President’s Message

Those who have served in our armed forces may be familiar with the concept of “The 3 M’s”. In order of priority,they are: My Mission, My Men (and Women), and Myself. As we evaluate our profession during a global pandemic, a look at The 3 M’s may be helpful.

As dental professionals, we have a duty to provide the best dental care possible for our patients. What defines “the best dental care” is a complex mix of elements that starts with the basic “Standard of Care”, and then tailored to meet the individual needs of each patient with the resources available. As health professionals, we must always strive to keep the best interests of our patients as the primary focus of our mission.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several new factors must be considered as we continue our mission of providing the best dental care possible for our patients. Fortunately, our membership in the ADA, CDA, and REDS provides us with several resources that help us adapt to what seems to be an ever-changing environment.

The third and final priority for the armed forces are the leaders themselves. From a general down to a corporal, an organization is at its best when the leaders have a clear plan, and the training, resources, and support to execute that plan.

As the leaders of our dental team, we must ensure we have the current information in order to plan for success. To see that our mission is achieved, and our staff is prepared for the mission, we must be sure we have what is required to lead. Effective leaders have an understanding of the situation, clear objectives, sound plans, proper training, sufficient supplies, and good communication within the organization and with outside support as well. In addition, the leader should be cognizant of their own personal needs in order to be healthy and effective.

As we continue to provide dental care to our patients during these trying times, our role as health care leaders has never been more important. To be of service to our patients and community, providing for and protecting our staff and ourselves has never been more difficult in our lifetime. Keeping The 3 M’s in mind as we face the current challenges can be a helpful priority reminder.

Be sure to take advantage of all that is offered by your membership in the ADA / CDA / REDS.

Stay positive and test negative.

needed to achieve the mission. In our profession, our staff should be our next priority as they assist us in our effort to accomplish our mission of providing quality dental care.

As the leaders in our dental practices, the challenges of training our staff and creating a safe work environment were complex before 2020, and now have become even more complicated. Navigating the various new recommendations from the CDC, ADA, Cal/ OSHA, state and local health departments requires time and effort. The search for PPE and infection control products is an ongoing struggle. Just as our patients deserve the highest level of care reasonably possible, our work team deserves the proper tools and training necessary for our mission.

In this time of need, our tripartite professional organization has been there to assist us with the trusted information, needed training, and access to scarce resources as we endeavor to support our valuable work staff.

Jim Simonds, DMD, Editor

A few months ago (way back when you could have out of town guests) an old dental school buddy and his wife came out from New York to visit us and guzzle some of the county’s finest. (As an aside, said wife works at the hospital in New

Rochelle which was Ground Zero for the outbreak of COVID 19 on the East Coast—but that’s another story).

During a moment of gab and grubs, the phone rang and it turned out to be a solicitation for some fund that supports families of first responders (coulda been second or third responders, but memory is fading). I was all ready with my canned demand for the organization to take us off the call list when my friend gestured for me to hand the phone to him. My friend has an outsized personality and plenty of chutzpah, so out of curiosity on how he handles the calls, I obliged him and gave him the phone. What happened next shocked me and has changed forever my technique of answering these calls. “Tell me”, my friend inquired the solicitor, “what percentage of the amount we give goes to the charitable organization?” The solicitor answered, “10%.” The other 90% goes to the marketing company employed by the charity.

I was stunned on two fronts. First, after listening to the marketer’s finely rehearsed plea to provide much needed aid to: 1) babies 2) orphaned children 3) widows 4) puppies 5) children of hardworking underpaid parents 6) orphaned puppies, etc., I imagine myself as subhuman slime if I don’t hand over half of my pension plan to the severely disadvantaged only to discover that the true subhuman slime are the companies who invade the privacy of our homes in a disingenuous effort to bilk the “mark” using a real charity as a tool to get into the wallet of the target. Shame on them! Second, of course, is the minuscule portion of your pledge that actually goes to the charitable organization. They might as well call and ask for money with which they’ll take a vacation. And to make you feel a little better about giving away your money for their personal enrichment, they’ll send 10% of your gift to a charity of their choice. And to further the audacity of the marketing company when asked about how much of the donation goes to the charity, he said “10%” in a cold, matter-of-fact tone that one might use when asking about the color of his car.

I’ve learned since, by law, the solicitor must give the information about the amount of the donation that will go to the charity, but in subsequent calls I’ve received of a similar nature, the enthusiastically caring solicitor who had just warmed up to you like a new neighbor promptly hangs up. A good guide to help you navigate the choppy waters of charitable giving in California is to refer to Guide To Charitable Giving For Donors at oag.ca.gov.

I’ve also noticed that such greedy tactics seem to be used by firms marketing for small local charities such as those which support local service people such as police and firefighters. I’ve recently become aware that we’ve received markedly fewer calls from national charities. Judging by the weight of the postal solicitations from national charities , their marketing teams apparently feel that 10 pounds of fancy glossy 4 color mail inserts with more folds than an origami competition entry costs less than hiring telephone solicitor with high grade nagging skills.

We’ve also had our home lives less interrupted from live calls in favor of more frequent automated “robocalls” which are equally irritating but deprive you of the joy of pulling back the curtain of the solicitor letting them know you’re not going to be suckered into a donation. For them, just press “2” and they promise to take you off their call list. Seems to have worked too far.

However you deal with bothersome charities, don’t let these unwelcome solicitations keep you from being generous to your favorite charities. There is so much misery around the planet we shouldn’t forget how much good we can do with either time, money or both. That said, don’t let your generous giving get in the way of messing with phone swindlers. That can be an added entertainment while confined to your home, dodging COVID-19.