Yes.
World Down Syndrome Day is on March 21, because the medical term for Down Syndrome is Trisomy 21, meaning that people born with it have three copies of the 21st chromosome. Every year, we try to do something fun and bring Leah into work and let her meet everyone. It’s important to me to do things like that, because when I was growing up I was always so afraid of having a special needs child, and I know there are other people that feel that way. So it’s important to me to raise awareness and help people interact with people like Leah and see that it’s not scary. I love when people get to know her and realize that we all have a lot more in common with people who have Down Syndrome than some people might think. Leah walks and talks and can do most things other kids can do. I think that the more people interact with people who have special needs, the more their walls and misconceptions break down. It’s been a really good experience, and it’s no longer my greatest fear to have a child with Down Syndrome. My greatest fear now would be to ever lose her, because we love her so much.
What do you love about working at Ultradent? I love the open-door policy that our president,
Dirk Jeffs, and our founder and CEO,
Dr. Fischer, have. They are so accessible and open, and they make themselves available for us to come to them with our concerns. They also take the time to get to know us. That’s a stark difference compared to most company cultures. Last year, for example, the video production team went down to Moab for a
video shoot; with Dr. Fischer and Dirk Jeffs. They never once separated themselves from the rest of the group or left the grunt work to everyone else. They were always pitching in to help. I think Dr. Fischer even carried one of our backpacks up the hill to the spot where we were shooting. You just never feel like they feel they’re better than you. They truly embody the part of our core values that says, “’It’s not my job’ doesn’t exist.”
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