Genesis Health Services Inc.

HIS NAME IS JOSE AND I WANT TO SHARE HIS STORY WITH YOU

 

Jose Roque Jr. was born in Glendale Heights, IL a suburb of Chicago, but moved to Sarasota, FL when he was 5 years old when his father’s work relocated its headquarters to Sarasota.  Jose grew up in Sarasota County and attended Tuttle Elementary, Gocio Elementary, Booker Middle, Booker High School and Manatee Community College, known better today as State College of Florida.  In 9th grade at Booker High, he had a previous interest in social sciences and joined the Pre-Law Academy in hopes of aspiring to become a lawyer someday.  In tenth grade that all changed when he took a vocational interest test given by the career counselor at the school.  The results of the test concluded with an interest in Dentistry and other healthcare related jobs.  Confused at the results and after becoming discouraged after failing some assignments in the academy he went to his teacher for advice on the matter.  She recommended shadowing a dentist to see if this was something he liked and saw himself doing for the rest of his life. Initially he was turned down from a few dentists to shadow but his childhood general dentist Dr. Juan Curci took him in and gave him a shadowing opportunity that provided the insight and the beginning footprints in understanding what a career in Dentistry was like.  It was also at this time that he joined the REACH program offered at the school.  This program was developed to recruit and educate high school students in hopes they would become interested in future healthcare jobs.  Through the program he was also introduced to James McCloud, the director of Genesis Health Services, Inc. in Sarasota and Nokomis, FL.  His first words upon arriving to shadow the local volunteer dentists and staff were, “My name is Jose, and I want to be a dentist”.  Today Jose is a Florida-licensed dentist operating his own practice.  His journey was nothing short of extraordinary and gave him the opportunity to return to his hometown where it all started. 

 

Genesis Health Services, Inc. is a non-profit medical and dental provider in southwest Florida that serves uninsured individuals and families. Jose was introduced to Genesis' Physicians and Dentist Mentoring Program and their volunteer dentists, Tor Brand, Fotios Skordas, and Edward Morgan.  After shadowing the dentists during his summer vacation, he showed his motivation to further explore the dental field by seeking the staff's permission to become a year-round volunteer at the dental clinic.  In his interview at that time, staff was particularly impressed by his selflessness and desire to help provide health services to those in our community that were unable to afford usual and customary fees and were uninsured.  This empathy was a perfect fit with Genesis Health Services, Inc.'s mission at the time; “To ensure that all families have access to affordable quality healthcare, with a focus on preventive protocols, in order to prevent the onset or progression of serious illness”.    

 

Acceptance of Jose’s offer to become a Genesis volunteer proved to be fortuitous for the Clinic as well as for him.  He was Genesis' first high-school dental volunteer and was closely monitored.  He showed outstanding maturity in interacting with staff and patients, and his bi-lingual (Spanish/English) abilities were invaluable.  His cultural competencies extended to all, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic level.  Jose was always punctual, pleasant to work with, and able to communicate well with patients, for these reasons he was hired as a part-time office worker shortly after high school graduation.

 

Every dentist, hygienist, and dental assistant at Genesis spent many hours with Jose, exposing him to the clinical aspects of the profession.  He was hired to perform front and middle office duties, thus giving him a very complete picture of the practical aspect of a dental business.  His other experiences involved the proper care and storage of dental equipment and supplies, ordering supplies, sterilization, and simple equipment repairs. 

 

After high school Jose says he wasn’t ready to leave home to attend a 4 year university quite yet. Instead, he attended Manatee Community College (now State College of Florida) in Bradenton.  Jose was the first family member that reached and graduated past middle school.  His parents, Mexican immigrants had to drop out at an early age to support family.  The opportunity to stay close to home while going to school was a blessing because it gave him the opportunity to continue to network/shadow in the community.  Jose shadowed different dentists and specialists, and he was also given the opportunity one Summer to learn how to make and process dentures while shadowing Brown Dental Prosthetics on Whitfield Ave in Sarasota.

 

Concurrently Jose maintained multiple jobs while attending school full time.  His dentists mentors encouraged him and advised him in any way they could.  Never losing focus and with the guidance of his mentors he applied and was accepted to transfer after graduating with honors from Manatee Community College. Jose was ecstatic to find out he was accepted into his dream school, the University of Florida in Gainesville, to continue his education and to receive his Bachelors.

