Thanks Dr Archibald Another two years has passed, and with it the end of another ADAWA Presidency. We pay tribute to the tireless work and efforts of Dr Sean Archibald. Taking on the President’s role at 32 years’ old, Dr Sean Archibald was the second-youngest President (slightly pipped by Dr Kang Kim) in ADAWA history. When Sean took the reins, he had no intention of making any drastic changes, but said he wanted to leave the branch in a slightly better condition than when he started. It was fewer than five months’ later that COVID hit our State. As many would be aware, Sean’s commitment to advocating on behalf of and keeping members updated during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 were admirable. Supported by our CEO and Executive team, Sean spent numerous long nights and early mornings at ADA House – on the phone to the Department of Health and the Chief Dental Officer to get information out to the membership as soon as it was available. He was happy to jump on to social media to instantly share news and the Facebook Live events, facilitated by Sean and David, were very popular and appreciated by the membership.
I think our communications, the way we talk to the members – the tone, the frequency and the transparency – has changed dramatically over the past two years. Sean believes COVID has resulted in more member engagement in the industry than ever before. “It feels as though we have a tighter community than we did two years ago, just because of what we have all been through. I guess it's like a shared trauma,” he says. For Sean, one of the highlights of his Presidency was procuring three months’ free insurance for members during COVID. “I don’t think anyone would have expected that a branch like ours could make that happen, which is really the power of the group policy,” he recalls.
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EDITION 7 | 2021 Western Articulator
