Au revoir Heather

Are you a long-term SpaDental Plymouth patient? Then you probably know Heather Cresswell. She’s been a wonderful member of staff for so many years, we’re sad to say goodbye.

Heather enjoying a wedding fair in St Mellion

Heather joined SpaDental Plymouth in the very early days – December 2007. Since then, Heather has tried to leave, though fortunately she kept on coming back to take on new roles and challenges.

Now, however, Heather is off to share an exciting new life with her husband as he prepares to take on a new position in Paris. This means Heather is stepping down from her various roles.

“Heather, it has given me great pleasure to work with you. You have played a crucial role in establishing the nature and character of SpaDental by dedicating so much time, enthusiasm and energy into our day to day activities. After nearly seventeen years working together, I will miss your positivity and adaptability, your helpfulness and ability to get jobs done, as well as your good-humoured support and friendship.” Christopher Hilling, Managing Director

We asked Heather to write about her experience as a key player in the SpaDental family as no-one can say it better than Heather herself!

Heather’s memories of SpaDental

So finally, after many years it really is time to say a final goodbye. I have been with the Plymouth practice, on and off, since December 2007 when we returned to the UK from an overseas posting.

I started as a receptionist, then onto Practice Manager. Over the years of working for SpaDental  I have seen many changes, starting with the change of ownership, from David Smith to SpaDental and Stephen Fletcher, new branding, colours and uniform changes.

Back then, it was heavy weight printers that generated all the recall letters with the holes on either side of the paper! Now we have a brilliant comms page designed with every aspect of information we could possibly need to help book patients in!

Updating from a very basic computer system took time but was a brilliant improvement and so are the telephone systems across the whole company.

I remember joining the Denplan scheme and the vast amounts of training I did to initiate all of the new policy changes and procedures. And, as I was based in Plymouth, I’ve seen the practice change a lot physically over the years: the installation of a decontamination room, renovation of the surgery space, reception area and more recently the outside of the practice.

As dentists began to offer more cosmetic dentistry, it was interesting to watch how quickly treatments advanced. I was an advert for anti wrinkle treatments, which was great! We held open evenings spreading the word, which were great fun, and attended wedding fairs promoting our whitening and anti-wrinkle treatments.

During my time as Practice Manager, in November 2011 I was part of the Military Wives Choir. Given that we had lots of TV appearances I was always heavily encouraged by the team and fully supported! You don’t often get that from employers!

Heather speaks in an interview about “Wherever you are”

I left that role in 2015 to take some family time, but came back in 2017 as Assistant Practice Manager.

It was at that time we started the Children’s Educational talks at schools which was a huge success – only having to stop when Covid hit.

Covid was the most trying time – getting the policies and procedures in place ready for the patients and staff to return.

The remote team was one of the best things to come out of Covid! Having dedicated staff working from home left the practices free to concentrate on patients without becoming overwhelmed answering the telephone and swamped by behind-the-scenes work.

Although it was a difficult time, we still had fun!

Heather and Leah on a school visit

In 2021 I left the practice to work remotely for head office, in between my visits out to France to see my husband who was posted there. In 2022, I changed direction completely from dentistry, but then, in late 2023, I was asked to help get the children’s programme back up and running. These last few months have been great fun and, once again, a huge success.

But now, due to moving away and another foreign posting, it really is time to say goodbye.

Honestly, I’ve been like a boomerang!!! Constantly coming back!!

It’s always been a juggling act with a husband in the Military, on deployment or posted overseas, but one thing I can say hand on heart is that I was always fully supported by SpaDental.

So many changes over the years, all for the patients and staff – all for the better!

It’s been an absolute pleasure and I am sorry to say goodbye.

So thank you one and all – to all our lovely patients, to the fab friends I’ve worked with, and to Chris Hilling for making it possible.

Other staff news:

• Andrea aces the Walk 100 Miles in May challenge! 

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