Carol Bates , AWSDA President
 

Greetings and welcome to the Alliance!

             Hopefully if you have accessed the Alliance website, you are already a member! Thanks to a dental spouse, your yearly dues to the Alliance of the American Dental Association are paid through the tripartite dues statement.  These dues support the Alliance’s work in your community, state and nation. We are a unique group.  Whether your spouse is in general practice or a specialty, we have a special bond.  Friendship, fun and support for each other are important parts of our organization.  The health and well being of our families is a priority and who better understands our circumstances than another dental spouse? We volunteer in our communities to promote dental health education and care for everyone from pre-schoolers to the elderly.  At our national conference held this year in Seattle, we launched a new pilot program for the elderly called “Senior Smiles”, a dental program designed to reach those most often missed.  We also did a fund raiser for Childhaven, an early children’s center in Seattle for abused and neglected children.  We are raising funds to setup a dental clinic in their new Childhaven facility.   For many years, we have prepared “dental kits” for our state legislators on the “dental team legislation day” in Olympia in January.  We are an integral part of the dental team, developing relationships with our legislators so they will contact us on issues related to dentistry and other issues as well.

After our wonderful Alliance Conference, with lots of fun connecting with old and new friends and learning from great speakers, I am all charged up to jump into the presidency.  The Alliance is the extension of the dental profession into the community and we are important part of the profession.  I look forward to increasing our Alliance circle by creating more ways to make active members in Washington and in our local communities a priority. Partnering closer with the dental societies, igniting previous ideas and creating new projects to deliver dental health education particularly to kids and the elderly are part of my plan.  I also believe the Alliance should continue to take an active role in influencing state and national lawmakers on issues facing the dental profession. We care about our dentists, we care about our families and we care about our communities, so the Alliance is a natural fit for all of us. 

The AWSDA has over 450 members and we would love to have you as an active member.  We meet four times a year.  Our next meeting is in July at the Washington State dental meeting (PNDC) in Seattle and you are invited and welcome, so come and join with us.  There are also meetings and activities in areas around the state:  Seattle, Vancouver, Wenatchee, Spokane, Bremerton and Olympia, to name a few.  I am sure we are a group for you — so come be a participating part of the dental spouse circle—The Alliance--I know you will find a comfortable fit.