You steal a few minutes from your sleep time so you can hit the local coffee shop. You forego a lunch with your mother because you are implementing a new periodontal program. You have not seen the gym or your favorite exercise DVD since January 10th. You have to reschedule Mrs. Young because of your child's play rehearsal. You forego a get-together with your friends for the "dream" guy or gal. And you even give up some of your favorite reality TV shows to attend an evening CE program.
We find ourselves negotiating about many things in our daily lives. Yet, as hygienists, what's rarely negotiable is our commitment to continually learn about our patients' total health and our profession.
We enter the profession filled with promise, ambition, and energy. We accomplish much and become valued by our patients and even employers. Yet we want more. There comes a point when we ask, "Just give me something that I want." Lucky for us, we now can turn to our email inbox and read RDH eVillage.
RDH eVillage will become a non-negotiable. It's simple (not simplistic), because it is a monthly online communiqué delivered to your inbox. A paperless way to stay connected to your fellow hygienists, the hygiene community, and the rapidly shifting marketplace (that sometimes seems to have changed since the last time we logged in).
Some long-time friends of hygiene will be a part of RDH eVillage, notably Mark Hartley, editor of RDH magazine and the many faces of the PennWell Corp. who have always championed the dental hygiene profession. Actually, the readers of RDH magazine fueled the online newsletter idea and more than 2,000 of us provided feedback for the various featured sections: monthly articles, dental hygiene samplings, useful Web links of the month, student cafe, dental hygiene application/techniques and a "what's new" area.
If that's not enough, our e-solution section allows you to click your questions or challenging situations to be electronically answered by our growing panel of experts. And the icing on the carrot cake is your ability to instantly provide us with feedback. This endless loop of cyber connection allows RDH eVillage to remain on top of your interests.
Since my best friend Doreen keeps telling me, "Recycling is more than neatly tying the old newspapers together and separating the Evian bottles," she says, "It's a state of mind." So please embody that sentiment by freely recycling RDH eVillage. Pass it along to colleagues and students. Ask them to sign-on to make sure they are all part of this RDH eVillage community. If you miss an issue, the topics and content will be archived on www.rdhmag.com.
We value your online subscription and promise that, if you keep emailing us about what you want to "scroll and learn," we'll do our part to keep you informed about your favorite topics! And that's my non-negotiable!
Kristine A. Hodsdon RDH, BS
RDH eVillage, Director
[email protected]
