January 25, 2012— a day to remember for more reasons than one…!!!

It started out as a normal Wednesday morning, up early as normal, then as every parent of young children knows–the scramble of nappy changing, clothes hunting, and feeding began, culminating in the eventual exit out the door in order to drop the eldest child off at playschool.

All going well —two children packed into the car by 8.45-except the car wouldn’t start—oh crumbs—keep trying—flood the battery—help!!

Abandon car—back to basics then—off we go by 9am with buggy and buggy board!!

This is NOT a good start to the day–tonight is the Irish Dentist Awards Ceremony at the Mansion House. Feeling this is a bit ominous, we head off singing row row your boat as we go–I have no shame left when it comes to the children—think of the advert when the child throws a tantrum in the supermarket and the mum throws herself on the floor thrashing about—I am no different to her (possibly worse!!)

Back home 45 mins later, and the nanny arrives–I can now do some practice management-get through some work divided by interruptions from the plumber ( its been a bad week–the heating has also broken down!)–and before I know it—its time to do the pick up from playschool—so the plumber helps me kick start the car, and I pick up the eldest one—home, then feeding and nap time.

After nap, we head to the playground, so far so good, and from there to my hair appointment in preparation for tonights event—am hopeless with hair, so have to get it done by the professionals in order for it to look anyway reasonable. By 5pm hair all done and looking good (I think anyway!)—its raining ( again this feels a little bit ominous)–so its the usual bun-fight for a taxi in wet weather–all the whilst trying to prevent my hair collapsing and stop my 2 year old from running under a car………..Arrange for the same taxi to pick me up in an hour to bring me to the ceremony— and am ready to leave by 6.10 as agreed—when I see the taxi pulling away from the house without me—oh lord–can this day get any worse??? It’s still raining, and my chariot has left—who will take cinderella to the ball??

Arrive at ceremony by 6.45 ( fashionably late?), and have a lovely time catching up with colleagues, and before we know–the award ceremony begins. We at Portobello Dental Clinic have been shortlisted for 4 awards.

Finally, the award all dental practices in Dublin covet is being announced- Irish Dentist Dental Practice of the Year (Dublin)–we are down to the final two, and its like slow motion—hearts racing, adrenaline pumping…”and the winner is Portobello Dental Clinic”…this is it—its official, the culmination of many years hard work, patient service, and a united team. We are ecstatic, humbled and proud simultaneously—we walk to the podium—its like a dream—todays earlier events fade into oblivion….

This award is based on the excellent quality of care and service provided by the team at Portobello Dental Clinc, the facilities at our clinic, our patient feedback and testimonials, along with our compliance with legislation clinically and as employers (employee rights and health and safety rules).

With this award comes responsibility–we endeavour to continuously provide the same very high standard of service to our patients, to re-assess ourselves regularly, and to honour this award with the huge respect it deserves.