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The Swallows of Hope Award, now called the Wings of Hope Award, honors community members and health care providers who consistently go above and beyond to spread hope to local cancer patients. Our own Dr. Jonathan Gonenne was honored to receive the health care provider award in 2018.

When Dr. Gonenne was told that he’d been nominated, his first question was, “Who did that?”

Humbled and never one to seek recognition, Dr. Gonenne credits the Eugene Gastroenterology Consultants team and our area’s highly skilled medical community for the level of patient care he’s able to deliver.

As a member of Oregon Cancer Alliance’s gastrointestinal team, Dr. Gonenne works alongside other multidisciplinary specialists in the community to collaborate on challenging cases and identify the best course of treatment for each patient.

“Over time, this team approach has evolved into a tumor board that has been meeting twice a month for 10 years on behalf of patients. It’s really made a difference in patient care, and I’ve been honored to be involved in that,” says Dr. Gonenne.

“We’ve really made strides in colon cancer in the last 10-15 years. We are catching things earlier. And when you catch things earlier, you can do more and survival improves.”

Dr. Gonenne’s colleagues say his dedication to his patients is unwavering, from his participation in community events to raise awareness about colon cancer screening, to his constant efforts to make sure patients are seen in a timely manner, no matter what.

“Anything we can do to get patients in, I think, is really important. Because we’ve all be on the other side of things where we’ve been a patient ourselves, or a family member or a friend has been a patient. Taking that into consideration and keeping that in the forefront of my mind, is an important part of being a physician.”

Watch the video featuring Dr. Gonenne and the 2018 health care award finalists.