UVSC Dental Hygiene

I recently discovered that UVSC dental hygiene program scored 5th in the nation on their national boards. Last year they were in the top 10. I am wondering where WSU is. I know where I placed in relation to the rest of the nation, but where did WSU as a whole place. I imagine it was not too great or we would have heard about it. I must give UVSC kudos for preparing their students to acheive such excellent honors in their acedemic careers as dental hygienists! I am sure those students will be valuable assest to the profession.

Which bring me to another point....I hope all the WSU class of '06 has taken the time to convert their ADHA membership from student to full time members. There is no financial charge-just a few minutes of your time. Please do this. Please stay active in the profession. Please care about your future.

Anyone got a light?

Today Cedar is one big smoke ball. When you walk outside you are welcomed with a big puff of smoke from the wildfires in the area. Sadly, this is to be expected for this time of year. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in Florida with Karena, or Georgia with Dave, or South Carolina like Hourglass, or Indiana with Peggy and Jim. I am sure the humidity has it's drawbacks but wildfires probably are not one of them.

I really hope that everyone will come visit me in Cedar. I mean this with all my heart. Y'all are welcome!

I also want to thank Hourglass for being so great to one of my greatest friends! Thank you so much!

I guess that is all I have to say at this time, so I guess I will leave the library and venture out into the smokey wonderland of Cedar.

Finally I am licensed!!!

At Albertson's pharmacy we are allowed on three websites, Albertsons.com, ClinicalPharmacology.com, and DOPL. Everyday my coworkers check to see if I have been honored a license. They are so good to me. Well it happened. The same day as my last post! I still do not have the hard copy--you know the one I get to frame and display to all. But I printed out the info from DOPL and immediately called the dental office I will be starting at. My first day is going to be July 6th. They are closed the 3-4 and my dear friend Andrea convinced-aka paid for-me to fly to Indiana so I would be out of town until the 6th. I am pretty excited to actually get back into cleaning teeth. I have had over a month off from that activity and I am sure that my fulcrum finger is not longer in shape! What's a girl to do;)

Dawn, it was so great to hear from you! I have not emailed like I should thus making me a slacker on so many levels. I hope to have internet at my house soon! I hope Vegas is hot enough for you:)

The Shakespeare festival had the first showing of this seasons plays last night. It was the preview performance--kind of like a dress rehearsal with an audience. I was working and missed it but I plan on attending the festival for a great season of entertainment. A co-worker has already been down to Tuacan in St. George. She loved it and wanted to go see Peter Pan next. I wish Brent was closer to Cedar so he could go to them with me:) Too bad he is in Orem playing Guitar Hero like a pro!!! Too bad Jo works all night and so she cannot come and sleep outside with me. Too bad Breana will be too tired after running the St George marathon (and I think too late in the season) to get a Frozen Custard and Nelson's. Too bad Tatiana still has one more year of DH school which is a crazy year to come play with me. Too bad Heidi, Melissa, Korbin, Natalie are miles and miles away from me. Luckily Aimee will be coming to Cedar soon and I can go get a Hawaiian Icee with her and go to the Greenshow and chat about life! Life with a license is pretty good!

Unlicensed

Well, I am still unlicensed. It is getting to be a little nerve racking. My pharmacy job is wondering when I can work, my hygiene job is wondering when I can work and I am wondering when I can work. I do not like dwelling in this limbo. The DOPL website claims to be working on applications submitted by June 9. This is my group. I hope that means that I will be getting my license fairly soon.

Southern Utahs 222 military unit are scheduled to arrive home tomorrow. I am so proud of these men and women. I am a little frustrated with the some individuals who do not support the war. They claim to support the troops because it is not their fault they are at war, but they do not support the reasons for war and the United States sole role in the war. According to the new I have been watching, the US is NOT the only country fighting against terrorists. Canada and England have stepped up considerably more that the US. I guess I am frustrated because I have a brother who leaves for Iraq in December and I have been paying closer attention to the news (way to report unbiasedly Fox News--thanks). I want my brother to be safe, I also want everyone worldwide to have that same security. I know that there in unrest in the world and peace has been removed from this earth. I just pray that we can all accept people and their decisions to better this world. I am proud of the United States and I am glad I am a citizen. I am extremely proud of my bother and his willingness to serve my country. He has made me honored to have him as a brother! I love you Dave!

Status RX

Oh how much will I NOT miss doing that....

Anyway, I am sitting at Cedar City's library writing to the world about my life as it currently stands. I do not have internet or cable so that pretty much sums up my evenings. It is a good thing I work late and have friends I can call every night-thanks Korbin. Well, I sent off my license application last week. I lost my success card for local anesthesia (what a flaky thing to do!) so I had to send off for another one. So I am thinking I will get my license in 3-6 weeks. I did not pay the $75 extra to process my application faster, the world is just going to have to wait:) I have a job starting out 3 days a week. This office is in Cedar City behind the Smith's grocery store. Once their new office is finished I will work more. Their new office is at the south end of town by the south elementary/discovery park/walmart. It is supposed to be really great. I am looking forward to a new office.

Today I observed one hygienist who works 4 hours a week for each of the 3 dentists (so she works 1 &1/2 days). We get 1 hour per patient period. That is great for recall and for new patients! I am pretty excited about it. I get to say how long I need for SCRP. If I need 1 &1/2 hrs for one quad or half mouth then I tell them. The million assistants are so great. They were so nice to me and knew I was the new hygienist and introduced themselves to me etc. The dentists are pretty laid back and very approachable. I think I could be happy in this office (the official name of the practice is Cedar Dental Center--CDC ha ha ha). I cannot believe how lucky I am to be working with two great hygienists who are both active in ADHA! I honestly did not think that they would be members, to my surprise they are! I do not think I could have fallen into a better job. I do mean fallen in. What are the chances that the first dentist I talked to needed a hygienist and that the office staff would be so great and have hygienists that are as concerned for the profession as I am! I better knock on wood and cross myself and any other superstitious/religious thing I can think of to ward of any jinxs of the day. I really hope that this office is not too good to be true!

I wish all of the world's hygienists good luck in finding the office that is best for them! May doors be opened and connections made that enable you to work in the atmosphere that will strengthen your already wonderful hygiene skills!!

People crack me up!

As you know there is a patient (now known as Wilt) out there in this big world who has E.D. Well he does not seem to be able to stop bragging about it. I have known some men with E.D. and they try to keep the condition a private matter. This patient is just begging for the opportunity to share. He came in for his Viagra. His insurance company allows 6 pills every 28 days. He wanted more but did not want to pay $10 a pill for them so he left. About an hour later his mother called asking the pharmacy why we could not give him more. I was floored. This 40 year old patient's mother was calling us....about his hard on pills....wow! The short story is that Mom's still care about their children's little problems. I am not sure if I should laugh or be disgusted by Wilt and his incessant need to talk about his libido(he talked to me about that in a recent phone call) and his girlfriend who he cannot keep up with.

I am loving life after school. I have seen 2 movies--in a movie theater! I have plans to go to Davinci Code with Kody J tomorrow night and I am already marking the calendar for when Nacho Libre comes to town! I have read 2 fiction books, visited with long time friends and worked my heart out. It has been great! I am looking forward to recieving my license one day soon. But, then again this break is kind of nice! I hope everyone's summer is going great.

Class of '07 let me know when you are coming to Cedar. I will try to get Shakespear tickets the same nights y'all are here. It will be fun!