ahead. In that spirit, I challenge each of you to get outside of your personal comfort zone, in ways both small and truly life-changing. We need to meet the demands and bright promises that our profession will offer in the future. Being a part of ADHA leadership on any level calls for each of us to build an organization that supports, empowers and develops dental hygienists. At this critical time in our history, we would be remiss in our duties if we didn’t encourage dental hygienists to be ready to adapt to change and prepare for the future. But just as I had to think critically about the direction I wanted my life to take, each of us needs to know where we want to go and how we’re going to get there. Sharing this lesson means that we all need to learn to set our own professional goals and aspirations and map a course to help achieve them. ADHA is here to guide you on your way. Our responsibility is to bring the 2012-2015 strategic plan—created through the insights of the environmental scan—to life! This visionary document explores the future of oral health and the changes that we as dental hygienists must make to contribute to the health and well-being of society. The scan intentionally focuses on issues that could challenge assumptions about the profession and requires ADHA and all of us to explore new and often challenging opportunities. ADHA must rise to all of the challenges and opportunities described in the environmental scan and strive to practice collaborative leadership. This means that by working in tandem with other groups, ADHA will remain the driving force in shaping the way that dental hygiene is practiced in the future. I am excited to now build upon successful ADHA programs such as the inaugural Dental Hygiene in a Changing World workshop in Chicago. Based on feedback from the workshop participants, we will continue to improve the workshop and focus our efforts on assisting dental hygienists in pursuing new employment or entrepreneurial career options. Yet another initiative building momentum at ADHA is our effort regarding accreditation. We established a solid founda- Tion this year through our letter-writing campaign to the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), but we’re not done! ADHA was proud to take another step in this direction by undertaking an accreditation feasibility study. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the existing dental hygiene accreditation process and determine whether there are appropriate options such as the establishment of a new independent accreditation agency or use of an alternative existing accreditation program. The investigation includes research on the history of CODA, focus groups of key dental hygiene program stakeholders and recommendations to ADHA on the possible accreditation options for the profession. We will receive the final report from our accreditation consultant, Mike Hamm, this fall during our Board of Trustees meeting. The accreditation study final report will provide us with the data and information to assess our next steps on the course toward professional autonomy. As an intermediate step, we have written a letter to CODA requesting greater representation on the commission based on the number of dental hygiene education programs in existence today. With 334 entry-level dental hygiene programs, one commissioner is simply not adequate to represent our profession. This is especially true when you consider the number of dental education programs that have a much higher representation of dentists on the commission. We will keep you informed of all our efforts. Clearly, by working together through ADHA on issues such as educational advocacy, we can make a big difference in shaping the future of our profession. ADHA remains committed to building liaison relationships with other organizations to work on solving the problems outlined in our strategic plan. Through our strategic alliance goal, we will continue to ensure that ADHA has a place at the table when oral health policy issues are discussed. ADHA and our state associations are gaining momentum by participating in coalitions with a variety of groups and foundations to create dental hygiene-based workforce models across the country. We are confident that the coalitions in Kansas, Vermont and Washington will continue working together and will consider submitting legislation again this coming year to create new oral health providers. In addition, we are excited about legislation in a number of other states that will work through coalitions to increase access to oral health care and move the dental hygiene profession forward! In all this liaison work, ADHA advocated for dental hygienists and for models that incorporate dental hygiene as a part of the solution to the access to care crisis. We continue to be committed to any new provider being licensed, having an accredited education and having direct access to the public. We firmly believe the new providers will better utilize the existing workforce and have a powerful role in bringing care to those currently outside the oral health care system. New providers are just one avenue by which we are working towards our future. We have a broader agenda and are seeing progress in states like New Hampshire, where House Bill 1537, allowing primary care providers to provide preventive oral health services to children up to three years of age under the state Medicaid program, has been signed into law. Another example is West Virginia, where a new law enables dental