ADHA Announces Recipient of 2004 Distinguished Service Award-Rhonda Akeson

Chicago-August 5, 2004 – The American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA) has named Rhonda K. Akeson, RDH, BS, of La Crosse, Wis., as a recipient of the 2004 ADHA Distinguished Service Award.

The award recognizes outstanding achievement and dedication to the profession of dental hygiene.

Akeson, a graduate of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, received her bachelor’s degree in 1974. She is employed at Three Rivers Dental, a branch of Scenic Bluffs Community Health Center, and is the coordinator for the volunteer sealant program that encompasses six La Crosse elementary schools and the Bangor Elementary School. She also serves as a mentor for dental hygiene students at Western Wisconsin Technical College in La Crosse.

After graduation Akeson actively pursued contact with other dental hygienists, which eventually led to the formation of a local component association; and upon relocating, she helped reactivate another. She served as president of both local components as well as president of the state constituent association. Through mentoring students, she converted a dental hygiene club into an official Student American Dental Hygienists’ Association group by helping write bylaws for approval by ADHA. She has traveled abroad to teach oral health education to children and has participated in countless oral health and general health education programs locally.

Akeson was honored during the opening ceremonies at ADHA’s 81st annual session in Dallas on June 23.

ADHA is the largest national organization representing the professional interests of more than 120,000 dental hygienists across the country. Dental hygienists are preventive oral health professionals, licensed in dental hygiene, who provide educational, clinical and therapeutic services that support total health through the promotion of optimal oral health. For more information about ADHA, dental hygiene or the link between oral health and general health, visit ADHA at http://www.adha.org.

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