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Welcome to the New Mexico Dental Hygienists' Association-the professional organization representing the Dental Hygienists of New Mexico.

President’s Message

The World is Run by People Who Show Up

By Ginny Berger

It is an honor to be elected as the president of the New Mexico Dental Hygienist’s Association. I take this office seriously and understand the responsibility I have to serve you. Cindy Purdy has mentored me and will continue to mentor me to be as great as she was for her year as president of NMDHA. This past year we have applied for grants, set an example of how we can work together with the dental association to achieve common goals, testified to legislators to establish the importance of our profession in meeting the public health issues, and she with Joy headed up a request for funding a potential learning experience for the dental hygiene students of NM to treat geriatric long term care populations in NM. We trained a group of physicians and nurses how to apply fluoride varnish and its importance to the health of children in Gallup. This initiative was enabled by a law change that enables hygienists to apply fluoride without a dentist on the premises. I think we need to thank her for a great year and acknowledge her main objective was accomplished by utilizing our strategic plan as a tool. Thank you Cindy, You are a tough act to follow and I thank you for your service.

One of the duties of President is the fun job of choosing a theme and a token to represent your year of leadership. In my case my theme found me 7 years ago and I have been searching for an opportunity to use it ever since. I attended an Association of Public Health Dentistry conference and one of the speakers used a quote that has an unknown author and it made such good sense to me that I was determined to utilize it in my life and work to become NMDHA president so I could share it. Ready???

The world is run by people who show up…

Showing up can take many different forms. Showing up means each of us becoming a dues paying member. The foundation of ADHA and NMDHA is built financially by dues. It is my responsibility to show enough value to you to make this investment necessary to your life. Another way to show up would be to attend a BOT meeting and hear what is happening in our state and national organization. And of course if you find a quote that touches you, you can run for president.

My job this year is to help our committees and board members achieve the goals set in our strategic plan. I know we will accomplish many of them because of the capable Board of Trustees and councils we have serving.

A more personal goal I have is to make a difference to those of you who are not showing up. Difference enough for you to join today and see the value of membership. The value of NMDHA was reinforced when I started my own company. I knew I needed my pulse on the profession of dental hygiene and knew that membership in ADHA was imperative to my success

I am determined to make it comfortable to show up. We have many committees that need help – Membership committee is chaired by Lisa VanBerg and Annie Humberson, Regulation and Practice Committee is chaired by Barbara Posler, General Membership Meeting committee is chaired by Mary Kay Vigil, Education and Research is chaired by Joy Horn, Public Relations committee is chaired by Sharon MacFarlane with Lisa Esparza mentoring. This year we have many goals and projects planned and would love to have all of you join us in some capacity. Stick your toe in. The Public Relations Council is planning on exchanging our Healthy Smiles Sealant program for a Geriatric Long Term Care tooth brushing day and we are hoping this will bring us lots of good public awareness. The Regulation and Practice Council is planning on introducing a mid level practitioner idea to our legislators – huge project – Council on Membership Services has great programs set up, as you have heard, that could use help

I was in charge of planning and organizing our strategic plan this year and not enough of us showed up. MY goal is to have many more of us show up to establish goals to run your professional world. We cannot know what you value professionally if you do not show up.

For those of you who don’t know, ADHA Annual Session will be in Albuquerque in 2008 for the first time ever. This is the year “I can’t afford it” is not an issue. Show our gratefulness to ADHA and indulge yourself by attending.

Remember, the world is run by people who show up.

A Brief History and Facts about your Professional Association

It is because of NMDHA that the dental hygienists of NM can practice under general supervision and administer local anesthesia. New Mexico is one of the few states that has two dental hygienists sit on its Board of Dental Health Care, and it has a Dental Hygiene Committee. New Mexico is one of seventeen states that permits unsupervised practice supervision in the form of Collaborative Practice. Collaborative Practice is based on a written agreement between the dental hygienist and one or more consulting dentists. Collaborative Practice hygienists may treat patients according to a protocols described in Rules. Routine services performed are preliminary assessment, x-rays, prophylaxis and fluoride treatment. Case-by-case authorization would include such procedures as scaling and root planning and sealants. The hygienist may own or manage a dental hygiene practice in any setting. New Mexico is one of 10 states that directly reimburses the dental hygienist for services under Medicaid. We are very proud of the progress NMDHA has made with increasing access to care for the citizens of New Mexico.

Carol Hanson, RDH, BS