Presenting our 2020 Pennsylvania Dental Association award winners:
PDA Distinguished
Service Award
Dr. Ronald K. Heier
The Annual Awards Committee selected Dr. Ronald Heier for
the 2020 Pennsylvania Dental Association Distinguished
Service Award in recognition of his leadership and service to
the dental profession at the local, state and national level.
In addition to his dedication to organized dentistry that goes
back to the 1980s, Dr. Heier continues to demonstrate his
personal commitment to the underserved as a volunteer with
a multitude of clinics and missions, including Community
Volunteers in Medicine, Donated Dental Services, Give Kids a
Smile, Chester County Community Dental Health Center,
Kansas Mission of Mercy and the ADA Mission of Mercy.
In addition to serving as Second District Trustee, Dr. Heier was
PDA vice president and Annual Session chair. He was a PDA
delegate or alternate delegate for 26 years.
Since 2013, Dr. Heier has served as a board member and the
Chair of Volunteers for MOM-n-PA, an annual two-day clinic
providing free dental care for Pennsylvanians who cannot
afford it. At the most recent MOM-n-PA mission, in 2019 at
Wilkes-Barre, nearly $1.2 million of dental care was donated.
The mission has treated over 10,000 patients since it began
in 2013.
Dr. Heier’s acceptance remarks:
It is a great honor to receive the prestigious PDA Distinguished
Service Award in this time of disruption in our dental
community. Dentistry is more than a profession for most of
us; our offices are a second home. Not being able to practice
dentistry these past six weeks has given me a renewed love
for my profession. I miss seeing my patients and the social
interactions with the staff at Community Volunteers in Medicine
where I volunteer. Hopefully, each of us will be able to adapt
to the changes needed to treat patients in the age of
COVID-19. Dentistry has always been at the forefront of
infection control, which leads me to believe that the early
warnings about needing negative pressure rooms and
patients waiting in their cars until called to our treatment
chairs will be found to be unnecessary.
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JULY/AUGUST 2020 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL