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President's Message September 2009
Published: Sep 1, 2009
Submitted By: Stanley LaCroix
The Power of Collaboration  

Capital Area Dental Society has a long history of working with other groups to accomplish common goals.  Volunteer effort and financial support has elevated the community image of our Dental Society. In the past CADS has been recognized as the outstanding philanthropic organization in Austin. That is quite an honor. Our members have been major players in numerous TMOMs.  Our volunteer efforts helped launch the THEO Project. We raised money and put in a great deal of time and effort in the organization of the Dental Hygiene School at Austin Community College. The list is endless. The bottom line is that we are involved in improving our community and the lives of all its residents.
 
Over the past year an effort has been made by the leadership of CADS and St. David’s Community Health Foundation to rekindle our relationship and strengthen our ties. The first tangible benefit of these efforts is an offer by St. David’s to reserve a chair on the newest dental van for CADS volunteers. CADS members responded positively by signing up in great numbers to man the chair.  
 
In the spring I approached Earl Maxwell, CEO of St. David’s Community Health Foundation, with an idea for a project that could be carried out by CADS members to further the preventive education efforts of the THEO Project in Title I Schools. Not only did he approve of the idea but offered to provide toothbrushes and goodie bags for all the children we spoke to. He clearly saw the value our project offered to enhance the existing efforts being made and was willing to commit his Foundation’s resources to help us succeed.  
 
At the same meeting I discussed the problems we historically had with our fundraising efforts. We have always asked a very narrow group of the community for support of our projects and charitable efforts. I asked if we could possibly plan a joint fundraising event. The folks at St. David’s thought it over and found that realistically this wasn’t possible due to the narrow focus of their Taste of the Town events each year. I was wondering where this was going and then I was presented with a golden opportunity. St. David’s offered to match up to $25,000 in sponsorships that we raise for our next event. That would double our average net return of past Galas. The Capital Area Dental Foundation is hard at work organizing the efforts to raise the sponsorships and plan the next event.  
 
I think it is becoming quite evident that there are many benefits to be gained by continuing to be involved in the community and to collaborate with our partners in achieving common goals. The next big push for volunteers will be the staffing of the Dentists on Campus Project (DOC).  The curriculum is currently being developed and will be ready soon for presentation to the school district. Spanish and English versions will be available. Presentations will be made by CADS dentists and their staff members in February for National Children’s Dental Health Month. Please do not hesitate to volunteer for this project. It is our effort to fight dental disease at its source in the underserved population. Prevention is the only real solution to this problem. It is imperative that we succeed. This effort to help our collaborative partners is already producing results. Your participation will make this vision a reality.  
 
 
Sincerely,  
Stanley A. LaCroix, DDS President, CADS
 
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