By Amber Jurgensen | Staff Writer
It was like a plot from a spy movie, with Dr. Dennis Digamon starring as the hero. His mission: to deliver specific goods stuffed in a suitcase at a drop-off point 5,000 miles away in Siberia. But he ran into trouble when customs officials unzipped the bag.
But Digamon wasn’t transporting top-secret information. He was carrying 250 toothbrushes to an orphanage in Biysk.
“As soon as they found out it was for an orphanage, they said, ‘OK, no problem,’” Digamon says.
A dentist in Plant City, Digamon is part of the Plant City Rotary Club, which has helped send him on eight missions to the Philippines and Russia to perform dental work for those in need. His wife, Dolores, has accompanied him on six of the missions. Their most recent mission was in May, when they traveled to Baclayon, Bohol, in the Philippines.
“You have a patient (for whom) you restore their smile, and that just makes your day,” Dennis says.
He was born and raised in the Philippines and moved to the United States in 1984. Of his eight missions, six were to his home country. In 2009, he returned to his hometown, Oroquieta. There, he saw almost 1,000 people in three-and-one-half days with the help of 15 local dentists.
“At 5:30 in the morning, you could see people from the mountain was there lining up waiting to be served,” Dennis says. “So it was very touching for me to be at my hometown and be at their service.”
Volunteering in the Philippines comes natural to the father of four, who already knows the language and politics. However, his two trips to Russia were quite different, because of the culture and language. He recounts a farewell party during which Russian volunteers admitted they were apprehensive about Americans coming to help.
“There we were face to face, we’re all human, we love our families, we love our kids,” Dennis says. “It was all propaganda. I could see the tears in their eyes. It was very touching.”
In addition to performing exams and procedures, Dennis also brings supplies such as anesthesia. On their most recent trip, the Digamons also shipped toys, books and clothes.
Dennis went to dental school at Southwestern University in the Philippines. When he came to the U.S., he took a variety of exams and boards to work as a dentist. In 1993, he attended the University of Florida for post-graduate studies and completed a comprehensive dentistry program.
Both Dennis and his wife of 37 years love mission work and have plans for another trip next year.
“There’s no price tag on making people happy,” Dennis says.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.