Patient navigators
Two weeks after Wanda Jamieson of Bridgewater, N.S., had her left breast removed, she travelled to Halifax to receive her pathology results. With her in the doctor’s office were her husband, mother and sister. “It was devastating when he told me they didn’t get it all,” says Jamieson, a 44-year-old food services worker and mother of two who has Stage 4 cancer. “And it seemed to go on and on — we were in his office for two hours. We came out of there, and it was like, ‘Oh, my God, I don’t know…. Did you guys take it like this when he said this, or is this what he said?’ It was just too overwhelming.”
Cancer-care literature often refers to the experience of having cancer, somewhat poetically, as a journey. But people who’ve been through it prefer words like maze, labyrinth or obstacle course. At best the process is complex, tiring and stressful; at worst it can lead to dangerous delays or inappropriate treatment, and impede recovery. “Just the paperwork that goes along with cancer and cancer treatment is almost a half-time job,” says Pam Petten, a 51-year-old HR specialist with two children, who this year had chemotherapy in her hometown of Yellowknife, as well as Edmonton, followed by six weeks of radiation.
A new player in the healthcare system
As it happens, the past few years have seen the appearance of a new player in the healthcare system, a sort of tour guide to lead cancer patients through this decidedly foreign territory. Most often they’re known as “patient navigators,” and they’re springing up in a patchwork across Canada.
Jamieson and Petten are fortunate to live in two of those patches. Right after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Petten was paired with breast health patient navigator (PN) Nancy Cymbalisty in Yellowknife, who walked her through her travel grant application, dropped by on chemo days with books on the disease, and prepared her for what to expect in Edmonton. Cymbalisty also phoned Petten regularly to see how she was doing and solicited her opinions on how to improve the system. “If Nancy doesn’t know the answer to a question, she finds out,” says Petten.
