"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." —Albert Einstein
Have you ever noticed how fast the month of January flies by? We celebrated the celestial new year, made New Year resolutions and came back to our offices to find patients ready to start treatment that they’d put off at the end of the year. Now, we blinked, and it’s February.
During the month of January, your International Board has been working hard setting plans for the year and our future. As we remembered Holocaust Remembrance Day, we were working to, and accomplished, expanding the Holocaust Survivors program to new cities. As there are still thousands of survivors living below the poverty line with tremendous dental needs, we need your help to serve them. I urge you to please reach out to your chapter leaders and ask how you can get involved in treating our survivors.
The upcoming Chicago Midwinter meeting dinner is right around the corner, and we are also looking forward to the European Convention in Porto, Portugal in June. If you plan to join us in Chicago or Porto, make sure you register soon. The hotel in Porto will be selling out as that time of year is prime time in the region; the hotel is fantastic! Make sure you get your reservation in early. More info here: http://www.aoporto2019.com/.
I spent time with the Rocky Mountain Dental Society meeting and our Denver chapter, at an AO Breakfast and Shabbat dinner. Cliff Litvak, Raymond Pol, Paul Bittone, and Ian Topelson put together an excellent program. Brett Kessler, a long-time member of AO, is now the ADA 14th District Trustee-elect. He gave a great presentation on what’s happening in dentistry, on a national level, including the discussion of Mid-level providers. Dean Denise Kassenbaum gave an update on the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine and our dental students, Megan Iritani and John Rausch, provided a thorough update of school programming. The student chapter has over 100 members, of which very few are Jewish. However, they are excited to join, as they find Alpha Omega represents valuable Judaic ideals of serving the community, fostering a caring, collaborative environment, and maintaining the values of integrity, compassion, inclusion, and generosity. Their main philanthropic project this year was volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House and next year, they are looking to expand the Toothday at Fenway program, providing oral cancer screenings at the Colorado Rockies game.
Alpha Omega is connected through a unique network of dentists throughout the world, doing good locally and internationally, supporting each other, and sharing the growth in every aspect of the dental field. As it stands, every AO chapter is involved in a charitable program and, although unique to their local area, and all are connected worldwide. This connection we share is what I call,
Standing together, or Omdim b’Yachad.
We value your membership and encourage you to spread the word to those who may want to join. Go to AO.org for more information on membership.
Smile always,
Steven Spitz
2019 International President