Following My Father’s Footsteps

I don’t remember a time growing up when I wasn’t known as “Dr. Florek’s son”. When your father is a dentist in a town of 22,000 people a lot of them have had interactions with him. I never really appreciated that and for a long time growing up I felt it was more of a curse then something to be proud of. When everyone knows your family there is no anonymous actions. The fact that my father knew so many people meant I always seemed to know the right person to get something such as a summer job in my industry which gave me experience for college. I always felt that his influence was helping me whether I wanted it or not. My decision to move to St. Louis after I graduated from college was as much about proving to myself that I could succeed on my own as it was a boy wanting to spread his wings a little. I spent seven years in St. Louis and lived through Mark McGwire, rise of Kurt Warner, the death of Joe Buck and the tragic September 11 attacks. On a personal note I saw a cousin living in the St Louis area recover from a career ending accident, lost my uncle living in St. Louis to cancer and lost my grandfather to time. Taking stock in my life I realized that what I missed the most was the time I spent with my father. It’s not that we see eye to eye on most issues but it was the connection between a father and son and the random conversations we’d have over beer, fishing or hunting. It had slowly dawned on me that “Dr. Florek’s son” was not as much a curse as it was a compliment. When ever I meet people who ask me if I’m related to Dr. Florek it was always followed by line “I love your dad” or “your dad’s a really good guy”. There are never any bad words about my father. I never heard anyone criticize my father until he helped push for a smoking ban in my hometown. After losing a good friend and his brother to cancer caused by smoking he helped push through a law making restaurants smoke free. A trend that has taken hold in other areas around the state. I realized a sense of pride I had in my father and what he had done. This is when I began realizing that my father was the type that people enjoyed knowing and in Malcolm Gladwell speak he is a classic connector of people. He knew people and a ton of people knew him. Beyond that though I realized how much I admired what he had done..

In 2003 my father started on another journey along with another fellow dentist they put together the Tri County Community Dental Clinic offering dental services to those in need. For a man that should be halfway to retirement he basically had given himself a second full-time job. In 2005 he and Dr. Tim Brown were inducted by the International College of Dentistry for their work in the Tri County Community Dental Clinic. More recently in 2009, again my father was honored along with Dr. Tim Brown with The Social Innovations Prize in Wisconsin which is given to adults who address critical social problems at a local, regional or national level. Go to socialinnovationprize.org for more. Here is the write up that this group put on their site about my father and Dr. Tim Brown.

From The Social Innovation Prize in Wisconsin dated 10/13/09: “Dr. Brown and Dr. Florek are the co-winners of The 2009 Social Innovatin Prize in Wisconsin“

Through the efforts of Drs. Brown and Florek, the Tri County Community Dental Clinic was created with the aim to provide quality dental care through a volunteer program that links local volunteer dentist mentors with dental and dental hygiene students. Since the inception of the clinic in 2003, over $6.4 M in free dental services has covered over 30,000 patient visits.

Brief Bio Regarding the Tri County Community Dental Clinic
The 2001 Fox Cities LIFE (Leading Indicators for Excellence) community assessment outlined a striking issue – a large number of area residents are without access to adequate dental care. As a result, in 2002, local dentists Tim Brown and Phil Florek realized this need would continue to escalate and proceeded to mobilize their peers and community.

To meet the growing need for dental care for the over 60,000 uninsured and under insured in the three-county area of Winnebago, Calumet and Outagamie counties, Tim and Phil encouraged a group of dentists and community leaders to embark on an ambitious project: to build and staff a volunteer dental clinic. Their dream was that local volunteer dentists would provide oral health care for those in the community with no insurance or with limited means to pay for dental care. With support from dental students and residents from Marquette University School of Dentistry and dental hygiene and dental assistant students from Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC), the dental community not only agreed to volunteer their time and talents, but also contributed financially to the project. Doctors Jeff and Marissa Kessler donated a parcel of land across from Fox Valley Technical College as the site for the new dental clinic, Marquette University agreed to donate the equipment for eight operatories, and the Tri County Community Dental Clink (TCCDC) was born.

Today, TCCDC is an innovative leader in fostering mentor programs between local dentist volunteers and dental student/residents. Volunteer hygienists from the community also mentor hygiene students at the clinic. The Tri County Community Dental Clinic is a non-profit dental clinic established in 2003 to provide quality oral health care services in a caring and compassionate manner to under-privileged individuals. Under the direction of Brown and Florek, TCCDC has made some amazing strides. Since turning their vision into a reality over five years ago, TCCDC has been able to log over 6.4 million dollars worth of free services and 30,147 patient visits for general care and emergency services. This would not be possible without the many monetary, in-kind, property and equipment donations. TCCDC works in collaboration the Fox Cities Community Health Center to coordinate medical and dental care. Federal Grant dollars are shared between the organizations.

The team of dentists provides the most cost-effective dental care, including preventive screenings. In 2008, over 80 local dentists, 34 hygienists, 38 non-dental volunteers, 312 Marquette University dental students, 37 FVTC students and 30 pre-dental students provided care at TCCDC, staffing over 6000 patient visits. The clinic’s partnership with Head Start provided 262 children the opportunity to receive dental care and another 80 to have free screenings and teeth cleaning at the Give Kids a Smile event in 2008. The clinic now sees around 29 patients each day, treating around 11 emergencies daily, as well.

Drs. Florek and Brown continue to lead TCCDC as board members and serve as active volunteers in the clinic. They actively recruit local dentists to serve as mentors, solicit funding for the clinic, train young professionals and seek out community board members to provide marketing, financial, technology and other skills to help support the work of the clinic. TCCDC has been recognized in Wisconsin as a model for volunteer/educational liaison/professional services. Both will continue to lead TCCDC as a partnership of volunteers, educational organizations and community support providing dental care to those in need. www.tricountydental.org
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I do not cringe at the phrase “Dr. Florek’s Son” anymore. In fact I the sense of pride I get when I hear someone tell me what a great guy my father is. I also use it as a goal to somehow find a way to follow in the footsteps of my father and do something of meaning outside my own life. I haven’t figured out what that is or when it will happen but when it does the first person that gets the credit will be my father. I have an enormous amount of pride in my father I only wish I would have realized this at a younger age.

So the other day I’m talking to my mother about my father’s award and she noted an interesting point that none of the local media TV or Newspapers had really covered the Tri County Community Dental Clinic awards and it’s located right here in the Northeast Wisconsin. That’s when I decided to write this post figuring that maybe in some way my little blog here is at least telling the story.

I did some searching online and found that today November 9, 2009 an article was posted to our local Post Cresent newspaper online by Ed Lowe. Thanks Ed. It’s not so much about my father as it is about the clinic itself. There was also a blurb in the Oshkosh Northwestern though I can not find a link that acknowledged the award won by the dental clinic.

I hope to see more stories about this not because I want everyone to know how cool my dad is but because we need more people like him and Dr. Brown finding solutions to real problems in everyday life. Then we need people like all the volunteer dentist, hygienists, students and office workers that give their time to ensure that people are helped. If we had more people like these in our world a better place it could be.