Why should I join the ADHA? What’s in it for me?

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Why should I join the ADHA?

During dental hygiene school all my classmates and I became student members of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA).  I don’t recall if membership was mandatory at the time, but it sure felt like it was.  What I do clearly remember is that our instructors strongly emphasized the importance of becoming life long members of the ADHA.  But most of us, if not all of us, were myopically focused on just getting through hygiene school in one piece and not so much on ADHA membership, which seemed like a trivial concern at the time.  Fast forward to the point of graduation and obtaining our dental hygienist licenses.  We now had to decide if we wanted to voluntarily continue our ADHA membership or not.  Yes or no?  What’s it going to be?  I have no idea what percentage of my classmates said yes, so I’ll only answer for myself.  I said yes and I have been an ADHA member ever since hygiene school.  So why did I say yes and why do I keep renewing my membership?

Are the benefits I receive worth the annual fees?  Questions about individual benefits are important, but in my opinion, receiving individual benefits is not the primary reason to join the ADHA (though they are a good secondary reason).  The primary reason to join the ADHA is to provide collective benefits for the dental hygiene profession.  It’s not about me, myself and I.  It’s about us.  The ADHA is the only organization fighting for dental hygienists.  Dentists are not fighting for us.  Patients are not fighting for us.  And the general population is surely not fighting for us.  No one cares more about dental hygienists than actual dental hygienists.  Personally, at this point in my life, and I’m guessing most of you feel the same way, I don’t want to be directly involved in advocating for our profession.  I just want to focus on clinical right now, and maybe forever, but I’m so glad there are hygienists out there who do.  But those hygienists need resources to make that happen and one of the primary resources they need, good or bad, is MONEY.  The more of us who join the collective fight the better our profession will be.  I know many of you may be thinking, “I don’t agree with everything the ADHA is doing, so why should I support them?”  Don’t let that be your reason for not joining.  I don’t think I agree 100% with any association that I currently belong to.  For example, I’m very passionate about cycling and I belong to more than one cycling association.  Do I agree with what they’re doing 100%?  Not even close (maybe 70%).  Would I ever consider not being a member?  Absolutely not.  I’m a cyclist and feel a strong responsibility to support my cycling community.  I’m also a dental hygienist and feel the same responsibility to support my dental hygiene community and that is the primary reason why I am a member.

If you’re no longer an ADHA member, or have never been, I ask you to seriously reconsider.  You can visit ADHA.org and join or rejoin today.  We need each other to keep our profession moving in the right direction.  There is strength in numbers.  We can’t do it alone.

Mark Frias, RDH

9 thoughts on “Why should I join the ADHA? What’s in it for me?

  1. I agree 100%. Mark clearly identified reasons to belong…even if you don’t feel you have the time or interest to be actively involved at this time in your career. Not being a dues-paying member really identifies you as someone who simply has a job. Being a member at least shows you identify with the collective body of all RDHs and it says you are a member of your profession. The truth is that a very small minority of members are active volunteers…hopefully at some point in your career you will decide to be one of them.

    I found out late in my career that being a volunteer is a wonderful way to spend some of my off-time. Among other things, I have met a lot of like-minded people who care about similar things. We don’t always agree, but I respect them more than I would otherwise because I know that compared to most, they put more time in to understand the issues…they are volunteering in order to help the profession. And I see a lot of them over and over at different functions. They are all very good people…and I wouldn’t have met them if I didn’t volunteer to participate.

  2. One important reason that I just recently learned is that the leadership at the national level very much cares about each state, but they need money to be able to help. I know of several occasions when a state was having issues and the support of the ADHA’s national leadership came to support them locally. If you want legislation passed, follow the chain of command but don’t stop there and don’t fight your state’s battles alone! Get the national leadership involved when appropriate!

  3. I am a member. They are truly looking out for us! I love the magazine articles, the discounts on CEUs and I get my long term disability insurance through them.

  4. I do not agree with Mark. My experience is different than his with listening and understanding from ADHA. I agree we are better as one if we have the same goals. There has been a lot of speculation about what ADHA is doing for the hygienist and why CDHA will not sign the charter agreement. I have had lots of phone calls and emails asking my opinion and have not voiced my thoughts. I cannot do that anymore. I am taking a stand. I may be risking some ire but we have to look at what is best for everyone not just ourselves as ADHA has said. As for me I feel the issues go much deeper than signing a piece of paper. Here are my thoughts: http://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/2016/05/kelsch-the-elephant-in-the-room-for-california-dental-hygienists.html

    • Hi Noel,

      My blog post has nothing to do with the CDHA issue. I was essentially making the case for supporting one’s own professional organization. I read your article and have no idea how true your points are, but I can say that it is well written. Mark

  5. There has been a lot of speculation about what ADHA is doing for the hygienist and why CDHA will not sign the charter agreement. I have had lots of phone calls and emails asking my opinion and have not voiced my thoughts. I cannot do that anymore. I am taking a stand. I may be risking some ire but we have to look at what is best for everyone not just ourselves as ADHA has said. As for me I feel the issues go much deeper than signing a piece of paper. Here are my thoughts: http://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/2016/05/kelsch-the-elephant-in-the-room-for-california-dental-hygienists.html

  6. Noel,
    Your comments here and at DentistryIQ seem to indicate you don’t want to check facts with IRS about whether 1099s are appropriate for RDHs (I think they aren’t legal because RDHs are not true independent contractors). And you don’t want to check facts with state and federal labor boards… who do have your answers.
    On the other hand, I understand your point that ADHA should go well beyond “that’s not our job” by checking the facts for you and letting everyone know the answers to the questions you posed. Some of them are pretty obvious… But in the end, finding the answers doesn’t give ADHA any position from which to act on them. Most of them require that an RDH that is faced with a problem employer first give the employer the facts (which ought to be provided by ADHA, but make it clear it is not an opinion of ADHA but of the source of the definitive supplier of the answers, eg the US Dept of Labor or IRS) and ask the employer to comply with the applicable laws and statutes that cover employer/employee relationships. If the employer was ignorant of the facts and makes corrections, that’s all you can ask for. However, if the employer’s reaction is not favorable, it is an issue that is not really the job of the ADHA… is it?
    Rather than having individual RDHs consulting individual lawyers fluent in labor law, the ADHA could try for a dialogue with either the ADA or State Mediation/Peer Review Committees who would communicate with the individual dental employers about the difference between what has been happening in their workplaces and what is legally required. Do not think for a minute that organized dentistry is in favor of dental employers breaking labor laws. For that matter, rather than an RDH approaching her employer, perhaps the dental society’s Peer Review or Mediation people could be approached and asked if they might discuss it with the dental employer. They have no power to enforce, however, they generally try to get the ‘right thing’ done. Being told in this way that labor laws are being violated might wake up a dental employer. However, neither organized dentistry nor ADHA has the power to enforce the laws and statutes…they can only educate the parties as to what is allowed and what is not, according to applicable state or federal regulations.

    Take a look at some HR docs available here: http://www.cedrsolutions.com/tpd216/
    If for some reason you cannot get them, email me: bloomdds@sbcglobal.net

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