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News


Irish Angels walk from Darkness Into Light


A volunteer group from Henry Schein Ireland joined tens of thousands of other participants in Ireland and across the world to take part in the Darkness Into Light fundraiser recently.


The event, which has been held since


2009 in aid of Pieta House, saw more than 80,000 people walk or run a 5km course at dawn in 80 different locations around Ireland and further afield. The Irish branch of Henry’s Angels,


part of the company’s corporate social responsibility programme, have dubbed themselves the Irish Angels. The team taking on the Darkness Into Light challenge consisted of managing director Pat Bolger and his son Aidan who joined walkers and runners at the event in Nass, Co Kildare; Jim Wray and Tommy Creighton who took part in Navan, Co Meath; and colleagues John Rice and Maureen Hamilton, along with Maureen’s daughter and niece who served as car park attendants and stewards at Phoenix Park in Dublin, where more than ı2,000 people took part. “It was truly awe-inspiring to see thou-


Henry Schein Ireland MD Pat Bolger and son


sands of people walking like a sea of yellow along the pathways of the park as dawn approached,” said John Rice. “As represen- tatives of Henry Schein, the Irish Angels are proud to have done our part to support


GDC ‘worst health regulator’ in UK


REPORT


The British Dental Association (BDA) has expressed its alarm at a report into the performance of the GDC that puts the organisation bottom of a league of nine healthcare regulators put under the microscope. The Professional Standards


Authority (PSA) published its find- ings last month and revealed that the GDC failed to meet a total of seven of its standards of good regulation. On fitness to practise, the


GDC fully met only one of the 10 standards, and failed to meet six others, representing what the PSA described as a significant decline in its performance compared to an assessment it carried out in 2013/14.


BDA Chair Mick Armstrong, said:


“Yet again GDC registrants must acknowledge that they are being regulated by the worst health regu- lator in the UK. “It is difficult to understand


how badly the GDC has to perform before someone actually inter- venes,” he said. However, the GDC mounted


a staunch defence of its perfor- mance claiming that a major change programme is delivering real improvements in the protection of dental patients. In a statement, the GDC said that


the PSA report confirmed that in the areas of guidance and standards, education and training, and registra- tion, the GDC is performing well.


Darkness Into Light participants near the finish line


the cause of such a worthy organisation. We look forward to participating in this event again next year.” Pieta House is a non-profit organisation


providing a specialised treatment program, including counselling services, for people who have suicidal ideation or who partici- pate in self-harming behaviours. The walk, which is Pieta House’s flagship fundraising event, began at 4:ı5 a.m. local time and was held in 80 different locations throughout Ireland, England, Scotland, Australia, Canada and the USA, with more than 80,000 people participating worldwide.


Campaigning for smiles


AWARENESS MONTH


A quarter of all dental practices in the UK took part in this year’s National Smile Month which has been hailed as the most successful yet. The month-long awareness event, organised


by the British Dental Health Foundation, received the support of more than 4,000 companies across the UK and saw more than 2,500 dedicated oral health events take place. The campaign was also taken to the classroom this year with more than 500 schools helping an estimated 75,000 children learn about the importance of good oral health. Next year sees the 40th anniversary of the National Smile Month campaign.


® For more information, follow the campaign on Twitter @smilemonth or visit www.smilemonth.org


Ireland’s Dental magazine 15


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