President's Message June 2009
Kristy S. Borquez, CDA, RDAEF, FADAA

Hello all. I am excited to inform you of an upcoming Dental Volunteer Opportunity. Remote Area Medical (RAM) is an organization that will be coming to the Los Angeles area. This event will take place August 11 - 18, 2009 from 6:00am - 6:00pm daily at the Forum in Inglewood. The purpose of this event is to provide free Medical, Vision, and Dental care for the uninsured, underinsured, unemployed and under-employed persons.

RAM is now recruiting Dental Professionals - General Dentists, Oral Surgeons, Pediatric Dentists, Endodontists, Registered Dental Hygienists, and Dental Assistants. Also needed are Medical Doctors (all specialties), Nurses, Ophthalmologists, Optometrists, Opticians, Ophthalmic Techs, and Paramometry Techs.

Please visit the following website: www.ramusa.org, and click on the 60 Minutes program to see what this organization is really about. They will have 100 dental chairs, about 30 for hygienists and the other 70 for dentists, and hope to see 1200 - 1500 dental patients a day. They need assistance from dentists, dental assistants, hygienists, and any one who is willing to help those in need. The five LA County dental societies are all involved and will be trying to recruit two dentists per chair per day (about 150 per day) working in two shifts. The services provided will be a-z, with an on-site dental lab, sterilization and x-rays.

I have attached the registration form for volunteers that the LA committee has devised. Each volunteer will have to fill out a volunteer registration form and return it to Sue Merrell, Executive Director of the LA Dental Society, who is coordinating the schedules. Her address, phone and fax info is at the bottom of the form.

Many people have expressed an interest in volunteering for a dental mission but have not been able to afford traveling to another country. I think it is wonderful that we have an opportunity to care of those in need right here in CA. I urge those of you, especially in close proximity, to consider volunteering. Please spread the word to any and all dental professionals. We can never have too many volunteers. Thank you.

Volunteer Registration form 2009 Los Angeles Dental.pages.pdf