hygienists with a public health practice permit to place sealants on a patient’s teeth without a prior examination by a licensed dentist. Florida became the 45th state to achieve local anesthetic administration for dental hygienists this year! We only have five states to go to make what has been a common everyday practice for some of us a national practice standard. Congratulations to all of you who have worked hard in your state to advocate for advances in dental hygiene! Given the renewed interest by legislators, the public and especially the national media, we are confident that we are making the right moves at the right time to position our profession for success. Each of us plays a vital role in this work. More than ever, I cannot emphasize enough the need for you to help us educate your legislators and patients about our profession, our education and the ways we practice. Have you noticed lately that the national media is starting to pick up the access to care story more often? Help us share our story so that each of you can be part of the nationwide movement to chart the path toward a successful future for dental hygiene. The ADHA Board of Trustees, through the strategic plan, continues to place a strong emphasis on professional autonomy. We take every opportunity to ensure ADHA and dental hygienists are engaged in all conversations that deal with the future of dental hygiene education, curriculum and requirements. Together, we must continue our efforts to govern our own profession. ADHA has established bold membership projections based on our opportunity to celebrate—all year long—our 100th anniversary as a profession! This goal can be achieved only through the efforts of all dental hygienists across the country. You have probably already heard that the winning tag line for the anniversary in our Facebook contest is “100 Years of Dental Hygiene: Proud Past, Unlimited Future.” Using this great theme, I am excited to talk with dental hygienists across the country throughout this next year about issues that are important to them and how ADHA is investing in their future. We learned through our brand focus groups that when dental hygienists are educated about all that ADHA does, they begin to see the value that ADHA membership can provide them. I challenge each of you to be a strong advocate for ADHA membership. Our conversations with dental hygienists across the country need to go beyond just supporting their professional association. I am asking you to talk with your colleagues about the things that ADHA does on their behalf. I ask you to keep up-to-date through subscribing to ADHA’s new district listservs, by reading ADHA Update, and of course by keeping up with all the news in Access magazine. Finally, I would ask you to share some of what ADHA is up to with a friend or coworker. I guarantee you they will see our professional organization in a new light. I want to stand at this podium next year in Boston and celebrate with you 100 years of success and the achievement of our membership goals. So remember, let’s use the opportunity of the 100th anniversary of dental hygiene to proclaim not just the year of the dental hygienist, but the year of the ADHA member! Let’s work together to reach our membership goal so that we can live up to the celebration’s tag line: “100 Years of Dental Hygiene: Proud Past, Unlimited Future!” Our path will not always be easy to navigate. There will be obstacles to overcome. Goals such as having more control over our profession will require stamina and long-term commitment. Again, we will need to grow in order to achieve critical mass and speak with the loudest voice possible to advocate for our profession. In conclusion, I want to express my sincerest thanks to our new Past President Pam Quinones, RDH, BS, and all the presidents before her who pass the reins of leadership to me. Our newly elected trustees, along with those who are continuing their terms, will have no problem achieving ADHA’s goals based on the solid foundation that we have created together. I know ADHA is well-positioned for continued success. I would also like to recognize the ADHA staff that helps us to achieve our goals. Staff is truly our strategic partner in all of our activities and is instrumental in helping us to move our profession forward. I am proud that we have made it as far as we have. The past 100 years of our profession have produced some truly inspiring achievements. We have a wonderful foundation to build upon and a very bright future to work towards. I ask each and every one of you to join in growing our association and to inspire and nurture our future members. And finally, I would ask each of you to embrace change and expand the scope of your profession and reach your goals. Thank you for the privilege and honor to serve as your ADHA president during this centennial year. I especially look forward to meeting many of you personally during my regional visits throughout this year. I wish all of you many great successes that we can share and celebrate next year when we come together again to celebrate 100 years of dental hygiene at the Center for Lifelong Learning at the 90th Annual Session in Boston. Don’t miss this event where we will bring the theme of “100 Years of Dental Hygiene: Proud Past, Unlimited Future” to life! Susan Savage, RDH, BS, was installed as ADHA president on June 19,2012. This column features excerpts from her speech to the Third House of Delegates.

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