How do you position yourself and your practice to be the local go-to resource for dental information? Networking? Making yourself available as an expert resource?
We believe that community service is the best vehicle.
For us, we’ve found community service to be personally rewarding and an effective professional advertisement to the community for our clinical services. More importantly, it is an opportunity to make a difference in our community.
We are, admittedly, busier than we sometimes realize — we can’t possibly fulfill every community request of our time. As we select service opportunities, we aim to engage our community in ways that are realistic, sustainable and rewarding.
Years ago, we viewed community service only through dental initiatives. This has its benefits, but it can leave you feeling limited. Over time, we made a concerted effort to diversify our community efforts. Developing our Kids Against Cavities campaign through Family First Health allows us to funnel most professional requests through that program.
Outside of professional community service, we volunteer at our kids’ school, assist in local sports programs and accept invitations to participate on local community boards. Engaging with our community on this level has been very rewarding for us.
But surprisingly, the aspect we’ve found most rewarding is when people find what we do to be inspirational. As professionals, we’ve all experienced the pleasure when a patient decides to pursue a career in dentistry because of you. That feeling is amplified when you inspire someone to pursue a healthy lifestyle because he or she encountered you on a community level.
In the end, it would probably be acceptable to limit our social contributions to what happens chair-side on our dental offices each day. Do we have an obligation to do more? The question provides an opportunity to reflect on the individuals that were generous with their time and contributed to our development. Now, we’re committed to passing on our expertise to future leaders.