Tis the Season!
By Chantal Rayakovich RDH
The year has come to an end and I have so much to be thankful for. It’s been quite a challenge to start and successfully run a business but with the help of family, friends and most importantly our community, I can finally see the light.
My main focus is to help educate and promote preventative dental care. I do this through trade shows, presentations and donating my time in any way that I can. Currently, I am working on the Gift from the Heart event which is a day that allows people from all walks of life receive dental cleanings, products and education on oral health. This event almost 4 years ago in Southern Ontario and continues to grow every year. Self-initiated dental hygienists donate their services and give back to their communities. I loved the concept of this and wanted to participate. Originally, the event was going to take place in my clinic but I was restricted with the number of clients I could help because I only had one dental chair. Therefore, I approached the professors of the dental hygiene program up at our local college. They have a much bigger clinic with 13 chairs. I sought the interest of other local dental hygienists to take part and received some positive feedback. The project just snowballed from there. I’ve been seeking the help of local businesses by donating their services to make the day a success. These services such as printing, transportation, food and beverage have all been donated generously by our community. The posters should be completed shortly and hopefully seen by those who truly need it.
Another project that I was excited to start was to feature local artists work in the clinic. Our first artist, Leesa Davidson is a graduate from Nipissing University in the arts program and actually sold her first painting in our office…we were ecstatic for her. The clinic will rotate local artists to help give them exposure but at the same time accentuate our walls. We will also support a worthy cause started by one of our local artists “Create to Donate” where the artists donate their art work for a worthy cause. We will have a variety of local work on display and the proceeds will go to the charity of their choice.
Last May, Hilltop Dental Hygiene Clinic donated all earnings of one day towards our local soup kitchen, The Gathering Place. After only being open for 2 months, the clinic raised two days’ worth of food. What great community effort! It is an annual event that will take place at the end of May, 2012. If you’d like participate in this day, be sure to look for future announcements.
These were the highlights of my 2011…what were yours? I look forward to 2012 and hope it will bring me more friendships, opportunity to grow in my business and most importantly as an individualJ.