The President's Message.......
On behalf of myself and our great team of Executive Board members, I would personally like to welcome you back to a new and exciting year for MSDHA. We have been working very diligently to bring you new and interesting CE meetings. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on the executive board and all past officers for your continued hard work, dedication, and support. I would not be able to do this without you.
We hope you will enjoy our dynamic schedule that we have been working so hard on and we hope you will be able to attend as many meetings as possible. The past years we have noticed that we have a higher amount of attendance at our half day seminars. So when reviewing our schedule you will notice almost all of our meetings are half day seminars that offer not only more CE's but lunch and time to socialize with friends and colleagues. We have done this in an effort to accommodate more people's schedules.
As your new President, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Erin Deckinga and I was originally born in the small town of Marion, Massachusetts. However, I moved to Bradenton when I was in 4th grade, so I have been here a long time! I graduated with my Associates in Science degree at Manatee Community College, now the State College of Florida, in 2009. Honestly, I grew up never really knowing what my passion would be in life. But I can tell you one thing, being a Hygienist was never even on my list of options. I started working in the dental field 10 years ago at the front desk of a Sarasota office. My sister was already an employee at the office and basically talked the owner into hiring me so she did not have to work saturdays anymore. I stayed at that office for two years until I was asked to join the practice I am currently at. Again, I worked front desk while pursuing a career in Cardiac Sonography. It wasn't until my worst fear of tongues faced me in the eye that I realized that my passion has been here under my nose all these years. You see, the doctors I work for asked me to become an assistant. I was hesitant, again because I hated tongues, but I could never say no. I owe it to the wonderful doctors that I work for for opening my eyes onto the best profession ever. I decided when I started bumping their heads trying to see in the patients' mouth that I had to go back to school, again.
Going into Dental Hygiene school I had a wonderful husband and daughter who gave me nothing but support. I worked very hard in school and became not only the MCC SADHA's Vice President but I also was elected Treasurer of FSADHA. I began working with MSDHA, while attending school, working passionately at volunteer opportunities and acquiring all the knowledge that I could while attending Smile Day. Well, the unexpected occured and I became pregnant with my second daughter due one month before national boards! Lets just say I owe the completion of my program to my classmates and the wonderful Teachers at SCF. I could not have done it without their support.
So now as your President I am so excited to continue with the hopes of giving you all the wonderful opportunities I have had. I have a passion for our profession and I stive to help all those in need. While reviewing our schedule for the year, please pay attention to all of our volunteer opportunities. We have all been blessed with what we have and it is our time to give back to our community. I encourage your involvement with MSDHA because being a member helps clear paths for a better future.
Thank you,
Erin Deckinga, RDH
