NMDA Journal Winter 2019

24 New Mexico Dental Journal, Winter 2019 Council on Government Affairs Report By Chris Morgan, DMD A Message from the Office of Oral Health Department of Health State of NewMexico By Rudy Blea The New Mexico Dental Association has a very active Council on Government Affairs (CGA). The chairperson for this council is Dr. Chris Morgan. He leans heavily on NMDA staff members Dr. Tom Schripsema and Michael Moxey for perspective and leadership. In addition, the council is made up of nine other member dentists and advised by our lobbyist, Joe Menapace. The Council meets regularly, most often aided by teleconference, av- eraging about eight meetings a year. As is always the case, face to face meetings are preferred, but in today’s fast paced environment, this is impossible. Typically, the members of the Council are “making their way through NMDA leadership”, however, all interested members are encouraged to participate. One of the strongest aspects of the CGA is that it represents the 600 or so NMDA members. This fact carries a tremendous weight and should play a vital role in your decision to maintain NMDA membership. This year, the CGA will work with our legislators and government lead- ership, offering strong advice on issues that may affect New Mexico citizens and our profession for many decades. The issue of dental therapy has been a top priority for the council to manage. We expect this to continue in January of 2019, with the start of another legislative session. We are also aware of opportunities to improve dental state Medicaid, community water-fluoridation, dental school education along with other dental issues that could positively affect the citizens of New Mexico The members of the CGA are faced with difficult decisions every year. Some of the decisions are made because we decide that “we can live with them, and we are forced to some sort of compromise.”This can be a hard pill to swallow for the CGA members and, often times, even more difficult to explain to other NMDA member dentists. I would like to assure you that the volunteer member dentists on this committee give all aspects of their appointed responsibilities their best effort. Monday morning quarterbacking is an easy task, and we expect mem- bers to have questions. Our hope is that they ask the council these questions and consider participating in the legislative process, advo- cating for our profession. We need the help. Nationally, there are several organizations whose goal is to improve the oral health status of Americans such as the American Dental Asso- ciation, Delta Dental, and the Children’s Dental Health Project. Another organization is the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD). ASTDD is a national non-profit organization representing staff of state public health agency programs for oral health and other partners. Organized in 1948, it is one of 17 affiliates of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. It’s vision and mission are to provide leadership and support to: promote government infrastructure and workforce in each state and territory, formulate and promote sound public oral health policy, increase the awareness of oral health issues, and assist in the devel- opment and implementation of initiatives for prevention and control of oral disease. ASTDD is a national network of members and associate members who collaborate and share best practices, evidence-based strategies and resources to improvements in communities, states, and national oral health programs. ASTDD provides national leadership for oral health program infrastruc- ture, workforce and leadership development, provides credible oral health information (position papers, policy statements, and state spe- cific surveillance data), evidence based, population-based strategies to improve and maintain oral health across the lifespan and resources to promote oral health. Each year, ASTDD and the American Association of Public Health Den- tistry sponsors the National Oral Health Conference. The conference is the premier public health dental meeting. The conference sessions are presented by public health dental experts, topics include oral health research, education, community-based care, school based oral health policy/program, community water fluoridation, preventive services and data collection/analysis. The next conference will be held on April 15–17, 2019 Nashville, Tennessee. New Mexico has been a member of ASTDD for several decades and has benefited from the public health resources, leadership, and comrade. ASTDD supported the reinstatement of Community Water Fluoridation by the Albuquerque Water Utility Authority over the past few years and attended a national Community Water Fluoridation strategic planning meeting in Albuquerque April 2017. ASTDD also convened the National Oral Health Conference 2017 in Albuquerque, New Mexico with over 900 attendees from New Mexico and across the country. In 2018, ASTDD designated the New Mexico Office of Oral Health Mobile Prevention Program as a “Best Practice.”Mr. Rudy Blea, Program Director, has been a member of ASTDD for 15 years and is currently the Chair of the ASTDD Adolescent School Health Commit- tee. The committee’s responsibility is to develop and promote national school based oral health policy. Membership in this public oral health organization is open to any den- tal provider or oral health advocate. Additional information can be found at: www.astdd.org