SCDAA Newsletter

 

From the President's Desk . . .

To the Members of the SCDAA

What a great time it is to be a dental assistant! Recently I was honored to be your representative at the 85th ADAA Annual Session in Honolulu, HI. Also attending as a delegate was Lois Bell of the Greenville Dental Assistants Society and Bettie Rogers as an alternate delegate. There are some exciting changes on the horizon! A very important issue was voted on and passed dealing with a new membership category, E-Membership. This will be an alternative for those who are not sure that full membership in the ADAA is for them. E-Members will receive membership at no cost, will obtain their correspondence electronically but will not receive the same benefits of full membership. We are confident however that once they see how full membership will be of a benefit to them, they will want to convert.

In August, the SCDAA had the privilege to be a part of the first SCDA DAD (Dental Access Days) Project which took place in North Charleston. Dr. Carter Brown of Greenville chaired this event, which was a huge undertaking. We were fortunate enough to have had the assistance of the North Carolina and Virginia Missions of Mercy groups to lend not only their expertise, having done these projects for several years now, but their equipment and supplies as well. The SCDAA played a large role in being responsible for sterilization and supplies, as well as coordinating dental assistant volunteers. In the end, 147 doctors, 71 dental assistants, 61 hygienists, 113 dental students and 200 community volunteers treated 1563 patients and did $568,000 in charitable dentistry. It was wonderful to see how everyone came together. It didn’t matter what anyone's “job” description was, everyone jumped in and helped wherever they were needed. Doctors assisted doctors, hygienists sterilized instruments and dental assistants were utilized in a multitude of areas from chair-side assisting to sterilization to radiology to patient triage and registration. No one was grumpy, patients didn’t mind waiting and were extremely grateful for the gift of oral health they received. It was one of the most exhausting, exciting and exhilarating experiences that I have ever been a part of. I encourage each of you to volunteer a day or two when the next project comes along. You will never forget it.

This time of year also brings back a project that the ADAA has been an active participant in for several years now, Wreaths Across America. The ADAA along with the Federal Services soldiers and airmen will be raising donations for Wreaths at Arlington and across the United States. December 12th a delegation from the ADAA will be placing wreathes at Arlington National Cemetery, Lois Bell and I plan to participate in this event. Each year there are 10,000 graves at Arlington that have these wreaths placed by volunteers. Since the ADAA is a sponsor of this event, our members can donate to have a wreath placed at any national cemetery. Just visit the website, www.wreathsacrossamerica.org. The ADAA sponsorship ID is FLAADAA01. For a $15.00 donation you can have a wreath placed at any of the locations found on the website home page. What an incredible tribute to our fallen heroes.

We are in the process of putting together an email database to be able to get information to you in a timely manner. If you would like to be included on future emails, please contact me at lori@scdaa.net. I hope you will continue to check the website for upcoming events and items that are important to the dental assisting profession. As always, feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, concerns or ideas.

Happy Holidays!

Lori Paschall, CDA, FADAA