President’s MessageMy relationship with the ASD started fairly recently in the course of my career. I have been taking care of professional teams since the early 90s and have thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of my career. It was 1993 that I met a peer taking care of another team and we've stayed in contact for now over 3 decades. In 2018 he and I were having a conversation, now you realize this is 25 years after I've met him, and we were talking about sports and he mentioned if I'd ever entertained the thought of joining the ASD? I then asked him what the ASD was. He expounded and explained, and I asked him why he hadn't mentioned this in 25 years of our relationship thus far and he said that he just assumed that I knew. I didn't! I immediately got online and became a member, and showed up about a month later at the 2018 New Orleans Annual Symposium. Here we are six years later, 40 years after the beginning of the Academy, and we are still struggling for membership. We talk about professional teams, semi pro teams, NCAA teams, high school teams, and we always have grandiose plans intent on expanding membership. However, the membership lies in our own backyard. Everyone thinks that you have to be affiliated with a team or have some grand plan of treating athletes, when we see them in our practice every day. It's the child playing youth soccer or baseball, the high schooler playing sports, the pick-up games of basketball, hockey, etc., we have with our friends. We all think that these are sources of traumatic injuries. However, a traumatic injury is the child that falls off their bicycle in your driveway, the person that trips and hits their face on the coffee table, all the unplanned events that we deal with daily that are a result of trauma. The skills taught and the information received through the ASD benefit facets of our practice and the people we serve. If we just let one peer know about what we do and what they can learn and what they can impart to their patients, they could change someone's perception of themselves and their practice. Don't wait 25 years to open your mouth and tell someone of your experiences. If each one of us told 2 peers about the ASD and only one joined, that person's life and their patients’ lives would be enriched, and our numbers would double. We all talk about growing the membership, member benefits, and what we have to offer, but we fail to open our mouths other than to other members. It's time to be challenged to spread the word and give someone the opportunity to change their life. Never assume that someone knows what you do and what you're involved in. Wishing you all great success in your personal lives, your families, your practices and hope you attain all of your dreams. Be sure to share with them with others! Byron Blasco, DMD, FASD |
