As my favorite holiday approaches, I’ve reflected on what are the most important things we can be thankful for. I quickly realized however, that the most important things, aren’t “things”:

First: “Life”
Our family has recently been reminded how very special “Life” is . “Life” is the most important thing we can and should be thankful for. Certainly a healthy life both mentally and physically is an opportunity we all can work and strive for. Yet it is finite; we can’t afford to waste it.

Second: “Liberty”
“Liberty”/freedom is major; Our quality friends in arms, even fight and die so that we can more securely enjoy such. Sadly, from the beginning of recorded history until now, most humans have not had the opportunity to enjoy freedom. We are a rare and fortunate minority.

Third: “Happiness”
A third tremendously important factor to be thankful for is “Happiness”. “Life” and “Liberty” are foundational to “Happiness”. Our state of mind, our commitment to living our core values, our commitment to not let others drag us down and more, enable us to relish “Happiness”. We only live once, we can’t afford to waste this very important feeling/factor/blessing.

Interesting Confirmation:
One of the most brilliant minds the world has known, Thomas Jefferson said it best over two hundred and thirty five years ago :
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

We have so many “things” to be thankful for. However, the most important ones aren’t “things.”

Big hugs and,,,,,,,,

“HAPPY THANKSGIVING” to you all !

Dan

On my arrival in Bangkok, I was expecting to see a city healing up after the major damage: this is nothing like that.

I found a city in a total chaos, with some apocalyptic vision typical of a Spielberg movie.
2 weeks after the floods, major part of Bangkok and surrounding areas are still under water, with people relocated in evacuation camps, or just staying at their place (upper floors only), as they want to protect whatever valuable good remains.

Apocalyptic vision

all stores are open to water. Imagine ATMs floating in the water, cars upside down and people on the roofs/boats, trying to survive.

The Domestic airport (Don Mueang) is still fully immersed . The water went down about 20cm since the end of the rain.

Traffic highway: Many people parked on the elevated highways so as to protect their cars from being damaged. Consequently, the traffic is reduced and several accidents are occurring on the highway.

The Support

Background

Nudent is our distributor in Thailand and this not their first humanitarian action.

Dr Thaweesak (Dr. T), has been active over the past years with – amongst others-  the “King Mom’s Charity”, helping
tribe community with primary support and dental care (Ultradent  usually contributes in products too).
During the 2004 tsunami, Dr T. and his team were first on the spot to help identifying victims and helping out several thousands of European families.

Our Regional Manager, Jay (left) had to relocate outside the city, his 2 houses are under 1.5m of water (we went close to the place but could not access).
5 of Nudent staff are also affected.
this right picture shows the main access to Nudent office (sand bags have been placed in case the water comes).
left to right: Dr Walapha niece, Dr T, Nick, Dr Walapha, Jay, and a new member of Nudent.

The Help

Nudent action comes from several aspects.
Nudent is a self sustaining organization, almost running like a small NGO; They help DIRECTLY victims. This is especially important with a highly corrupted and unreliable Thai government.
Nudent is fully equipped with:
•Equipment: truck, water pump, four wheel drive
•Infrastructure: even if not finished, our
distributor Dr Thaweesak (Dr. T) is building a huge facility in the center of Bangkok which today serves as a center for packing up food for donations.
•Supplies: they are making emergency bags for the victims. They have delivered so far 3750 bags.
•People: and this element should come first. Big hearted people, all willing to roll up their sleeves, get wet and spend their week-end to serve those in needs…

Royal Thai Army

We joined hand with Nudent to help.
Several donations were made, here on this picture is a donation of 5000$ to the Thai Royal Army.

The whole Nudent team is present. Dr T is central (wearing glasses).
On his right, General Podok Bunnag.
The general was true to the core; inspiring in his speech (translated to me by Jay) and with one single objective in mind: helping out his fellow citizens.

The army troops are brave, out in the trenches, looking out to help without any political/financial interest. After this donation was done, they offered us a road trip to the flooded area.
I was honored to hop on one of those high army trucks.
We drove about 2 hours (95% of the time with water above the wheels) until we reached what seemed to me the most isolated place in the world: one of the evacuation center.

Evacuation center

Leaving the truck to reach the evacuation center on a light “homemade boat”.
It was common to see people being transported on these boats.

Human Chain

This was probably the most emotional and rewarding part of the trip: the joy of hand-delivering the food directly to the victims.
This center holds about 200 people, and the 97 bags shall last them for about a week time (they also re-distribute supplies to others centers farther away).

A lesson for life

Here are the happy little fellows, smiling at the monumental amount of food in front of them. I wish I had brought a few toys for them to play .

We way too often forget our real NEEDS, and we should APPRECIATE more the gorgeous simple things of life.
I was deeply moved by this person on the far right (in red). He was the teacher in this small village and turned himself into the leader of Rescue: he was coordinating (via phone) our trip to the center, guiding us through the village (swimming next to the truck) and organizing all logistic aspects of the transfer: He may be busy in this role for the next several weeks until water leaves and they can restore. He may also become the mayor of the city!

To Conclude:

1. Our partner in Thailand, together with the coordination of Jay, is a duplication of what Ultradent would do if it had happened in the US. I cannot be thankful enough for all they engage in.

What a lesson of humility and devotion!

2. Even though Bangkok Floods are not on CNN any more, the situation is still dramatic and many human being are still affected, needing food, survival kits, dry clothes. Re-building will come next.

Ultradent/Dr Fischer has been very generous to donate 20′000$ immediate relief support.

Besides, Ultradent is raising funds and will match on 1:1 basis: We need your help!

