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Diving Doctors

Dentists and volunteers who serve on land and protect the sea. Diving Doctors was launched by Steve Bender, a PADI Master Diver, to bring Ayuda’s clinic teams underwater to care for the reefs of the communities they serve.

The story

From the clinic to the reef

Many of the places Ayuda serves are islands and coastal villages whose families live from the sea. After a day in the clinic, Ayuda’s volunteers often spent the next day in the water. Steve, a PADI Master Diver, gave that tradition a name. On April 16, 2017 he wrote to the Rotary Club of Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand, about “my Diving Doctors group” helping to clean a reef, and Diving Doctors was born.

In February 2018 designer Lara Phillips created the Diving Doctors logo by giving the Ayuda family mark a dive mask and snorkel, and it appeared on the Ayuda Phuket 2018 flyers. Diving Doctors has joined Ayuda missions in Thailand and Fiji, and its spirit lives on in Rotary Reefs, the coral restoration program of The Panama Project.

The Panama Project and Rotary Reefs

Steve Bender smiling in scuba gear with a dive mask around his neck, beside rows of tanks on a dive boat
Steve Bender, PADI Master Diver and founder of Diving Doctors.

The team

Clinic volunteers who dive

Steve BenderPADI Master Diver and founder of Diving Doctors.
Dr. Kiyomi YamazakiA great participant and a great diver, on land and underwater.
Travis HuntAyuda Vice President, dentist and diver on the Fiji and Thailand missions.
Dr. Jennifer Stone and Kaity ZechAyuda leaders who joined the team in Fiji and Thailand.

Join us at a clinic

Dentists, hygienists, dental students and helpers of every kind are welcome. Tell us where you would like to serve and we will send you the clinic calendar.

Email us to volunteer