surprised . This past year we have continued to provide the high quality member services with a smaller and very dedicated PDA staff as well as the outstanding staff at PDAIS . It continues to amaze me the work product they put out each and every day . Please make the effort to thank them . We have also been able to provide very timely and informative webinars dealing with the Affordable Care Act and changes to HIPAA . Thanks to Camille Kostelac- Cherry , Gil Davis and Tom Weber for their leadership in making these valuable member benefits happen . If we hope to retain our existing members and attract new ones we need to continue to provide our members with high value services that they cannot get anywhere else .
You will be hearing much about this same theme in the coming year , if you have not already . Dr . Charles Norman , the ADA president , started his term off in New Orleans last November with the theme of the “ Power of 3-Building Member Value .” This is all about strengthening the unique tripartite structure that our organization has . In January , I attended the ADA President-elects ’ Conference in Chicago , hosted by the ADA presidentelect , Dr . Maxine Feinberg of New Jersey . The underlying theme of that conference was also the “ Power of 3 .” I am encouraged by the presentations and the discussions I had with my fellow president-elects from
around the country . I am also encouraged by the solutions that came out of that conference . I look forward to seeing a stronger , more efficient , more cohesive and valuable tripartite relationship .
As I wait in the wings to take the PDA stage , I realize how fast the next 12 months will fly by and know that there is only so much a PDA president can accomplish . My goal is to make sure we remain relevant and remain an association that every dentist wants and needs to belong . I want to make sure we reach out to the dental students and make sure they know that PDA is a partner with them now and in the future to make sure they are successful . Can we help them “ work less stressfully , more productively , and more profitably ?” ( I had to throw in a “ Race for Relevance ” quote somewhere .) We need to show them early on what our association has to offer . We need to be in the dental schools early and often and make sure they know our organization is with them and will be with them through their entire careers .
That being said we must not forget the new dentists who are finding their way through the challenges of those first few years of practice . I have been fortunate enough to meet many of these members and talk with them and learn from them . Their wants and needs are much different than mine and most of the members of this House . If the PDA , and for that fact all of the tripartite of the ADA , are to remain the premier dental association in the country , we must provide them with a value proposition . What will we offer , not only these members , but all of our members , that they can ’ t get anywhere else ? During lunch at the ADA Annual Session last October in New Orleans , I had lunch with one of my younger colleagues and asked her why she stayed in Pennsylvania when she had the opportunity to go home and practice with her father . She said because PDA felt like her “ family .” We need to make sure we keep the new dentist in the family or we will continue to see our family dwindle away .
Our member dentists are our MOST important assets and we have to ensure we make them the highest priority at all times .
In closing , I want to share my optimism for the future of PDA . We are on the precipice of a new and better organization that will be positioned for the future . I look forward to a meaningful , thoughtful and collegial debate of our issues at this meeting and once the debate is done , look forward to the changes this body will make . And I look forward to being the president of OUR Pennsylvania Dental Association !
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