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The role of the registered nurse patient navigator at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) is to educate and support people diagnosed with cancer through the continuum of care. The care provided by the navigator begins at diagnosis and continues through to survivorship.

In response to the Institute of Medicine report in 2005, “From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition,” the Norton Cancer Institute call to action was to develop a Survivorship program dedicated to cancer patients who had completed active therapy. Dr Sheron Williams, a medical oncologist, started the program in 2006.

As the growing scope and importance of patient navigation evolves, core principles remain at the heart of each program. Dr Harold Freeman has identified and practiced these principles over the last 20 years.

The summer months are often a period of time when there is less happening in the “cancer awareness” arena.

Healthcare professionals want to ensure that every patient receives quality care throughout the continuum of their cancer illness.

Cancer patients face a myriad of psychosocial and practical issues.

The Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF) states that their mission is to provide effective mediation and arbitration services to patients to remove obstacles to healthcare, including medical debt crisis, insurance access issues, and employment issues for patients with chronic, debilitating, and life-threatening illnesses.

As we begin to welcome spring, we are also welcoming the opportunity to conduct more health fairs and other community outreach events to raise cancer awareness.

Many any young women, ages 18 to 22, are away from their parents, living on college campuses and exposed to lifestyle behaviors that can increase their risk of getting breast cancer.

Exculuding skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and is the second-leading cause of cancer death in women.