Dear Navigators,
I am very pleased to announce my appointment as Editor Emeritus of the Journal of Oncology Navigation & Survivorship (JONS).
In this role, I will provide commentary that aims to add value, and which will hopefully help you be the best navigator you can be—whether you are providing clinical or nonclinical navigation.
I take on this role with great appreciation and high respect for what each one of you does every day as you strive to eliminate significant barriers that many patients face as they seek timely quality cancer care in their journey across a complex health care continuum.
This navigation journey begins in the neighborhoods where people live, extends to the points of access for necessary care, and then flows through the entire continuum of care. Patients often encounter barriers along the journey such as financial constraints, communication challenges, obstacles within the medical care system, and emotional factors like fear and distrust.
For these reasons, I stress the importance of patient navigation as a team effort that extends through the health care continuum, and which includes patient, nurse, and social work navigators working in close communication.
Since the inception of the patient navigation concept and model at Harlem Hospital in 1990, and the passing of the Patient Navigation Act by Congress in 2005, patient navigation has become an integral part of the American health care system and is now supported under Medicare. Patient navigation is now also applied in many countries throughout the world. Many, many lives have been saved.
I wish to extend my personal thanks to all patient navigators.
Sincerely,
Harold P. Freeman, MD
Dr Freeman has been a foundational figure in the development and advancement of oncology navigation, and we are fortunate to have such an esteemed expert joining us to provide his perspectives to further the journal’s direction in professional navigation growth. —Sharon S. Gentry, MSN, RN, HON-ONN-CG, AOCN, CBCN, Editor-in-Chief, JONS
It is truly an honor to have Dr Freeman join the ranks of our esteemed JONS Editorial Advisors. We encourage you to continue engaging with our print and digital publications, as the content we feature will be shaped by Dr Freeman’s expertise, Sharon Gentry's leadership, and the guidance of our venerated Board members.
We look forward to the continued growth and success of the journal, and continuing to strengthen the role of patient navigator in cancer care as we embark on this journey together. —Hina Mehreen Porcelli, Editorial Director, JONS
Over the past 35 years, patient navigation has evolved as an effective strategy to improve outcomes among vulnerable populations by eliminating barriers to timely diagnoses and treatment of cancer and other chronic diseases.
In 1989, in my role as national president of the American Cancer Society (ACS), I had the privilege of leading the ACS National Hearings on Cancer in the Poor. These hearings were conducted in 7 American cities, and featured primarily poor Americans of all ethnic and racial groups who were diagnosed with cancer.
Based on the hearings, the ACS issued the Report to the Nation: Cancer in the Poor, which concluded that the most critical issues confronting poor people with cancer are substantial barriers to cancer care; the need to make extreme personal sacrifices to obtain and pay for care; greater pain and suffering from cancer than other Americans; and culturally insensitive and irrelevant cancer education programs.
These findings—along with my personal experiences treating poor people with breast cancer in Harlem, NY—inspired me to introduce the concept of patient navigation and initiate the nation’s first patient navigation program at Harlem Hospital Center in 1990.
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