Front Lines: Angel Gomez serves as Latino role model

What’s 20 years when it comes to saving teeth or investing in the future of young people? Angel Gomez thinks it’s a lifetime that ripples through generations.

That’s why this Greeley dentist is a mentor with the Cumbres project at the University of Northern Colorado.

“Latino students need to have role models and see, from the earliest ages, what is possible to achieve,” Gomez said. “What better role models can there be than to see Latino teachers every day at school?”

SPONSORED CONTENT

People Powered: Preparing Longmont Businesses for Economic Success

Longmont Chamber and FNBO present People Powered on April 24, 2024, aiming to inform business owners about workforce development, housing, and transportation issues.

The Cumbres project provides financial assistance and mentors to Latino students who want to become teachers “to provide what their families frequently can’t or don’t,” he said. “We may not see big results for 10, 15 or 20 years, but we know the benefits are there.”

A Cumbres mentor since the program began in 1997, Gomez also has invested energy in the Latino Chamber of Commerce, the Greeley and Weld County Community Foundation, Greeley Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Weld County and Aims Community College Foundation Board. He is also the dental director for the Weld County Health Advisory Board.

Why is all of this so important?

“Education is everything, including the cornerstone of my dental practice,” Gomez said.

He chose Greeley after a check of the Yellow Pages showed no Latino dentists. He advertised for a couple of weeks on a Spanish speaking radio station while setting up a part-time practice sharing equipment with an established dentist.

“After about six months, the phone started ringing and hasn’t stopped,” he said. “My practice is certainly full-time now,” he said.

Gomez recently greeted his 5,000th patient and more than half are not Latino. “I am a dentist who happens to speak Spanish, not just a Latino dentist.”

He takes pride in educating his patients as to why regular cleanings are important to save teeth and why cavities need to be taken care of long before they hit a nerve, explaining each procedure in detail.

Being able to communicate is important to a patient who primarily speaks Spanish and who has never been to the dentist.

“Probably 20 percent of the people I’ve seen have never been to a dentist,” Gomez said. “I don’t know about other practices, but education is what I am all about.”

He is always teaching someone something. “Latino is preferred by people for whom it matters. The term Hispanic was coined by President Reagan and there really is no Spanish meaning for it,” he said.

“Chicanos are basically from here but their heritage is Mexico. The term Latino encompasses everyone whether they come from Mexico, South America or Spain.”

The second child in a first-generation family, Gomez was only a baby-on-board when his parents moved to Las Vegas, Nev., with $36 and a car.

“My dad lost that $36 in about 15 minutes so we started from nothing,” he said.

In the 40 years since, four members of the family have earned college degrees. “Education was always a very big deal in our family,” Gomez said.

But as a Cumbres mentor he sees many students for whom there is no family support. And he understands. Summer vacations frequently took him to the states of Jalisco and Durango, Mexico, where his parents grew up.

“They just got running water and electricity about four years ago,” Gomez said. There — and all too often, here — the thought that “if it was good enough for me, then it’s good enough for you” was passed from one generation to the next, he said.

Gomez offered as an example one student he is currently mentoring. The father doesn’t want his son in college. The son is holding down a job and drives in from Longmont to attend school in Greeley.

“It’s no wonder he is having problems keeping his grades up,” Gomez said. “It’s really tough for him to stay motivated.”

Yet every Latino student has several job offers waiting when they graduate.

“And, if they speak Spanish, they can go just about anywhere,” Gomez said of the more than 100 students currently in the Cumbres project.

In the Latino community Gomez explained the dropout rate is at 50 percent before high-school graduation, and even by the seventh grade the decision to leave school often has already been made.

He said some of the issues are family-related. Many Latino children are required to help support families financially, and education is viewed as a waste of time better spent at work. Social reasons, like the desire to run with a crowd of youngsters who are all dropping out, contribute. Teenage pregnancy is also a big problem, he said.

“These kids need to see Latino teachers and role models before they make the decision to drop out,” Gomez said. “They need to see people they can identify with and start thinking ‘I can do that too’ about being a professional.”

Ernie Andrade, director of the Cumbres project at UNC , said the program is 65 to 75 percent supported through contributions. But the work of about 50 mentors is vital for the program to retain an estimated 70 percent of its students.

“Dr. Gomez mentors one to three students each semester,” Andrade said.

“He is particularly valuable because he is bilingual, a good role model, very committed to the community and is an articulate speaker.”

Gomez said moving to Greeley “was absolutely the right thing for my family, although we didn’t know anyone when we came.”

After nearly eight years, he is often referred to now simply as “La Dentista” and is still the only Latino dentist in Greeley.

“I hope that will change sometime soon,” he said. “Please! I frequently work late into the evening.”

Along with speaking Spanish, his popularity may also have something to do with being “the cheapest dentist in town,” he explained.

“They also called me ‘Dr. Painless’ at school,” he said, admitting there are just some procedures that are “uncomfortable” and most are still expensive “no matter what I do.”

He added, “I guarantee my work — and have even been known to accept a bag of onions or potatoes in payment — but we don’t talk about that.”