PRESIDENT'S REPORT

The President’s

Report DR AMIT GURBUXANI ADAWA PRESIDENT

It’s coming up to that time of the year again... ADAWA membership renewal. I was recently asked by a dentist, “What’s the benefit of being an ADAWA member?” I had myriad answers going through my mind, but I took a step back, and considered all the lobbying and preparatory work ADAWA performs behind the scenes, on behalf of its members.

The challenge is not over, but we have shown that as a community and as a group, if we work together, we can overcome any obstacle that we may face.

We have been proactive in providing our membership with timely and up-to-date COVID advice through emails, our members’ Facebook group, and via phone conversations. Our team has filtered and continues to regularly filter through a maze of information to provide dentally relevant information to ensure the practice of safe dentistry and the continued running of practices. Furthermore, liaisons have been made with suppliers to ensure that N95 masks and RATs were made available to members at the peak of the COVID infection curve to ensure protection of our staff and community and the continued operation of dental practices. There have been many negotiations with our indemnity insurance providers to ensure premiums in all dental categories remain as low as possible for our members. There have been increases in some premiums, but this has been kept to an absolute minimum with many interactions with the indemnity providers. The ADAWA council have moved into action a number of committees. The ADA committees which are currently working to fulfill the objectives of ADAWA include: • The Infection Control Committee • The Oral Health Committee • The Recent Graduates and Liaison Committee • Professional Indemnity Committee • Continuing Professional Development Committee • Country Members There has been a strategic day dedicated to these committees and budgets have been allocated to facilitate them. Each of the committees provide monthly updates to council on their progress and we will continue to see projects undertaken by these committees come to fruition. Furthermore, ADAWA council has undertaken training with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). Outcomes of this training have directed us to activate the Constitution committee, which will be meeting soon. There has been the reactivation of the Distinguished Service Awards for ADAWA to honour outstanding members of our membership. This is very beneficial to ensure that our membership is aware of individuals who have dedicated much time and effort for past service to our community and the ADAWA. Despite the scare of COVID-19 closing down our practices, when Western Australia finally opened its borders, I feel our ADAWA community has become stronger. The challenge is not over, but we have shown that as a community and as a group, if we work together, we can overcome any obstacle that we may face. None of this is possible without the membership sticking together and working as one. Our community is only strong when we speak with one voice. Your ADAWA is only as strong as its membership.