Harford County resident Laurie Manns-Adolph lost her father eight years ago after his three-year battle with colon cancer. Her grandfather died 25 years earlier from the same disease.
Now she is a volunteer “navigator” with the new Upper Chesapeake Health Cancer LifeNet program. Volunteer and nurse navigators provide one-on-one support for cancer patients and their families, guiding them through the complicated health care system.
“I?ve been through the diagnoses, the surgeries, the chemo treatments and,sadly, the deaths,” Manns-Adolph said. “A lot of patients are afraid and don?t know what?s going on. It?s reassuring to them to have someone who?s been through it to talk to.”
Cancer LifeNet services include education, symptom management, community resource referrals, complementary medicine, health promotion for survivors and end-of-life care and bereavement counseling, Manns-Adolph said.
“Not everyone knows what questions to ask,” she said. “We?re helping folks who don?t think they have the resources but really do.”
Educating the patients? families about patient treatment is crucial, said Vickie Cranford, oncology navigator coordinator at Upper Chesapeake. “A lot of times they?re just as much at a loss as the patient is about the very new and scary diagnosis.”
In 2006 the American Cancer Society estimated that more than 1 million new cancer cases would be diagnosed nationwide ? 25,870 in Maryland.
Increasingly, hospitals across the country are adopting integrated cancer care management programs, Cranford said.
