Raising Awareness with Dr. Jose M. Dominguez

Serving in the missouri National Guard for four years and the U.S. Army Reserves for 16 years gave Dr. Jose M. Dominguez (Springfield Colon and Rectal Surgery Winner) an unmatched passion for helping others. “I joined when I was a medical student and got to do this fantastic stuff,” Dominguez says. “Being a soldier and taking care of soldiers is a pretty rewarding endeavor.”

From there, Dominguez was hooked on finding ways to serve his community, state and nation. From serving on foundation boards to going on a myriad of mission trips and volunteering with local programs like Boy Scouts of America and Honor Flights of the Ozarks, Dominguez has found countless ways to give back to the community.

One of the causes he is most passionate about is raising awareness for colorectal cancer. In 2010, he worked alongside Dr. Charles Woodall and the CoxHealth Foundation to start the annual Colo Rectal Awareness Party (CRAP) that has now raised more than $1.1 million for colon and rectal cancer screenings.

“There’s a lot of underinsured and uninsured people who can’t afford colonoscopies,” he says. “So now they can apply to this fund at Cox, and their colonoscopy gets paid for.”

Dominguez finds inspiration for making time for various volunteer opportunities by looking to his fellow doctors. “I’m always hearing about different things other doctors are doing that I had no idea they did,” he says. “There’s all kinds of doctors that find ways to give back in the background. We are fortunate as doctors that we have access to a lot of services in the hospital and we see where a lot of need is. It seems we’re often put in a position that we can help with a lot of different things, and it’s just a satisfying thing to do and it’s the right thing to do for the community.”