Eastern Shore Mission of Mercy

SALISBURY – The Eastern Shore Mission of Mercy, led by dentist Dr. Rowland Holsinger of Denton, made a real difference for hundreds of people who needed – but couldn’t afford – vital dental care.

Other Caroline countians, including Holsinger’s wife Dr. Patricia Higgins, provided dental care and caring. The dentists shut down their office, Smiles and More Dental Wellness in Denton, for four days while their entire staff set up and took part in the free adult dental clinic on Friday, March 27, and Saturday, March 28, 2026, at the Wicomico Civic Center in Salisbury.

The huge event filled the floor of the arena where over 1,100 volunteers, including over 450 clinical volunteers, treated patients. By 11 a.m. on a cool and blustery Friday, a record 477 patients had been registered, “which is the most we've ever checked out by that time,” Holsinger said.

Holsinger and his team showed up at 4 a.m. to greet registrants. “The first patients went on to the clinic floor at 7:15,” he said. He has coordinated the dental side of the massive operation since 2013, with a 3-year hiatus because of the Covid pandemic.

The sheer scope of the operation illustrated the need, and thus the reason, for the Mission of Mercy, or MOM. Hundreds of dentists, hygienists and dental assistants clad in light blue disposable robes manned 100 rented dental chairs. Areas were designated for triage, oral surgery, instrument sanitation, restoration dentistry, dental hygiene and supplies.

By the close of the 2-day clinic, patients had received over $1 million in two days, according to Higgins.

“It’s something that Rowland is very passionate about,” Higgins said in a Dec. 12, 2025 interview. “Our parents gave us the legacy of giving a helping hand, and this is something that our team is just so excited about.”

“It is such a wonderful feeling to help somebody, and the people that stand in line to get the free dental care aren't going to any dental office,” Higgins said. She was the event’s restorative dentistry lead. “It's a real feel-good thing that you get tears when you take care of front teeth and you know it's life-changing for many of these people.”

Patients were lined up outside, where construction at both entrances made navigating into the building difficult. The drizzle and wind prompted volunteers to usher patients inside quickly.

Nancy Campbell of Denton was the volunteer cheerfully greeting and directing patients and volunteers outside on Friday morning.

“I'm happy they're providing (this) for people. It's wonderful,” Campbell said.

Holsinger recruited well-known Caroline organizer Sue Simmons of Denton as the community liaison for the Eastern Shore Mission of Mercy. She was in demand Friday morning as event spokesperson, moving from one journalist to another as she described the logistics and meaning of the mission.

“I started doing the community lead role when Rowland asked me in 2023,” Simmons said. She had retired from Recreation and Parks and he called Simmons, who had been involved with Missions of Mercy for four years before Covid.

“I've known Rowland for 25-30 years, and he'd always been such a terrific support of Caroline County Recreation and Parks,” she said. “I was like, of course, I'm going to say yes. But I'd also already fallen in love with the event.”

Simmons explained that the Mission of Mercy started in the early 2000s with “a group of Virginia dentists that said, ‘Man, we're really concerned about the lack of oral health care in the Appalachian region. What can we do to alleviate and educate and engage people in oral care and address their lack of access?’” Simmons said. “And so they created this Mission of Mercy model. Sadly, 25 years later, it's just as bad, if not worse.”

“This year we implemented pre-screening where we would go out in the Wicomico County community and meet the patients,” preregistering them for the event, Simmons said. Volunteers told them, “’It's probably going to save you five minutes of a very long day, but it gives us the opportunity to give you an understanding of what you can expect, what we what we can do, what we can't do. If you have expectations that you're going to get a full set of dentures and your teeth whitened and braces, this isn't the one for you, but if you have an abscess, if you've got some gum issues, if you need a tooth removed, if you need a filling, if you even need a cleaning, this is the place for you. We don't care if you own your home, if you even have dental insurance, because chances are you can't afford the dental co-pay.’ Consistently, that is what I was hearing,” she said.

Holsinger calls MOM patients the “gray people.”

“They're the people that work; they make too much to qualify for medical assistance, but don't have enough to provide for their basic needs. So that's the gray people who fall in between,” he said.

Even finding a dentist is daunting, Simmons said. Besides affording the co-pay, many on a limited income can’t afford to pay a third of the cost up front and then seek reimbursement. “For many of these folks, they've been navigating chronic pain for a really long time,” she said.

For the second year, Stacy Seward of Denton has served as the community lead for patient registration, taking time off from her job as the Caroline County grants coordinator to rise early and put in long days.

“I think all my years at Recreation and Parks with events has helped, really. That's why (Sue Simmons) pulled me in,” Seward said. “It’s going fairly smoothly. Sometimes we have a little hang-up because we don't have enough interpreters for Spanish- and Haitian Creole-speaking patients, but the ones we have here are fabulous.”

“It's very rewarding,” Seward said. “You know, these people have waited one year, two years or more, to get dental treatment and are hurting. Sometimes they just want somebody to talk to them, so we added name tags this year, and that's made a big difference, because we're able to greet them by name.”

“That personal touch has really helped this year with everything, and even though they're waiting for hours, they all seem very patient and are willing to just sit and wait their turn,” she said.

Recruited by Campbell was Gina Hovland of Greensboro. She signed up for four different roles, including patient registration, escorting people, volunteer registry and answering patients’ questions.

“I enjoy it. It's fun,” Hovland said. “It's nice to see all the people, and everyone's been so gracious and nice – the workers and the people coming to get care. I mean, they have a lot of waiting, and they have been very, very patient. I'm impressed.” She called the dental clinic coordination “amazing.”

Are the long hours and effort worth it in the end? Simmons is convinced it is.

“Quite honestly, it's exhausting, but it is incredibly gratifying,” Simmons said. “Some of this is kind of fun for me, because some of these patients I've registered at the pre-screening clinic, so I recognize their faces – ‘Oh, you came. I'm so glad you're here’ – that kind of thing. It feels personal for me, and it's such a privilege to welcome folks in to get the care that they need.”

The Eastern Shore Mission of Mercy began in 2013 and is delivered in partnership with the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, a 501c3 charitable foundation (similar to the Mid Shore CF). The local steering committee functions in partnership with the Eastern Shore Dental Association and the Maryland State Dental Society's Education Foundation and is focused on the production and delivery of this two day public health event. The ESMOM is indeed funded primarily through  private and corporate foundation grants, strategic partnerships with hospitals and others in the medical profession, and individual donations. For more information visit easternshoremom.org or Eastern Shore Mission of Mercy on Facebook.