With the clock barely striking 7 am on a recent morning, Esperanza Gamboa rushed to get
ready for a bustling day when her cell phone rang unexpectedly. Surprised at the sunrise call,
Gamboa – Director of Outreach and Eligibility for MCR Health – answered to a boisterous
and excited woman rattling off a battalion of questions before Gamboa could barely squeak in hello.
“She was so excited to find out about the Dental Express and wanting to book it and repeatedly
asking if it was really a free screening service,” said Gamboa, who lights up and shares contagious
smiles when she speaks about helping her community. “I had to stop her and ask who she was
because I didn’t have her contact in my phone.”
The woman ended up revealing she worked for a Manatee County elementary school, and she
immediately wanted to book MCR Health’s Dental Express, a state-of-the-art mobile dental bus
servicing Manatee, Sarasota, and Desoto counties that not only offers free dental screenings for kids
15