Cleveland Clinic Mercy residency program to be named after Plain Township dentist

CANTON – On Friday evening at the Historic Onesto Hotel, it was the Stark County dentists’ model of “and one particular more matter.”

Tom Paumier, who has a longtime dental follow in Stark County, was amongst 4 dentists inducted this 12 months into the Distinguished Dental Assistance Academy. It can be essentially a “life time achievement award” bestowed by the Stark County Dental Society just about every 12 months since 1999.

But when the awards ceremony was set to end, the dental modern society experienced a shock for Paumier.

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Two officials of Cleveland Clinic Mercy Healthcare facility emerged to discuss. They were being Tom Turner, vice president of advancement and federal government relations, and David Gormsen, chief health-related officer. Turner directed Paumier to get rid of the cloth covering an easel.

When he did so, he discovered a photo of a hallway in the workplaces of the hospital’s Dental General Observe Residency that he assisted discovered in 2007. To the remaining was the new name of the wing, the Thomas M. Paumier, DDS Dental Basic Observe Residency.

The more than about 120 in attendance broke out in loud applause.

“Thank you quite, quite a lot. I am humbled and honored. This would be greater posthumously,” Paumier joked, sparking laughter.

He afterwards stated he was shocked at the honor.

“I am pretty humbled, but it can be been a group hard work because its inception, and I am most happy that it will carry on to provide the inhabitants of Stark County,” he stated. “These who are most in will need. And it will continue on to teach a lot of of our foreseeable future colleagues in this job, many of them who will support raise the regular of care of dentistry in this group.”

Paumier, 60, of North Canton, mentioned the residency method has produced about 40 dentists, most of whom have stayed in Northeast Ohio. And it assists thousands of patients a yr.

The method focuses on coordinating oral health and fitness care with healthcare medical practitioners of numerous specialties. Paumier reported he led the hard work to increase $100,000 in 2009 to create an endowment to maintain the residency system, which now has about $1 million in belongings.

Tale proceeds

Stark County Dental Culture board chair and dentist Michael Thomas said about Paumier and his purpose in founding the residency program: “He was the 1 that carried it though for 10 several years pursuing, hoping, chatting, meetings. He was the male and it was like gasoline mobile engineering. It was a fantastic concept but it truly is often two several years away. … But it was his commitment that designed it happen.”

Thomas mentioned when he talked about the notion of naming the residency program just after Paumier, there was an instant consensus among the dental society leaders to do so.

Paumier has been credited with contributing to the generation of nationwide COVID protocols for dentists.

In his induction acceptance speech, he said: “So I problem each and every of you below to think about the types in your daily life and to thank them some way. Far more important, I encourage each and every of you to be that one particular to anyone else.”

Also staying honored as inductees were Paumier’s mentor, Andrew Wojtkowski, the present-day director of the residency application that will have Paumier’s identify longtime Canton dentist K. “Ragu” Ragunanthan and the late dentist Harvey B. Cohen. His daughter Religion Cohen and son Greg Cohen recognized his award on his behalf.

The Stark County Dental Society also honored the Alliance of the Stark County Dental Society, established by wives of dentists in 1955 with the James F. King Oral Wellbeing Advocacy Award.

Arrive at Robert at [email protected]. Twitter: @rwangREP.

This short article initially appeared on The Repository: Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital renames dental residency software