 

Jose majored and graduated with honors in Food Science.  Jose continued to maintain his mentor relationships at Genesis while at UF and he would often shadow when he was home on break from school. With the increased competition in recent years for dental school acceptance, Jose was discouraged since he had taken a majority of his prerequisite classes at the community college level, he was advised at UF to take more science classes at the university level to bolster his application and increase chances of getting in on the first try. Friends and mentors encouraged him to apply anyway. What’s the worst thing that could happen?  Through his continued support-system he was able to maintain the vision and courage to apply to dental school.  Interviews came and went, and he was excited to be able to gain acceptance into two dental schools.  Omaha, Nebraska and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida were probable destinations. He viewed this as a fork on the road seeing as he’s lived the majority of his life in Florida and developed a comfort bubble with family and friends. On the other hand, the thought of having a change of pace and plugging back into his Midwest roots was intriguing. Through his mentorship guidance he was able to weigh the pros and cons and decide.

 

Jose attended Creighton University School of Dentistry in Omaha, NE (2010-14). It was at this time that he was able to apply all the things he had learned while shadowing. Shadowing local dentists and specialists prior to getting into dental school deemed to be valuable as he was already familiar with the verbiage and flow of what Dentistry is supposed to look like.  Dental school was a challenging time full of personal responsibilities and the move out of state helped him mature at a quicker rate than had he stayed closer to home. Through the snow and challenges that northern living presented he stayed focused on his intentions while at school. His years at Creighton were not without personal tragedy however, in 2012 Jose got a phone call that would change his life forever.  He received a call from his father that his only brother Mario had overdosed on prescription drugs.  At the time, Manatee County was one of the highest areas for opioid abuse. There has since been a serious crackdown over the years but at the time there was prescriptions that drug dealers received to gain access to high quantities of synthetic heroin prescription drugs.  Jose’s brother Mario got addicted after being prescribed high strength pain prescription drugs after a sports injury.  Being away from home made it difficult to focus on school and to still be present for what was going on back at home. One of the pieces of advice Jose received was that just like on a plane when the masks come down when there is low pressure in the cabin it’s advised that you place your mask on first before helping others. Jose flew down and Mario was on life support.  A few days later the doctors told the family that the chances of him coming out of his coma were low and because of the time he was without oxygen it would render him brain dead for the rest of his life if he did wake up.  At this time the family made the difficult decision to take him off life support.  They decided to donate his organs, and 2 individual people received one of his kidneys and one father of 2 had another chance at life when he received Mario’s heart. His kidneys keep filtering toxins, and his heart keeps beating for another father to see his kids grow up. Through all this Jose took it day by day and with the support of his classmates he was able to turn a negative into a positive and rebound in what he missed at school.  He was resilient and was able to move forward seeing as his little brother was now his guardian angel to keep moving forward and following his dreams. 

 

During Jose’s senior year of dental school, he attended a 5 week mission trip to the Dominican Republic. He and 11 other classmates set up clinics in different rural parts of the Dominican Republic and with the help of other health professional students made up a health care team. He met his wife Leah Lax on the trip and she was one of the nurses in his group. They dated for their Senior years and after dental school graduation Leah took a job in Kansas City, KS and Jose got acceptance into a 1-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency at Wichita State University in Wichita, KS. In 2015 they both were able to get their licenses in Florida. They were married in Leah’s hometown of Sleepy Eye, MN. Leah is a RN BSN at Sarasota Memorial and is a DNP candidate and set to graduate soon.

 

Jose has practiced at several dental offices in Sarasota and Manatee Counties since leaving Creighton and returning home.  His goal is to open a practice in an underserved community and become part of the continuum of care seeking to provide quality dental services to everyone in our community.  Through his life experiences thus far he has used his skills/trade to help others. He has volunteered at Remote Area Medical Mission at Manatee Technical College and provided free dentistry locally.  In addition, he stays active in the community speaking to young YMCA members about his story and in hopes to encourage that next boy/girl to stand tall through all the adversities life can throw at them. Being first generational Mexican American, he was able to maintain his culture and language with the help of his family.  Someday he hopes to start a non-profit for his deceased brother.  In the meantime, he helps Genesis Dental Clinic as technology consultant and serves Genesis patients needing root canals. Jose now owns 941 DENTAL STUDIO in Sarasota on Clark Road, close to where it all started.  A Dental Assisting classroom, Destiny Dental Assisting Program is also operating at Jose’s office site, training students for a career in Dentistry. He is humbled to be working and serving the people of his community and invites you to come see him at his practice location.