We’re past excited to introduce you all to our 2023 Inexperienced Chief:
Erika Pusillo, DAADOM, Observe Optimizer at Spodak Dental Group in Delray Seaside, Florida!
Creating an environmentally-friendly tradition and mindset inside your dental observe has an influence that reaches far past the bodily partitions of the workplace. Made potential by a grant from the Henry Schein Cares Basis, AADOM created this award as a part of its Inexperienced Chief Initiative, which goals to empower observe managers to scale back their practices’ environmental footprint and lead their groups in turning into a part of dentistry’s inexperienced future.
Environmentally-friendly “inexperienced” ideas on your dental observe
All year long, we’ll replace this publish with Erika’s high ideas on your dental observe, with the latest on the high:
Tip 1: Save the Timber!
Create reusable router playing cards. Many workplaces print router playing cards to prepare and talk to their groups concerning affected person appointments, upcoming birthdays, physician exams wanted, balances due and extra. As a substitute of printing the router playing cards every day, create a template and laminate it. Use a dry erase marker for notes. These make GREAT affected person handoff kinds from hygiene to remedy coordinators. Be sure that there’s a spot for beneficial remedy. Our docs acquire these playing cards on the finish of the day and use them to jot down their scientific notes.
Tip 2: Make Inexperienced easy!
The simpler you make your inexperienced efforts the simpler they’re to comply with via. For instance, place recycling bins subsequent to trash bins within the break room. When your staff has a inexperienced choice proper subsequent to the conventional alternative, they will make higher selections with out the added time. On this instance, they are going to be extra doubtless to recycle as a substitute of throwing recycled items away.
Tip 3: Be an instance on your neighborhood.
We focus quite a lot of time educating our sufferers about dentistry. What number of of them know the way you’re going inexperienced? Belief me, sufferers LOVE supporting companies that help good causes. When you’ve got a TV display screen within the foyer, have a photograph or two of your staff planting bushes, cleansing up a seaside, recycling dental items and extra. Spotlight or characteristic inexperienced merchandise that you simply use and even give sufferers ideas and tips on how they will go inexperienced at dwelling.
Tip 4: Choose inexperienced dental merchandise each time potential.
All of us have a alternative with regards to the dental merchandise we use in our practices. Provide corporations are offering increasingly inexperienced choices. Meet together with your provide rep to evaluate the inexperienced merchandise out there to you.
Try the next merchandise:
- Woo Bamboo for biodegradable bamboo toothbrushes (sure they are often branded).
- Eco Merchandise for compostable “plastic” cups. They’re derived from soybeans, how cool?
Tip 5: Shopping for in bulk saves you cash and the planet!
Purchase your merchandise in bulk over single-use varieties. We evaluate our provide and stock firstly of every yr. As part of this technique, we evaluate how to economize (and time) whereas decreasing waste.
When merchandise that don’t have an expiration or have lengthy shelf lives are purchased in bulk, they arrive in giant containers with smaller, refillable containers. Single-use provides are handy since you don’t need to sanitize after every use, however they add further waste to our landfills. Bulk is healthier.
Tip 6: Improve your affected person facilities and go inexperienced.
Who has a beverage station in your foyer? Fingers raised. 🙋 As a substitute of offering bottled water, go for a water refill station. Amazon has many elegant choices for as little as $29. Improve the expertise by including recent slices of lemon or cucumber for a really refreshing drink. Make sure to present compostable cups or reusable glasses to scale back plastic waste.
Meet AADOM’s 2023 Inexperienced Chief!
What’s your definition of a Inexperienced Chief?
A Inexperienced chief is somebody who acknowledges that we now have a option to preserve and protect our pure assets. “Inexperienced” management begins by selecting extra environmentally pleasant alternate options to provides, tools and expertise that not solely improves our affected person’s expertise however improves our efforts in saving our planet.
How does your staff help your efforts?
