Volume 8 • 2021 • Issue 3

Richard Holden BSc, DDS president@cda-adc.ca Conversations withColleagues Teach and SustainUs T he past year and a half has reinforced my belief that one of the most important things in life is connection with our friends and colleagues—the people who really know us and support us, who we work with every day or who we keep in touch with despite long distances. Over the arc of my career, conversations with colleagues have taught me some of the most important lessons and they’ve sustained me through the pandemic. My earliest mentors were educators at Dalhousie and my dental class of 1989. They instilled in me a desire to be a lifelong learner along with high standards of ethics and professionalism. Our class came together the first week, we cooperated and challenged each other for four years, and many of us became lifelong friends. To this day, we have regular reunions, some of us meeting every year for a ski trip. My classmates have served in various roles in organized dentistry and I’m proud of their accomplishments, both inside and outside dentistry. Conversationswith colleagues are some of the best education I’ve received. Important ideas, knowledge and expertise are exchanged. These conversations can happen in study clubs, CE courses, association meetings, or just over a meal. Or, as my friend Dr. Terry Foreman can attest, occasionally these can happen while on a ski lift! I was fortunate to be part of the organizing committee for the DAPEI/CDA convention held in Charlottetown in August 2018. It was exhausting yet rewarding to welcome friends and colleagues from across Canada to my hometown and share its beauty and hidden gems. During the pandemic, we’ve lost some opportunities for these spontaneous, face-to-face conversations. I think we need to make a concerted effort to reach out to new dentists and recent graduates to make them feel welcome and part of our community, to offer the camaraderie and exchange of ideas that makes being part of the profession so enriching. Dr. John Robertson, the first PEI dentist to serve as CDA president, visited Dalhousie when I was a dental student. He made a lasting impression. When I was a new dentist, he encouraged me to get involved with the Atlantic Provinces section of the Academy of General Dentistry, where he was then president. His influence helped me start to become active in organized dentistry. I also remember when Dr. Ray Wenn, who I knew from the DAPEI, became the second CDA president to come from the Island in 1994. Ours may be one of the smallest of Canada’s provincial dental associations but our involvement at the national level has been impressive. This spring, as I become the third CDA president from PEI, I’m grateful for what I’ve learned from the community of dentists that spans from coast to coast to coast. I’m excited to serve this community during a time of many challenges and changes. I’m looking forward to the conversations that we’ll have this year that will guide us toward new ideas, innovative solutions, and our shared values as health care professionals. From the President 10-year reunion of Dal Class of 1989 7 Issue 3 | 2021 | CDA at W ork