Mark Musso’s favorite cartoon heroes are Captain Smiles, Specs and Bracket. The characters are central to the mission of Hero Practice Services where he is chief operating officer.

The health care firm is a Colorado Springs-based practice management company whose 1,100 teammates provide dental, vision and orthodontic care for children in underserved areas in six states.

“It fills my cup every day. It’s the most rewarding work,” Musso said.

Many of the thousands of children seen each year might never have received care because their families could not afford it.

Hero Practice Services provides support to 67 affiliated clinics where there are a wide range of patients and most insurance is accepted.

As a practice management company, Hero handles operations, billing, staffing, and training.

There are 300 employees in Colorado Springs, and four affiliate Academy Kids clinics. The company has its own vision lab in Colorado Springs, which builds eyeglasses. Unlike at many Medicaid entities, patients choose from hundreds of frames, not a few standard types.

The company was founded in 2006 by Dr. Ronald Montano. The name Hero was ingenious, using the first two letters of both his wife Heather’s and his name. It fits perfectly with coming to the aid of needy kids, and making it fun with colorful clinics.

Employees find this compassionate work particularly fulfilling. It is even more relevant for some of them because they, too, faced similar circumstances as children.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to deal with regulations in six states, Musso said. When they opened again, the needed safety equipment increased costs dramatically. But employees have found strength in the family-like atmosphere and the company’s motto: Hero Strong.

Sophia Reyes, a leadership training specialist, said she was drawn by the excellent benefits, pay, personal time off, flexible hours, educational opportunities and access to life-coach programs.

But when Reyes started five years ago, she had no idea she would become so uplifted by the mission of helping underserved children.

When Reyes was growing up, she did not see a dentist until she was 14. Her mother raised her and her three siblings alone after her father died, and dental and vision care were luxuries they could not afford. When she did get in a dentist’s chair, two painful root canals were necessary because of longtime neglect.

She started out as a team leader in the local Academy Kids clinics. She especially liked educating the children on good dental habits, sometimes dressing up as the tooth fairy.

Now, she has four children, and flexible work shifts have been an important benefit. She also is thrilled that Hero has invested in her professional growth.

“They tell us that whatever we want to become they will help,” Reyes said. She has no college degree, but moved up the career ladder from team leader to manager. She then was chosen one of six Hero employees nationally for a three-month software training program, and now teaches affiliates around the country.

She said, “It’s very hard to find a company with such humbleness of mission and with such down-to-earth teammates from the top executive on down.”