History in the making.

Last June, when we launched the new ADHA brand, who could have foreseen all of the exciting changes and developments that would take place on the road to reinventing ADHA as an organization that "creates a community for all dental hygienists and invests in their future." Last month brought one of the most historic developments that ADHA has seen in recent years as the ADHA Board of Trustees adopted the Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner (ADHP) Competencies. The ADHP model has been created by ADHA as an answer to the oral health crisis in America.

ADHA's vision is that this new mid-level provider would safely provide quality diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic and restorative services directly to the unserved public. In 2004, the ADHA House of Delegates, representing more than 120,000 dental hygienists across the country, recognized the need for ADHA to increase its efforts to address the public's unmet oral health needs and thereby approved the development of an advanced dental hygiene practitioner. This is a significant advancement for the dental hygiene profession and demonstrates ADHA's strong commitment to the public's oral health.

The approval of these ADHP competencies represents the culmination of nearly four years of work by ADHA. I'd like to thank the members of the ADHP Task Force who worked so hard to make this a reality. This milestone is just the latest example of the way that ADHA is truly advancing the profession of dental hygiene and working hard to provide solutions to this nation's oral health crisis.

Members of the ADHP Task Force include:

Deborah Lyle, RDH, MS, Chair

Kristin Calley, RDH, MS

Michele Darby, BSDH, MS

Lynnette M. Engeswick, RDH, MS

Marie V. Gillis, RDH, MS

Sharon Golightly, RDH, EdD

Wendy Kerschbaum, RDH, MS

Christine Nathe, RDH, MS

Jacquelyn L. Fried, RDH, MS

Hope Oliver, RDH, MEd

In addition, there has been a flurry of activity in Minnesota where we saw the first ADHP legislation filed and the first ADHP program begin to be developed by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. Colleen Brickle, RDH, EdD, of Normandale Community College and the outstanding legislative efforts of MNDHA worked together to help make this first step toward an ADHP a reality. Look for future editions of ADHA Update and Access to monitor the progress of this historical initiative.

But this is only one of the areas where ADHA is beginning to make real and measured progress toward achieving our goals. During the same meeting, the ADHA Board of Trustees also approved the Dental Hygiene Standards of Clinical Practice. These standards reflect the dental hygiene process of care and will be instrumental in assisting clinicians in their daily delivery of patient care and educating the public, other care providers and policy makers on dental hygiene practice.

This spring, we will also be starting our efforts to establish the brand at the state and local levels. Our plans call for us to reach out to five states and form national/state marketing partnerships to begin to grow the association. These five test markets will allow us to determine how best to help state and local ADHA constituents and components recruit and retain members. What we learn will then be rolled out to other states so that we can all grow together.

In addition, we are reaching out to our young professional community to learn how we can support more of our student members and encourage them to make the transition to full ADHA membership. We will hold focus groups with new dental hygienists in their first 24 months of practice to gauge their needs and attitudes and then develop programs based on the results to support these dental hygienists at this crucial stage of their career.

Our brand research clearly showed that students are ADHA's future and one of the main targets of the branding campaign. Throughout my travels as ADHA president, I have tried to visit as many student programs as time allowed. Recently, I had the opportunity to make a trip to a California student conference and a tour of North Carolina dental hygiene programs. On both trips, I was accompanied by Danie Furgeson, RDH, ADHA's manager of student relations. I was thrilled at the response to this outreach. In North Carolina, for example, we visited six schools to meet, network and share ideas with students.

The response to these visits was overwhelming. Faculty, students, college administrators and the dental community were eager to hear the ADHA message. The main focus of both these trips was reaching out to our student member population to bring them a better understanding of the benefits of their membership and how the ADHA community can empower, support and develop them now and throughout the lifespan of their career. If the students I met are any indication, the future of dental hygiene looks bright indeed.

Finally, I know we are all looking forward to ADHA's 85th Annual Session in Albuquerque this June. This year, the event is all new and includes the ADHA Center for Lifelong Learning, which will feature 28 different CE sessions designed for clinicians, educators, researchers, corporate dental hygienists and students to build your potential. We have also built in two days of exhibits, networking events, celebrations and fun. This one event is an outstanding example of all the ways that ADHA develops, supports and empowers dental hygienists at all stages of their career.

As you can see, we remain dedicated to our new brand focus. At ADHA, we are more committed than ever before to helping you build your career and maximize your impact as a dental hygienist. Toward that end, our goal is to remain a valuable and irreplaceable asset in your professional, and personal, life.

Thank you for your support of ADHA, and I hope to see you in Albuquerque in June. Please visit ADHA's Web site at www.adha.org/annualsession/index.html to learn more about this meeting.

Jean Connor, RDH, ADHA President