The Story of Dental Auxiliary Placement Service, Inc.
As a teenager growing up in Chicago, Karen Ociepka began working and eventually assisting in dental practices. Upon graduating from Nursing School, she worked as a nurse on a post-surgical floor and then was appointed as a nursing supervisor for a home health agency.
However, her passion for the dental field kept her within this sector of the health service industry for several additional years. It was during this time that she recognized a need for a staffing agency solely dedicated to the dental field. Hence, DAPS was founded in 1989 in a spare bedroom in her home in Park Ridge, IL. The company mission was, and continues to be, the placement of qualified dental personnel for temporary or permanent, full-time or part-time positions in dental practices to provide the ultimate patient care.
Within six months the agency had grown to justify a professional office space. This was essentially prior to the advent of personal computers, and for the first few years positions were posted with colored markers on a whiteboard. As the business world entered the computer era, Karen had the vision to make an investment in developing a custom database (or CRM) to adapt to the evolution and growth of the Company.
Since that time, the DAPS office has relocated three times to accommodate the growth of the DAPS staff. The website, office and office equipment have been updated several times – most recently upgrading the server and the entire computer network, moving to VOIP telephones and launching a WordPress website.
2024 marked Dental Auxiliary Placement Service Inc.’s 35th year in business. Today the office is responsible for, and has placed more than 10,000 candidates in excess of 5,000 dental practices throughout the US. Her staff are truly team members and play a significant contribution to the continued growth and success of DAPS day in and day out.
