Report of Events

 

Pre-ADHA District IV Meetings:

The Florida delegation has been very busy these past three months preparing for and attending the ADHA  business meetings. We started by attending a ADHA Delegate & Alternate Delegate Orientation GoTo meeting on March 29th, where delegates and alternates delegates were reminded of their duties and responsibilities as delegates and alternate delegates, and had a chance to ask the Delegation Chair any questions. Then, we attended the first of two ADHA District IV WebExes on Wednesday, May 10th, hosted by ADHA District IV Trustee, Jessica Kiser. Delegates and alternates were assigned to 3 reference committees, and reported back results on the second WebEx held on Saturday, June 10th. The majority of the Delegate’s Manual was posted on the ADHA website by Friday, May 19th, so we were all able to access the PRs being presented this year (eight in total); there were two PBYs presented for consideration.

 

Friday, June 16th:

This year, the President’s Luncheon  and  Award for Excellence Ceremony was changed to a President’s Dinner and Award for Excellence Ceremony, held on Friday evening. Two well deserving women received the Award for Excellence and were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the `dental hygiene profession. All of the Florida delegates attended the dinner and awards ceremony. A celebration of ADHA President Betty Kabel’s presidential year was followed by dancing and a fantastic live band. We are very proud of Florida’s own Betty Kabel and what she has accomplished!

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Saturday, June 17th:

All delegates and two alternates attended the Advocacy Update. In this meeting, Roy Richardson a Specialist with the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), offered insight on workplace issues and the services of the WHD. WHD is responsible for administering and enforcing worker protection laws. Some of the key takeaways from his presentation include:

• If a dental hygienist is called by an office to fill in for a day, they MUST give that dental hygienist a W-2 form and pay him/her as an employee, NOT a 1099. If they give the dental hygienist a 1099, this violates US labor laws.

• If a dental hygienist works part-time in a dental office, they MUST give him/her a W-2 form and take taxes out of his/her paycheck; the dental hygienist is NOT an indepen

• Tax law is different from labor law. Accountants know tax law and are unaware about labor laws, so they may be misadvising their dentist-clients.

• If a dental hygienist is expected to come in early to set up, read his/her charts, etc, s/he MUST be paid for his/her time.

• Dental hygienists can file complaints with the US Dept of Labor ANONYMOUSLY.

 

This year’s Mega Issues Forum was held under the title, “Help Me, Help You: Becoming Stronger Together.” Cynthia D’Amour, is a national speaker who facilitated this forum for ADHA members and nonmembers. The discussion focused on ways that ADHA could better support us, the dental hygienists, both in our practice setting and in our career development. We also learned how to hone our networking skills to make more meaningful connections and help foster  welcoming environment wherever we go.

 

District Discussions were held after the Association Update. Jessica Kiser led us through updates to questions we all had during the District IV Webexes. We reviewed the 7 PRs (one had been withdrawn) and 2 PBYs and different delegates offered to submit testimony on them. Testimony was due in the dropboxes by 6 am Sunday morning. We also had visits from two of the candidates, Matt Crespin and Donnella Miller, for the Vice President and Treasurer positions, respectively. We had the opportunity to ask them questions and carefully listened to their responses.

 

Sunday, June 18th:

The first House of Delegates was attended by all. The meeting was called to order by Speaker of the House, Carolyn Roberton. The national anthem was beautifully performed by Ryan Rutar, Delegate from and President of the Nebraska Dental Hygienists’ Association. There were several amendments to the House Standing Rules.

 

President Betty Kabel, Chief Executive Officer Ann Battrell, Chief Operating Officer Bob Moore, and Treasurer Donnella Miller addressed the House in a review of the past year for ADHA and they thanked everyone for a wonderful, productive year. The Annual Report was in a new format this year, inclusive of the Presidents, CEO’s, COO’s, and Treasurer’s reports. During this House, both Florida and Minnesota formally withdrew PBY #1, and Tennessee withdrew PBY #2. The makers of PR #7 formally withdrew their PR as well.

