The American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA) will host its national dental hygiene meeting – the Center for Lifelong Learning at the 89th Annual Session (CLL/AS) – June 13-19 at the Phoenix Convention Center/Hyatt Regency Hotel. More than 1,700 attendees are expected to participate in this week-long national conference.
Meeting Format
CLL at the 89th Annual Session features six separate continuing education career tracks on the front end of the event and the ADHA business meetings on the back end. Tracks include: Clinical Practice, Public Health, Education, Research, Professional Development, New Hygienist, and a separate Student track.
Center for Lifelong Learning
Between Thursday, June 14 and Saturday, June 16, ADHA will host the CLL portion of the meeting, including 28 cutting-edge continuing education courses with nationally known speakers and an exhibition featuring over 100 companies displaying the latest products and information in the oral healthcare industry.
Entering its second year, and a unique feature of CLL, will be the ADHA/Henry Schein Dream Center. This interactive, hands-on experience features a full operatory on the show floor with five different product stations where attendees will discover the latest trends in dental hygiene technology. Each station will include a five-minute educational interaction with a representative from the sponsoring company in which participants will receive a one-on-one and hands-on experience. The product stations and sponsors are as follows:
- Salivary Diagnostics—OralDNA Labs
- Loupes—Orascoptic
- Ultrasonics—Hu-Friedy
- Dental Manufacturer—Henry Schein
- Digital Radiography—DENTSPLY Rinn
- A center station, provided by DentalEZ Group, offers the full operatory experience.
89th Annual Session
Following CLL will be the 89th Annual Session on June 17-19. The meeting will focus on the business-related activities of the association. Forums and workshops have been streamlined to be topic-driven and create a more collaborative environment for discussion. On Sunday, June 17, Lynn Ramer, chair of the 2011-2012 Leadership Committee, will moderate a panel discussion of Unleashing Your Potential (UYP) grads that have immediately put their knowledge to work in a volunteer capacity. Each panelist will discuss how attending the UYP weekend impacted their leadership style, and that will be followed by a question and answer session.
On Tuesday, June 19, staff from Community Catalyst and ADHA will lead an interactive Legislative Workshop designed to help participants understand what coalitions are and how individuals and organizations can work as part of successful coalitions. The workshop is ideal for state leaders and legislative chairs. Also on Tuesday, the 2011-2012 Diversity Committee, and chosen panelists from diverse backgrounds, will explore such topics as professional challenges faced as a result of their ethnicity/orientation and how to reach more diverse populations.
Community Service Day
On Wednesday, June 13, ADHA and the Institute for Oral Health—in collaboration with DentalEZ Group—are sponsoring a community service day. Partnering with South Mountain Senior Center, dental hygienist volunteers will provide oral health/oral cancer screening, toothbrush prophylaxis, fluoride varnish and oral health education for Phoenix-area senior citizens at a congregate meal site.
Association Update
On Saturday, June 16, ADHA will offer a two-part workshop focusing on what ADHA is doing to move the profession forward and a preview of an exciting new program that will be debuting this year. This will be an interactive workshop, open to all, with time for questions and answers throughout the two different parts. The workshop parts are as follows:
· Part I: Executive Director’s Annual Report
ADHA Executive Director Ann Battrell, RDH, MSDH, will give an update to the association.
· Part II: Executive Committee/Staff Panel at Annual Session
The Executive Committee/Staff Panel portion of the workshop will use the President’s and Executive Director’s Annual Reports as background, to provide an update to provide an update on how ADHA’s strategic plan fits into the changing professional landscape and ask questions of the staff and leadership.
For more information on any of these topics, please visit www.adha.org/annualsession.
