Patient Navigator Program

Guiding cancer patients through treatments

In November 2005, Monica Alvis found a lump in her breast, and she knew in her heart exactly what it was. But other thoughts got in the way. With a long history of rheumatoid arthritis, experience told her she was in for a complicated and scary medical process—so she waited.

She’s not alone. Every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, and many delay doctor visits out of fear of what they might be told or the prospect of expensive medical bills.

“You’re foggy in the beginning, and it’s very overwhelming,” says Roseann Schnietz, who was diagnosed in 2005 at age 54. “But support makes the experience tolerable.”

Guiding patients through treatments
Both Alvis and Schnietz found the support they sought through Scott & White’s unique Patient Navigator Program. Founded 15 years ago as part of the cancer center’s Breast Cancer Treatment Clinic, the Patient Navigator Program was created when Scott & White staff saw a critical need to help guide patients through the healthcare system, especially during the early days when most patients are simply trying to grasp the reality of their diagnosis.

The idea of “patient navigation” isn’t a new one, but it’s exactly the kind of emotional, informational and technical support that patients need. At Scott & White, patient navigators are often the voice of reason in a world of fear and confusion.

“When you’re told you have cancer— any kind of cancer—you don’t want to wait two weeks for an appointment,” says Jody Fulton, LVN, the liaison nurse coordinator in the Center for Cancer Prevention and Care at Scott & White. “That’s a long time to think about things.”

Alvis, a 46-year-old stay-at-home mother of four, called the hospital’s Urgent Care Clinic when she found the suspicious lump. She says it was a phone call that changed her life. “Just hearing the word oncology freaked me out,” she says. “But in less than two weeks I was able to have a mammogram, an ultrasound, a biopsy and a meeting with a doctor.”

Thanks to the Patient Navigator Program, it was a level of care Alvis had never expected, and it has allowed her to concentrate on her treatment and recovery.

A team of experts for each patient
Weaving through the occasionally complicated healthcare system is hard enough, but it takes on an entirely new meaning when patients first learn they have cancer. That’s why there are multidisciplinary teams—experts in Pathology, Radiology, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Surgical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Medical Oncology and Social Services— that meet weekly to talk about each patient’s care.

“The team dynamic is crucial,” Fulton says. “In the meetings we take one patient at a time and discuss all aspects of the case and their care. It’s very educational for me because I have a total picture of their care.”

Dancing in the aisles
For patients like Schnietz, starting treatment as soon as possible was paramount, especially since her daughter was planning a June wedding.

“The meetings with the team start immediately, and they’re all communicating on what’s best for each patient,” says Schnietz. “I told them I needed them to get me to the wedding, and they promised I’d be dancing in the aisles.”

Schnietz not only made it to the wedding—and danced in the aisles—but she’s also far enough along in her treatments that her cancer is currently in remission. And she’s got the hair to prove it. “I was having trouble, lots of gray days, when my hair was falling out,” she says. “When it grew back after chemo, it was curly and dark, nothing like before, but it gave me a sense of hope.”

Transformative change
That sense of hope is what the Patient Navigator Program is all about, so it’s fitting that the symbol of the Scott & White Breast Cancer Treatment Clinic and Team is a butterfly.

During diagnosis and treatment—the symbolic “chrysalis” phase—patients often feel their future is uncertain, and that’s a scary prospect. But patients like Alvis and Schnietz are infinitely thankful for what they do know, and that includes having someone on their side to help them through the process. It’s that emergence, like a butterfly, into a new gratitude for life that connects them to the present with hope for the future.

“It really helps having someone like Jody and everyone on my team,” says Alvis. “It takes a lot of special people, and they’re always there when I need them.”

Schnietz says she most appreciates having positive people around her with a sense of humor who are also willing to listen. “Everyone takes their job very seriously, but it isn’t all gloom and doom,” she says. “My questions were always answered with the utmost respect and explained until I got it. They said if you find yourself scared, call. And that was very comforting.”

As for Fulton, she says she’s simply doing her job and is grateful to help those in need.

“I just do my best to facilitate the process and make it easy for them,” says Fulton. “It’s very humbling.”

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