The ACDQ celebrated its 55th anniversary!
June 6 was a very special day for the ACDQ because it was its 55th anniversary! In all of these years, your association has managed to create a prominent place for itself in the world of dentistry by becoming a key actor. But it would have never achieved all of this success without the invaluable support and trust of its members. Your Association is prouder than ever to represent you and defend the interests of dentists with all types of profiles. Today, you are more than 4,300 competent, dynamic, and dedicated dentists who diligently attend to your patients’ needs. Day after day, you pursue your primary mission with conviction, which is to provide quality care to Quebecers.
After 55 years of working to gain recognition for the dental profession and its members’ expertise, contributing to their training, defending the value and importance of their services and negotiating various agreements on behalf of dentists, the ACDQ has definitely proven its relevance and reason for existing. On the strength of its many achievements, it has quickly positioned itself as an indisputable leader in the field of oral healthcare in Quebec and has unquestionably contributed to the development of dentistry, thanks to our strong community.
In the last year alone, we developed a workforce shortage action plan and laid the foundations for a plan to deal with the arrival of large corporations; we worked on developing a new HR service, and much more. Just recently, we announced to you that the dental hygiene refresher training program offered to internationally trained dentists would be reopened at the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe. This was one of the demands that we made to the highest levels of government in an effort to reverse the workforce shortage in the field of dental health. Furthermore, at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, we stepped up our actions with our partners to bring you the most up-to-date and reliable information possible. We also united our efforts to help dental clinics reopen their doors by insisting on the fact that oral healthcare needs to be considered an essential service. These are just a few examples that truly show the leverage and influence that we wield.
The values that underlie all our projects are real and deeply rooted. But we are innovative too. As proof, we can point to the program with HEC Montreal’s health knowledge platform (Pôle santé) and the green program, where the ACDQ is breaking new ground in the field of health, to name just a few.
In addition to all of this, there is also the range of services that we provide to you at the ACDQ and through our subsidiaries and partners, which have but one goal: make sure that you succeed. Our various subsidiaries offer you advice and products that are designed for dentists, whether they are at the beginning, middle or end of their careers, and span many different areas, from damage and personal insurance to private management and financial planning services. We are proud to bring you all of this trustworthy expertise.
Nevertheless, we cannot rest on our laurels because our practice is constantly evolving, as we have seen recently with the passage of Act 15, despite our repeated efforts in recent years in this issue. Over the years, we have shown that we can reinvent ourselves and are a living, dynamic and constantly changing organization that provides you with effective services in line with your expectations and closely based on your needs. On that note, there are many other projects being developed to support and help you overcome the current challenges.
You should know that your Association will continue to work relentlessly to defend your interests and contribute to your success. The ACDQ can be proud of its solid team, which is made up of individuals who are 100% dedicated, competent and convinced of the importance of the organization’s mission. Without this team, the ACDQ would merely be a logo with membership fees. In fact, to better assist and guide you in your work, we have expanded the team over the past few months, particularly in the Communications and Legal Service departments, in order to be even more available and provide you with sound advice on a daily basis.
In short, what else can I say but that I see the future of our Association with optimism as it begins its 56th year of existence. But to go even further, your support will be more necessary than ever, especially through our various pressure tactics. We also encourage you to keep cultivating your ACDQ reflex to make the most of your membership in our Association and help us keep developing, which primarily benefits you.
I thank each and every one of our members for trusting us year after year. Happy birthday to us!
Dr. Carl Tremblay, DMD President