Board Highlights Fall 2014

Board Highlights
Fall 2014
The Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association was held in Moncton, New
Brunswick on October 4, 2014 and the CDHA Board of Directors met October 4 - 6, 2014.
Key highlights from these meetings include:
New CDHA Board of Directors
The presentation of the new CDHA Board of Directors for 2014-2015:
Front row (l to r): Tiffany Ludwicki - Newfoundland and Labrador; Sophia Baltzis – Quebec;
Janel Parkinson – Saskatchewan; Gerry Cool – Alberta; Tracy Bowser – Prince Edward Island;
Back row (l to r): Joanne Noye - Nova Scotia; Donna Scott - North (representing Yukon, NWT and NU) and PresidentElect; Mandy Hayre - British Columbia and President; Mary Bertone, Manitoba and Past-President;
Wendy Taylor, New Brunswick
Absent: Sandy Lawlor, Ontario
KPMG was appointed as auditor for 2014-2015.
Awards
At CDHA’s AGM, Anne Caissie was presented with the Award of Merit.
Wanda Fedora and Jennifer Poulos received their 25-year recognition award.
Policies
The Board reviewed and updated numerous policies to ensure currency. The most important
Board policies are the Ends policies. CDHA’s Ends policies are:
1.0 Ends (Mission/Purpose)
CDHA exists so that its members are able to provide quality preventive and therapeutic oral health care
as well as health promotion for the Canadian public.
1.1 Public Policy Environment
Public policy barriers are reduced to ensure members can practise as primary health care providers (*as
defined in BCHDA – Position statement Primary Health Care Release 1 (March 2010)
1.2 Public Recognition
Members’ value is recognized by the Canadian public.
1.3 Professional Practice
Members have the confidence and resources to work independently and interprofessionally as an
integral part of the health care team.
1.4 Professional Knowledge
Members create, contribute to and utilize a growing body of professional knowledge and research.
1.4.1 National Professional Standards
Members are aware of and have access to national professional standards.
1.4.2. Leadership
Members’ (especially student members’) potential for professional leadership is developed.
The members approved KPMG as auditor for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.
One of the key roles of a Board of Directors is its fiduciary responsibility. To ensure ongoing competency
in this regard, the Board had a short education session on reading financial statements.
The Board reviewed and updated numerous policies to ensure currency. One of the most important
board policies are the “Ends” policies. The Board approved a slight amendment to a current “Ends”
policy: Members have the confidence and resources to work independently and interprofessionally as
an integral part of the health care team.
The Board directs, controls and inspires CDHA through the careful establishment of broad written
policies reflecting the Board's values and perspectives. Thus, one of the key roles of the Board is
monitoring and assessing board policies and executive limitations at each Board meeting.
The Directors on the CDHA Board are the “members” of the Canadian Foundation for Dental Hygiene
Research and Education (CFDHRE). The CDHA Board had a discussion about their relationship with
CFDHRE and attended the CFDHRE Annual General Meeting.
CDHA’s Board governance coach reviewed the principles of policy governance, Ends, monitoring and
assessing policies and Ends reports.
The Board changed the title of their chief staff officer from Executive Director to Chief Executive Officer
to be in compliance with current policy governance terminology and trends in national healthcare
associations.
Ownership Linkage
One of the key roles of the Board is connecting with the Owners (who are the members) of CDHA. The
Board included some key questions on the CDHA member survey and will be assessing the results. The
Board also discussed the student session that was held in Moncton, in conjunction with the Leadership
Summit.
Student Ownership Linkage Session in Moncton
Leadership Summit
In previous years, CDHA has hosted a Provincial President’s meeting on a yearly basis (typically in
conjunction with the AGM or Conference). This year, CDHA committed to developing “leaders” within
the profession and hosted a leadership summit. The feedback from the inaugural Leadership Summit
was very positive. The Board discussed some possible strategies for future events of this nature.
Provincial Presidents and CDHA President
Representation
The CDHA Board appoints representatives to the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CDAC). The term
of office for the CDHA’s representative on CDAC’s Health Facilities and Dental Hygiene Service
Committee is expiring. CDHA did a call for interested parties and received nine applications. The Board
assess the competencies of all potential candidates against the requirements for this position and Arlynn
Brodie was selected as the new representative on this committee.
The CDHA Board also has a representative on the National Dental Hygiene Certification Board. The
Board decided that this representative would change from being a board-appointed position to a
position appointed by CDHA’s Education Advisory Committee because working as an Educator is one of
the key competency requirements for this position.
Nominations
Three positions on the Board will become vacant this year, thus CDHA will be seeking nominations for
the Director positions from Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. To assist in the nominations process,
the Board struck a new committee entitled: The Committee Responsible for Member Recruitment to the
CDHA Board of Director. This committee is tasked with recruiting new Board members.
Future CDHA AGMS and Conferences
2015 – October 29-31 Victoria, British Columbia
2016 - Fall
Edmonton, Alberta
2017 - Fall
Ottawa, Ontario
2018 – Fall
Charlottetown, PEI or St. John’s, Newfoundland