Component II Peninsula Component I Tidewater Dr. A.J. Booker, Editor No news reported. Dr. Barry Einhorn, Editor As I write this report the heat index in Tidewater is 105. I remember writing in my last report that I wish summer would finally arrive. Enough said on the weather! This has been a productive year for the Tidewater Dental Association. We have had three outstanding continuing edu cation programs. One of which was held in conjunction with the Peninsula Den tal Society. We held a very successful Dental Health Fair for Children's Dental Health Month. Our members have taken an active role in many VDA activities and continue to do so. We look for ward to serving as co-hosts for the VDA annual meeting in Williamsburg in Sep tember. Our annual meeting will be held on August 19 at the Norfolk Airport Hilton Hotel. We are extremely proud of our Col league Dr. David Paul for his academic accomplishments. In December 1993 he received his MBA degree and this summer he was awarded a PHD. His doctoral dissertation was entitled "Mea surement of Perceived-Service Quality of Selected Dental Specialists." He is threatening to get his law degree next. In closing I would like to leave you with a bit of humor. A Spanish lady gave birth to identical twins but was unable to raise them both. She named one Juan and the other Amhal. She kept Juan and Amhal was adopted by an Arab family. Years later her husband wondered aloud as to what Amhal looked like. His wife replied , "Since they are identical, if you've seen "Juan, you've seen Amhal." Have a great summer!!
Component III Southside
Dr. Reed Boyd, Editor The Southside Dental Society has had an eventful spring and is now gearing down for the summer months. Recently it has been hot in this part of the state and it is only early June. I cannot imag ine what August will bring, only time will tell. Back in June, we hosted our semi-an nual CE Course with Dr. VanArsdale from Pennsylvania. This was an inter esting CE Course from several aspects. The material presented was stimulating to all of the attendees; there was some thing for everyone, general practitioners, oral surgeons, periodontists, pedodontists and orthodontists. Rarely does a course hold something for ev eryone, but this one did. We adjourned in the early afternoon for the Pork Fes tival. Several of our members, Harold Neal and Roger Palmer live in Emporia and with their wives, Jamie and Janice they graciously opened their homes t~ us for the afternoon and evening as well and we thank them for their hospitality. We are preparing for our semi-annual business meeting to be held in early September. We are looking at several possible format changes for this meet ing. We are considering an afternoon outing of golf and tennis with a barbeque buffet and business meeting to follow. I will keep you updated on the success of this event. Summer is busy and full of vacations so I have no personal or social news to
40 Virginia Dental Journal
report. However, as Chairman of the Membership Committee would like to urge each VDA member to take 25 min utes to view the ADA video on the pro posed Awareness Campaign. These videos can be gotten from your component's president or membership chairman, the VDA Central Office, or myself. With the video is a yellow sur vey card with a few short questions. Please mail this card, the postage is prepaid and it is self addressed, back to the VDA Office. Please contact your Component's Del egates and Alternate Delegates to the VDA House of Delegates and make your opinions known to them about the Awareness Campaign and any other is sue in the VDA. Their job is to repre sent you and your opinions and they cannot do this effectively if they do not know how you feel. Along that same line, the Membership Committee will be contacting each of the Delegates and the Alternate Delegates requestingthem to contact you to discuss all of the is sues with you, in particular the Aware ness Campaign. Please look at the Awareness Campaign as just that, a public awareness campaign. It is not designed nor intended to be an adver tising campaign. It is a campaign to expose our profession, reintroduce the entire profession of dentistry, not we as individual dentists, in a positive light to the public we serve and depend on. I urge you to make an INFORMED deci sion on this issue. The Membership Committee asks that you look past the dues increase. We realize this campaign carries a heavy pricetag, estimated at $300 a year for three years. The campaign will have an impact on the membership of the VDA no matter how it settles out. The Membership Committee has proposed some alternative dues payment meth ods to the Executive Council for their consideration to soften the financial hardship of our members. Please real ize that this campaign, if broken down on a monthly basis, is approximately $15 per month. We can all afford that for the good of our entire profession, Please judge this campaign on the merits of the campaign itself, which naturally must include the costs of the campaign, and what it will do for den