Dr. Cary Limberakis, PDA President - April 23, 2025
Addressing the Workforce Issue
One of the chief concerns of dentists not only in Pennsylvania, but across the country, is the workforce issue. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, dental practices have been hard-pressed to hire auxiliary staff: assistants and hygienists as well as administrative staff.
The ADA and PDA have been actively involved in mitigating this challenging situation. One avenue we have pursued is reaching out to high school students and guidance counselors to inform them that the dental profession offers a rewarding healthcare career opportunity, and it is an opportunity available at different levels. While not all students are likely to thrive in a four-year college experience, dentistry offers positions that require two years or less of college, and oftentimes students or counselors don’t consider those opportunities. Perhaps they are unaware of some of them. Consequently, PDA has been getting the word out by exhibiting at college fairs, dental expos and conferences.
Over the past year, I have traveled across the Commonwealth advocating for our profession at the Pennsylvania School Counselors Conference, the Pennsylvania Association for College Admissions, the Harcum Dental Expo and the Leadership Conference for Penn HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America). I have been joined in these efforts by several PDA leaders, including Dr. Jim Mancini, our current Ninth District trustee. In case you missed it, Dr. Mancini wrote an informative feature story in our September/October 20204 Pennsylvania Dental Journal (“From Z to Alpha: Inspiring the Next Generations to Enter Dental Careers”), a publication that focused on our workforce challenges.
I strongly encourage you to take the opportunity to exhibit at any career fairs in your local communities to promote our profession, and to let PDA know when you are planning to do so. You can contact PDA for resources. We also have a dedicated hub on the website at padental.org/careers.
–CJL
Dr. Cary Limberakis, PDA President - July 31, 2024
We are in the midst of the 2024 Summer Olympics, where the passion of the games and the thrill of victorybring good feelings about human achievement and what is truly possible. In the spirit of the games, I’d like to take this opportunity to recount the satisfying string of victories PDA has recently achieved. This is truly a summer of victory for our members.
PADPAC, under the leadership of Government Relations Committee Chair Dr. Darleen Oleski, and our lobbyists were successful in achieving victories on three key legislative issues that affect our profession in Pennsylvania:
- Act 58, PDA’s Virtual Credit Card legislation, requiring insurance carriers to be transparent, offer payment options, as well as choice for dentists
- Act 42, which requires health care insurers to pay for covered procedures through telehealth, including dentistry, and
- a Medicaid funding increase to cover 31 dental services for children and adults.
Next, I want to update you on our 2024 Family Vacation Dental Conference in August at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake in Cambridge, Md. It’s sold out! We more than doubled the number of dentists attending compared to last year. Congrats to Dr. Maria Tacelosky and her committee for an outstanding job.
The Governance Task Force, chaired by Dr. Linda Himmelberger, has been making steady progress in meeting the challenge, as directed by the Board of Trustees, to transition the PDA from a quadripartite to a tripartite to facilitate its smooth transition into ADA’s new platform, SalesForce/Fonteva.
Under the chairmanship of Dr. Ron Heier, the Annual Meeting Steering Committee has established the venue for our 2025 Pennsylvania’s Dental Meeting: the Desmond Hotel, in Malvern, a suburb of Philadelphia. Mark your calendars for April 26-26, 2025.
Our newest member benefit, PALMM, allows any PDA member to have a free 30-minute legal consultation with PDA’s law firm on any legal matter. You also have access to the Employment Law Desktop Reference on our website.
Lastly, it gives me great pleasure and PDA pride to announce that our very own Dr. Darleen Oleski was just elected Chair-Elect by the ADPAC Board, with her assuming the Chairmanship next year, in October 2025.
And in that same vein, congratulations to Dr. Nipa Thakkar who is serving her second term as Chair of the ADA’s Council on Membership, continuing through the ADA House in October. While Dr. Thakkar is completing her term, we have Dr. Jim Tauberg about to become Chair of the Council on Government Affairs and Dr. Rich Grossman will become Chair of the Council on Members Insurance and Retirement Program at the upcoming ADA Annual Session. Lots of reasons to be PDA Proud!
You can always reach me at cjldmd@gmail.com.
P.S. – For those of you wondering what the title of my blog means, it’s the Greek word Nike, which means “victory.” And the renowned statue of the goddess Winged Victory is where the sneaker company and got its name and logo (the swoosh – from the wings).
