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DO GOOD: A Giant Effort: Henry Schein Cares

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looking at child's teeth

Henry Schein's principles of philanthropic good had existed for decades before the company officially founded its corporate social responsibility program, Henry Schein Cares, in 2001. Since then, a program that began with product donations has quickly developed into an international model in social responsibility. To learn more about its creation and progress, Dentaltown spoke with Steven Kess, founding president of the Henry Schein Cares Foundation and co-founder of Henry Schein Cares.

In 2001, Henry Schein Cares was established as the global, corporate social responsibility program of Henry Schein. When you were given the responsibility of starting this program, how did you prioritize the steps to success? What was the process of getting Henry Schein Cares started?

Although Henry Schein Inc. had been engaging in philanthropic and social responsibility activities long before Henry Schein Cares was officially established, the program was developed during our period of business acquisition that took place in the mid-1990s through the end of the century. During each acquisition, there were select products in our dental, animal-health and medical business groups that would not be sold after the integration. In effect, this inventory needed to be donated or destroyed.

As a result, the leadership team determined that the company could help enhance access to care throughout the world by donating supplies that were usable, but no longer being sold simply because they no longer fit our business model.

In 2001, Henry Schein Cares became an official program with the tagline, "Helping Health Happen." The creation of the program formally recognized the company's ongoing commitment to giving back to local communities in need, a commitment that began when Henry and Esther Schein first established Henry Schein in 1932.

Today, Henry Schein serves as a catalyst for bringing together public/private partnerships from academia and research, industry and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to influence social change. Henry Schein believes in this public/private partnership model so the skills, resources and expertise of each sector could be optimized to help the greater good.

The success of this ongoing collaboration to "help health happen" is measured by the engagement and satisfaction achieved by the participants of the program.

Woman helping patients

This program has become an integral part of the Hen ry Schein culture. How did that happen?

Henry Schein Cares wasn't consciously designed, but philanthropy and social responsibility were already in the DNA of the Schein family, going back to Henry and Esther Schein. Jay Schein succeeded his father in running the business, embodying the true spirit of Team Schein. After Jay's death in 1989, this spirit was carried on by Stanley Bergman, our chairman and CEO, and his family.

I joined Henry Schein in 1991 as an executive, having spent almost 18 months as a consultant in marketing and business development. My own background in linking the interests of multiple parties added to the development of our programs, which were extremely well-received by business leaders and Team Schein members.

Since then, we have worked to ensure that the spirit of Team Schein continues to flourish within our strong corporate culture, which is felt globally as we have expanded into 33 countries. It's that unique culture that Stan calls our "secret sauce." Firmly rooted in a deep commitment to social responsibility and the concept of enlightened self-interest championed by Benjamin Franklin, the philosophy behind Henry Schein Cares is a vision of "doing well by doing good."

Child brushing teeth

Is there a financial benchmark that companies use to guide their financial commitment to social responsibility?

Society uses a host of metrics to identify corporate social- responsibility activities. This is a recent trend that has become part of how an investment is made, or how investors feel about the companies in which they own stock or do business.

As a public company, we operate within budgets that are set annually by the company, but in our case, we're also able to secure support for critical projects from our industry partners whose products are critical to the success of health-care initiatives we help catalyze.

Within our Global Professional Relations business, I set a budget for giving and have suggested that dentists do the same. In my view, there is no more valuable gift that a dentist can give than his or her own time and service to change the life of someone in need who does not have the resources to pay for oral health care.

Child with gifts

Many dental practices around the country are sensitive to their own social responsibility as members of their respective communities and as health-care providers. What advice would you give to a dental practice interested in establishing its own charitable program?

Providing care as part of the practice's brand is an excellent idea. For dentists looking to start a program, I would recommend that they consider collaborating with professional colleagues, perhaps through local dental societies or dental schools, NGOs and industry partners who have established programs. This includes those that quantify the value of the services being provided and present that data and its impact to public-policy advisors, elected officials and state and federal agencies.

The collective impact of good oral health care needs to be analyzed, quantified and put into a larger framework of overall health care where the value of oral health care can improve quality of life and decrease overall health-care costs.

How can dentists participate in the programs supported by Henry Schein Cares?

Many of the programs supported by Henry Schein—including Give Kids a Smile, for which we've been the national professional product sponsor since its inception in 2002; Team Smile, co-founded by Henry Schein; Mission of Mercy; and America's Dentists Care Foundation—are supported by the dental-health profession.

Dentists can email henryscheincares@henryschein.com or go to hscaresfoundation.org. We also encourage dentists to contact the founding associations or organizations that they would like to support.

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