 

Reference Committee Meetings were held immediately after the conclusion of the first House of Delegates. Reference Committee A heard verbal testimony and received written testimony on PRs 3 & 6 and the Annual Reports for the Board of Trustees, the Awards for Excellence Committee, the ADHA Annual Report, and the Institute for Oral Health.. Reference Committee B heard verbal testimony and received written testimony on PRs 1, 5, & 8 and Annual Reports for the Committees on Annual Conference, National Boards, Policy & Bylaws, Student Relations, and Leadership Development. Reference Committee C heard verbal testimony and received written testimony on PRs 2& 4 and the Annual Reports for the Committees on Finance, Nominations, ADHA Board Policy & Procedures, and the Executive Committee. The Florida delegation sat in on all the reference committee meetings and had already provided written testimony to the committees. For Reference Committee C, there was a lot of discussion on a recent Board decision to create interim policy for the Nominations Committee. The Board approved policy that would not allow any candidate who had been vetted and rejected by the Nominations Committee to be nominated or self-nominate from the House floor. Many felt that this was not a democratic process.

 

The Florida delegation also attended the Candidates’ Corner held on Sunday afternoon. Michele Braerman (ADHA Vice President) gave her nomination speech for President-Elect. She ran unopposed. District VII Trustee Matt Crespin, who also ran unopposed, gave a speech for his nomination for Vice President, the first male to run for an ADHA Executive Cabinet office. Treasurer Donnella Miller (from Tennessee/District VI) ran opposed for reelection to a second ywo-year term as Treasurer.

 

Immediately following the Candidates’ Forum  was the Constituent & Component Leadership Workshop, also facilitated by Cynthia D’Amour.  This session was designed to support leaders in their quest to foster meaningful experiences at the state and local levels. Attendees learned more about the new Guide to the Constituent Charter Agreement, and participated in an “Open Space Learning” exercise where we created our own adventure by identifying topics related to mentoring future leaders, dealing with current leaders who “can’t let go,” and recruiting members, and deciding which ones we wanted to discuss.

 

The District IV dinner was held Sunday night at a local restaurant, Bistro Aix, a few blocks from the Hyatt Regency  Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel. It was a great networking event, relaxing, laughing, and sharing stories away from the business of ADHA. Everyone really enjoyed themselves immensely!!         The local Northeast component did a magnificent with the planning of this wonderful event. District IV rocks!

 

Monday, June 19th:

District Discussions were held early Monday morning (7 am). Reports from all three Reference Committees were received and discussed. We also had a visit from one candidate, Michele Braerman, for the President-Elect position. We were given the opportunity to ask her any questions we might have and listened to her answers carefully. The discussions went by quickly, and we had lunch brought in as there would have been no time otherwise. Several delegation members again wrote testimony either in support of the reference committee results, or offering amendments to certain PRs.

 

Balloting was held immediately following the District Discussions. Votes were cast, and we had a little bit of time to grab some food before we had to convene for the second HOD.

 

The second House of Delegates was held immediately after the Balloting. The three Reference Committees read the results of their meetings and the House of Delegates spoke up on each PR. Most of the voting went smoothly. The final PRs, as voted upon by the ADHA House of Delegates, are at the conclusion of this report. The second House of Delegates actually ended earlier than the scheduled 3 pm close time, at around 2:30 pm.

 

The third and final House of Delegates began soon after the end of the second HOD, at 3:15, earlier than the scheduled 3:30 pm start time. The Board of Trustees each received a certificate of  appreciation from outgoing President Betty Kabel, and District V put out the call to the 2018 Annual Session, to be held in Columbus, Ohio.

 

Election results were announced as follows:

President Elect: Michele Braerman

Vice President: Matt Crespin

Treasurer: Donnella Miller

Speaker of the House: Carolyn Roberton

 

Announcements were made and all new officers were installed, including Tammy Filipiak, Wisconsin/District VII, as the 2017-18 ADHA President.

 

Attached to this report as an addendum are all of the final PRs as they came out of the second House of Delegates. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me. All of the Florida delegation worked very hard during our service. I would like to thank everyone for their commitment and dedication to completing the task at hand.

 

Respectfully submitted,

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Becky Smith, CRDH, EdD

Florida Delegation Chair

2016-17 FDHA President

 

(Photo below is the FDHA Executive Board 2017-18.  NOTE:  Becky Smith is in red jacket!)