Volume 9 • 2022 • Issue 2

Richard Holden BSc, DDS president@cda-adc.ca NavigatingChangewithGratitude A s my term as president comes to an end, we also mark the second anniversary of when COVID-19 profoundly changed all of our lives. I can’t help but reflect on the challenges we’ve all faced these last two years. I remember the day in March 2020 when our dental practice was required to close its doors. As we parted, we all reassured each other, “We’ll be back in a few weeks. See you soon.” We didn’t return to the office until June. Then, like our colleagues across Canada, we adopted new protocols, scrambled to secure PPE, and tried to figure out how to run a practice in the midst of upheaval. There was a strong sense of uncertainty in both our professional and personal lives. In those early days, CDA formed the COVID-19 Task Force, bringing together the leadership from the board and the provinces, for meetings on Zoom to address how the rapidly evolving global pandemic was impacting Canadian dentists. Dr. Aaron Burry, who has extensive experience in public health, led the task force and his steady, well-informed perspective was invaluable. Mr. Joel Neal, our recently retired CEO who had been at CDA for more than 35 years, provided vital and future-focused leadership. Dr. John O’Keefe brought our professional community together in online conversations that sustained us. If I could use this whole magazine to list the excellent work of all CDA staff during my presidency, it still wouldn’t be enough. This year, the CDA board has met every month in the evenings, after many of us have already worked full days chairside. The West Coast members have to hurry from their last patient to their computers, while the East Coast members stay on the calls late into the night. It reminds me that often it isn’t until a crisis that we learn about our real strengths or weaknesses. The pandemic has shown us that there is a lot of work to be done to make our society more equal and to increase the capacities of our health care systems. But dentistry has proven to be very resilient against formidable odds. I believe that the core value of our profession is the ethics and professionalism that underpin the dentist-patient relationship. During the early days of the pandemic, we were talking to our patients on the phone, making sure they got the emergency care they needed. We went to great lengths to reopen our offices and provide oral health care while also protecting our patients and staff from respiratory illness. We safeguarded these fundamental relationships during difficult times. We are still navigating the pandemic’s economic and social consequences. The health care workforce at large is going through drastic changes. Protocols in our offices are different from pre-pandemic times and we will likely keep many of these for the foreseeable future. It has been an honour to serve you, my fellow dentists, the last nine years as a member of the CDA board and this last year as president. The efforts of my colleagues and our shared achievements have been exceptional. We are redefining how a national association can support and help to shape a dynamic and essential profession. One of my daughters is in dental school. In the last two years, she has seen the challenges faced by my wife, also a dentist, and myself. She’s also seen how our professional community has come together to take care of each other. I’m proud that when she begins her dental career, she will become part of a community that has been through a crisis and is stronger because of it. From the President 7 Issue 2 | 2022 | CDA atWork