Group help comes from having alignment round a set of core values. Our core values had been created by our staff to outline who we’re and why we do what we do (our function). Our values are what set us aside and for this reason we “C.L.I.C” so effectively:
- Create a “WOW” expertise for ourselves and our sufferers
- Lead with authenticity and integrity
- Encourage one another to realize outstanding outcomes
- Domesticate neighborhood by offering help and constructive communication
Our values help our GREEN initiatives.
What’s your favourite GREEN factor to do?
I’m enthusiastic about drawback fixing! I really like discovering ways in which we will reduce consumption and cut back waste. For instance, for particular events and celebrations we purchase items for our staff which have function like reusable water bottles. We have now gifted iPads/Exceptional tablets for sustainable word writing, decreasing using paper.
How does your work/inexperienced mindset carry over to your personal dwelling/life?
I get pleasure from being an instance for my household, an excellent spouse and a good mom simply as I aspire to be an excellent instance for my staff. My household participates within the occasions our Observe hosts. It brings me pleasure to see my son understand that he could make a distinction at 12 years outdated by selecting up trash, planting bushes, preserving areas that help wildlife and by recycling.
Because the 2023 Inexperienced Chief, what would you prefer to share with observe homeowners about how their management can influence the environmental influence at their practices?
Management has so many definitions and for me, I imagine main is one other phrase for making a distinction. Small adjustments result in massive outcomes. My recommendation is to take 5 minutes at your subsequent staff assembly and ask for concepts on how your Observe can cut back extra waste or recycle. Your staff’s enter results in extra pleasure concerning the trigger and finally creates extra buy-in.
If inside adjustments to the best way you do enterprise aren’t potential, how might your Observe help a company that helps the inexperienced initiative? For instance, might you be a part of a bunch to plant bushes, construct a neighborhood backyard, clear up your seashores or native parks? Might you help a trigger or group that finds methods to reuse or make the most of recycled items to make new items?
Small adjustments are carried out with small actions – select ONE factor to implement and get began right this moment! ????
About Erika
Erika Pusillo is the Observe Optimizer at Spodak Dental Group in Delray Seaside, Florida. She started her dental profession in 2009 as a dental assistant in sterilization. One among her favourite quotes by Tony Robbins, “the one unattainable journey is the one you by no means start,” impressed her to pursue bigger, seemingly unattainable desires. Now she leads a staff of fifty in a single location, multi-specialty, state-of-the-art observe. Erika has a ardour for studying, studying and mentoring. She earned her DAADOM distinction in 2022 and has her sights set to talk at a future AADOM convention.
Erika has a giving coronary heart. She coordinates and participates with a number of volunteer occasions together with her staff which embrace:
Neighborhood Greening Tree Planting
Seaside Clear Up
Alzheimer’s and Breast Most cancers 5k Stroll/Run
Boynton Seaside Angels Meals Drive
Toys for Tots
Freedom Day USA (Free dental care to energetic army and their households)
Emergency Dental Day (Free emergency dentistry)
All Star Smiles (Free dentistry to underserved kids)
Erika is a spouse and mom to a twelve yr outdated boy. She enjoys doing initiatives, cooking, studying and spending time together with her household.
Concerning the AADOM Inexperienced Chief Initiative:
The AADOM Inexperienced Chief Initiative empowers dental observe leaders to undertake greener practices within the dental workplace. The initiative goals to interact members to scale back the environmental influence of “enterprise as normal” dentistry and to point out how there are actual bottom-line advantages to implementing particular adjustments that may end in decreasing waste and utilizing environmentally pleasant merchandise.
This initiative is made potential via a beneficiant grant from the Henry Schein Cares Basis.
Are you our subsequent Inexperienced Chief?
Standards to appoint the 2024 Inexperienced Chief:
- Use of Inexperienced Merchandise within the observe
- Use of Inexperienced Practices
- Present AADOM member and Workplace Supervisor
- Have to be current on the 2024 AADOM Convention
- Environmental mindset round your dental observe
- Units instance for his/her dental staff
Nominations for our 2024 Inexperienced Chief are actually open! Submit your nomination right here earlier than July 5, 2024.
