Dr. Kevin Patterson kicked off his CDA presidency with an address at the 2024 CDA House of
Delegates on May 4, 2024. Below is an excerpt from his speech.
When I finished dental school in 19 something-something …, it was a “given” that you would join the ADA, the CDA and your local component. There was no discussion about the value of being a member, it was simply what most graduating dentists were expected to do. This organizational centric model served dentistry well for many years but to be relevant in today’s online connected world and for the next generation of dental professionals, we have learned that we need to listen to our members and be able to communicate our relevance, as we evolve into a member centric model, at all levels of the tripartite.
National, state and local levels have finally realized they need to do a better job showing the value of membership in organized dentistry. At all levels of the tripartite you are seeing a vigorous effort to listen to members and improve member benefits — not just on a global scale but on a more personal level so that each member will be able to tailor their membership to fit their own needs.
This new emphasis on expected value is not only important to increasing membership but it is vital as state and local components struggle to attract volunteers to sit on councils, committees and task forces and then to attract from this pool of volunteers, individuals who are willing to give even more of their time as leaders in state and local components. We are now seeing changes in the anatomy of volunteers.
As Jonathan and Thomas McKee described in “The New Breed: Understanding and Equipping the 21st Century Volunteer,” today’s volunteers:
- Are very busy, they have many obligations, and, in many cases, they may already volunteer for other organizations.
- They want flexibility and want (expect) to be empowered.
- They won’t tolerate working alongside incompetent volunteers.
- They, along with most of the world, are tech-savvy.
- They don’t want to be micromanaged.
- And they are not looking to just contribute, they want to make a difference.
- In essence, they want to volunteer but they want to set their own terms.
I began my volunteer journey in 1998 after finishing my oral surgery residency and medical school. I started providing surgical care for Dentistry for the Handicapped, which today is known as Dental Lifeline Network (DLN), Kids in Need of Dentistry (KIND) and the Metropolitan Denver Dental Foundation. For those who don’t know, DLN was started in Colorado and is now celebrating its 50th anniversary of providing care with over 13,000 providers across the country and almost $550M in donated care to date. KIND was started in 1912 and is on the forefront of medical/dental care integration with their new C4 clinic in Commerce City. Both organizations are crucial as they provide care to those most in need, but they also need additional care providers.
Providing patient care for these organizations was a very easy way to give back. If a patient needed to be seen, I simply worked them into my schedule for the day. After a number of years of donating care, I agreed to join the board of directors for KIND and recently for DLN.
Participating on a board with thoughtful, caring, extremely smart individuals became as satisfying as providing care for those in need. The extra added benefit to participating at this level was that you have the opportunity to affect systemic change to benefit the many, and not just the few patients you are able to treat. It was during this time as a board member that I began to think about devoting more time to the profession of dentistry. Coincidentally at this same time the MDDS Byte newsletter came across my email with the call for nominations for the board of directors.
During my time on the MDDS board, executive committee, and several committees, along with my time on the executive committee of the Colorado Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, I have been impressed with the dedication and drive of the volunteer dentists and the entire team of each organization. Yes, there are healthy differences of opinion, but everyone is united in the objective to provide the tools needed by member and non-member dentists to be successful. As my tenure at MDDS was coming to an end, I sent a note to Molly Pereira and Greg Hill at the CDA and asked about the process of stepping into a bigger role, which one year later led to the CDA vice president position and ultimately to my position today.
I have been planning for the 2024/2025 year, but this plan is not a result of one person’s vision it is part of a coordinated team effort of the CDA Executive committee, CDA Board of Trustees, CDA executive director and CDA team who determine the areas of focus for each year. After extensive work, this group adopted a new strategic plan in December 2023 with five main areas of focus:
- Increase non-dues revenue for the CDA to diversify and strengthen our financial stability.
- Cultivate engaged, competent, ethical, and diverse leadership to ensure long-term organizational success.
- Enhance and grow diversity within the membership base.
- Restructure communications from the CDA to be more strategic and designed to increase awareness.
- Engage Colorado dentists in CDA advocacy efforts through education on and participation in relevant issues.
Although this plan was only adopted in December, many of these focus areas have items well underway and others are in the planning stages. The complete strategic plan is on cdaonline.org, along with a revamped “About” page that is the one stop shopping location for the what and the who of the CDA. Go to cdaonline.org/about and you will find a complete list of councils, committees, and task forces along with a listing of the members and leads with their contact information. I strongly encourage you to participate and get involved as a volunteer.
This year, we will continue to focus on the hard work that started over the last 12 months to transition to a more member centric model to help members and non-members know what the CDA does for them. From advocacy to member education to timely updates to wellness support to a cost-saving group purchasing organization, and much more, the CDA offers countless important benefits. As an organization, we will remain focused on our mission to foster the success of a diverse membership while advancing the oral health of the public.
I want to thank each of you for your unwavering commitment to our profession. Together our collective efforts will help shape the future of dentistry in Colorado now and for generations to come.
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In 1873, the Rocky Mountain Dental Association was formed, but it quickly dissolved two years later due to lack of interest. It was not until the late 1880s, when Denver’s population surpassed 80,000, that 10 area dentists met and formed a committee to gather the dentists in the area for the first meeting of the Colorado State Dental Association (CSDA). At this meeting in June 1887, officers were elected; a constitution, bylaws, and code of ethics were adopted; and the annual dues were set at a whopping $2 after an initiation fee of $5. Scientific papers were presented and what was to become the Colorado Dental Association was off and running. It’s difficult to imagine that over 150 years ago a group of pioneers saw the benefits of forming a collegial group that decided that collectively they had a louder voice and could enact more change than individual practitioners of the day. In 1887, the principal objective of the CSDA was to raise the standards of dentistry within Colorado. In addition, they started the tradition of Colorado’s commitment to inclusion by electing Dr. Sarah May Townsend as the first female vice president in 1896. What started as a group of 21 dentists in 1887, had grown to 63 by 1890. |
