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Greater Orlando Dental Hygiene Association Newsletter

APRIL 2008

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Tues. May 6 "Clinical Studies of Oral Rinses"

Kelly Wolf

Johnson & Johnson

HealthCare Representative

1 CE

VCC West Campus 6:30 PM

Bldg 6 Room 202

Sept 25 -28 FDHA Symposium

Orlando Airport Hyatt

HYGIENE SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR VCC MISSION TRIP

Five Valencia dental hygiene students and myself have the awesome opportunity to be part of a medical mission trip to Nicaragua this June. We wish to provide 500 school children with toothbrushes, toothpaste and fluoride varnish treatments. We need your help to be able to do this. Please ask your dentist employers if he/she could donate:

toothbrushes (child sizes)

toothpaste (small tubes) and/or

fluoride varnish

Please bring any requested items to the next GODHA meeting and we will be there to collect them. We will be happy to answer any questions you have as well. If your office can donate, but you can't come to the hygiene meeting, we still need these items - so they can be sent to the dental hygiene department at Valencia (address below). The trip is June 14 - 22, so time is of the essence for us to get these necessary supplies. I can also be contacted at 407-582-1570 to answer questions or arrange pick-up of items.

This is an excellent service learning opportunity for these students and I hope you can support our efforts to increase dental disease prevention in Nicaragua. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Kitty Harkleroad

Valencia Community College

1800 S. Kirkman Rd.

Orlando, Florida 32811

kharkleroad@valenciacc.edu

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

On Friday, April 11th, SB2670 passed as amended on the Senate floor. FDHA requested that any language pertaining to supervision levels for the dental hygienist should be removed from the bill. You can visit the final language at www.myflsenate.com. You may be asking what happened to our section of the bill. The Florida Dental Association opposed the initial language and in negotiations with the Governor's office, FDA developed "alternative language" which was presented as an accepted compromise that all dental related professional organizations would agree to. In actuality, it placed more RESTRICTIONS on our practice act. We were able have the restrictive language removed. As for the progression of the House Bill, it has not even been heard in committee yet. It is interesting that the Vice Chair of the House Health Care Committee that the bill was assigned to is Rep. Alan Hays, a Retired Dentist.

President McDonough, Tami Miller, Cookie Martin, myself and our lobbyists, Fred, Katie and Trevor had weekly, sometimes daily, conference calls to stay on top of this legislation. The week of Smile Day, Jackie, Tami, Cookie and Trevor put countless hours of work at the Capitol, meeting with key legislators and leadership. Working on this bill was definitely a team effort. I want to assure you that even though we did not get the language that we had hoped for, we have been successful in building a relationship with the Governor's office. The most important message to take from this session is who truly lost...the poor-under served citizens of Florida. We are going to fight to make a change for those who cannot fight for themselves. Governor Crist is committed to making a change to improve dental health. You will see this pursuit continue. Thank you for hard work and commitment.

Betty Dalton, R.D.H.
Chairperson FDHA Council on Governmental Affairs

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

Special Olympics Florida(SOFL) will be holding the State Volleyball Championships in Orlando on Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17 . As part of the event, Healthy Athletes/Special Smiles will provide non-intrusive dental screenings, written report card, oral health education (brushing and flossing techniques) and personal preventative products for the 500 athletes attending. Volunteer hygienists and dentists are needed to participate in Special Smiles to conduct the screenings and dental assistants are needed to record the data and provide oral health education. You may volunteer for one or both days. The event is being held at Champions Sports Complex, 6700 Kingspointe Parkway, Orlando, 32819, near John Young Parkway and Sand Lake Rd. The schedule is:

Friday, May 16 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Saturday, May 17 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM lunch provided

If you and/or your staff members would like to participate in this event, please sign up as soon as possible by contacting me with your name(s), phone #(s), email address(es) and the day(s) you can volunteer. Thank you for considering being a part of SOFL Special Smiles !!

Paula Schad, RDH Clinical Director - Area 7 SOFL

home 352 429-9241 cell 352 223-5033 pesrdh@aol.com

NOMINATIONS OF OFFICERS 2008-2009

Election of officers will be held at the May 6th meeting. Anyone interested in the open positions please contact Paula Schad pesrdh@aol.com

President - open

President- Elect- open

Vice President- Desiree Franklin

Secretary- Sherry Brewer

Treasurer- Sarah Eichner

Our Sponsors

The Greater Orlando Dental Hygiene Association would like to acknowledge the following companies and speakers for their very generous contributions to our continuing education and recognition events. We would also like to thank them for introducing their varied products and services to our membership.

Align Technology,Inc.

Invisalign

Bryson Johnston

Regional Development Manager

407-733-4495

bjohnston@aligntech.com

3M ESPE

OMMNI Preventive Care

Steve Priola

Preventive Care Consultant

904-537-7930

spriola@mmm.com

Benco Dental