The Global Marketing Core Team is a group of talented Ultradent marketers from our different offices around the globe. Each region has at least one representative.

Ryan, Steve & Dan are based in HQ and represent US market, Peter handles Europe, Tina (missing in the picture) & Hiromi are the voices of Japan, Nicolas for Asia-Pac and Clauber for Latin America.

While International Sales are becoming more important than Domestic sales, this group was created to bring cohesion to a more Global organization.

Our mission is to:

• Enforce consistent GLOBAL Brands both in Company and in Product

• Increase the GLOBAL Voice of Customer influence on Brands

• Enforce GLOBAL Marketing Policies / Procedures / Solutions

Read the rest of this entry »

Last month, Dr Fischer was touring the Asia Pacific region and giving seminars on the newest developments in Dental Technology. We traveled together through Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.  The main highlight of the trip was the grand opening of  the Asia-Pac Regional Office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Local and Regional dentists joined for a ribbon cutting ceremony, company presentation and a cocktail party. The following day was a lecture at the Prince Hotel with more than 170 participants.

The  business outlook is promising in Asia and we look forward to some successful years to come. This was a pivotal step for our development to have the “Big Boss” visiting and sharing his positive energy.

Even though Dr. Fischer didn’t ask for a second piece of Durian,  he really appreciated the food, the people, and the hospitality!

It’s that time again. Ultradent is sending me out with a group of wonderful volunteer dentists, physians, hygienists, CNA and DAs to help the littlest and least fortunate in China. I am traveling with a group called Hope for the Children and with the International Children’s Surgical Foundation ( http://www.icsfoundation.org/ ). This year we’re traveling to Xian China.  This place was chosen because of an very special orphanage for special needs children – clefts, spinal bifida, birthmarks, etc.  These babies are left in other orphanages in what are called (translated) the “dying rooms.” They are put there because of (what is perceived as) their disabilities that make them unadoptable. Though cared for, these little ones are not given any hope of ever being adopted. There is no medical or dental care for these children.  Fortunately, a wonderful woman from South Africa named Amada de Lange opened Starfish Foster Home (http://www.thestarfishfosterhome.org/index.aspx ). She is able to bring these babies to her orphanages and get help for these children and arrange adoptions. Her story and her success is extraordinary. Her staff is a group of very caring minimum wage people (can you imagine how much that must be!).  Basically, we’ll be practicing dentistry while the medical team is repairing palates.  What is unique about our group?  We also go to teach.  Dr. Geoff Williams, a plastic surgeon, travels the world doing unbelievable surgeries but teaching a local surgeon the techniques so they can do the surgery once he is gone. The dental team takes their evenings to teach the dentists about treatments, procedures and current science in dentistry. 

The dental team going appreciates the donation of product that Ultradent makes to help us do this work. I appreciate Ultradent giving me the opportunity It’s a week of long, hard days but the most rewarding of any that I’ve ever done. It’s a very ”centering” and humbling experience as well.  I will try to blog and post pictures from there, if not, a full blog when I return.  Take a moment and check out the websites above.  It’s well worth it.

We’re proud to welcome the University of Southern Nevada’s College of Dental Medicine, the first dentistry program in the State of Utah. The school is coincidentally very close to Ultradent’s headquarters in South Jordan, Utah.

The University of Southern Nevada is a private, non-profit institution. Dr. Richard Buchanan will serve as the Dean – he earned his Doctor of Dental Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in Philadelphia. He’ll undoubtedly play a critical role in the development of the DMD program in Utah.

Exciting news…for Utah and the dental community.

» View entire post here.

We pulled off another eight hour lecture – this time in the heart of our US farm belt in the Midwest, Nebraska. The evening before was spent with the dental school in Lincoln for a lecture to mostly faculty and some students (super people there and a great facility) followed by an evening lecture in Omaha.

The trooper that deserves a salute is Libby. Note her center in first picture with the cute running shoes (she had changed shoes after the lecture to pitch in with Jessica and the rest to help clean up and organize all the materials for the trip back to South Jordan.) Libby is a trooper, a hard working team player who grew up on a farm in this region but who went on to finish college with a degree in acting! Libby is responsible for bringing in almost all 200 attendees to the lecture. The “one and only” Julie, a classy professional regional manager who supports and grows her team, was there (picture one again and to my left). Julie is exemplary in passing the credit onto her team as she beams with pride on their accomplishments.

» View entire post here.

I’m so proud of our Ultradent Team.

Despite of all of us having to live through the wage freeze and tightening up in other areas, you’ve opened your cabinets, wallets and hearts to help the homeless.  Ultradent employees were able to double our donations from last year bringing in 18,651 cans of food in a challenge with Swire Coca-Cola!!

A big congrats to the team at Ultradent for making the Utah Food Bank Food Drive Challenge a success!  This is particularly important in a time when charities have been struggling because of economic difficulties.

Thank you all for your heartfelt support of this very important cause.

Dan

Dear Colleagues,

Ten days ago,  I completed a fabulous and productive lecture tour through India.  This was organized by our wonderful  Ultradent colleague, Girish.  Our talented and hard working territorial manager for the region, Nicolas accompanied us on this tour.  Nicolas found and hired Girish as Nicolas had appropriately come to realize that we needed talented and focused effort every day on the ground for a country as large and complex as India.  The picture above shows in one picture our closest and most “immediate” family of Ultradent stalwarts in India.  On the left is Ramish, an incredible devoted, loyal and caring professional supporter of Ultradent and for many years now, Girish and his lovely daughter and to my right, his most lovely wife with another lovely daughter  and finally, Nicolas, our beacon now for the last few years in South East Asia including India.

» View entire post here.