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3 6 | PULSE S u m m e r 2 0 1 6 of income or education level, can benefit from navigation. In fact, under a 2015 requirement for accreditation by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, cancer centers must provide patient-navigation services to their patients. Dr. Freeman went on to develop training courses and still teaches them today. Breast health nurse navigator Linda Maynor-Gardea, RN, CN-BN, attended the National Consortium of Breast Centers' (NCBC) course and was taught by Dr. Freeman himself. "He's in his mid- 70s and still plays tennis," she says. Maynor- Gardea, who has been an oncology nurse since 1980, is a certified breast patient navigator and a breast cancer survivor. She says the most important thing she learned from Dr. Freeman is that "we can provide a service to everyone—regardless of income, race or age. A lot of people don't know about this, and I want to make sure everyone gets this care." She says her own breast cancer experience allows her to communicate to cancer patients that "It's not a death sentence. I had Stage III breast cancer and now I'm disease-free. My focus is to educate people that this is treatable; they don't have to have so much fear, and I can give them hope." A PATIENT'S PERSPECTIVE A calming and comforting effect seems to be a universal trait among nurse navigators. Mary Bass, 79, came to Torrance Memorial Hunt Cancer Institute with a diagnosis of lung cancer. "I met Melissa [Gunlund] about two weeks aer my diagnosis," Bass says. "She called me and told me she was a nurse navigator and would be following me through my treatment. "It was such a relief to know there was one person I could call with a question— and believe me, I called a lot—and she always got back to me. She is very patient and lets me talk until I run out of things to say!" Bass adds, "When you get off the phone, you feel so calm and relieved." TRAINING TO NAVIGATE Many of the nurse navigators served as registered nurses for years before discovering this niche of care and that was certainly true of Torrance Memorial's newest nurse navigator, Pamela Rosapapan, RN, BSN, who heads up the newly formed Hunt Cancer Institute GI/HepatoPancreaticoBiliary navigation program. "When you've been in the same department for a long time," Rosapapan explains, "you want to venture and grow as an oncology nurse. What I did at Kaiser for years was to coordinate the care of patients getting chemo, help those at home who were having problems and take care of the infusions. I was their resource." "I learned it would be 2017 or 2018 before Kaiser started its oncology nurse navigator program, so when I got a call to come to Torrance Memorial, I was intrigued. It's a broader look at oncology and I figured it was time I stepped up. As time went by, the idea has really grown on me. Now I'm in love with the role." Oncology nurses seem particularly suited for the job because they see firsthand how challenging the journey from pre- diagnosis to recovery can be. In fact, apart from the workshops, conferences and certifications run by the NCBC, the Academy of Oncology Nurse and Patient Navigators, and the Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute, most of the training is on the job. "I shadowed the other navigators," says Rosapapan. "And we all go to tumor board every week. "I BELIEVE THAT EVERY NURSE NAVIGATES PATIENTS. WHETHER AT BEDSIDE, ANSWERING QUESTIONS, DISCUSSING NEXT STEPS—YOU ARE ALWAYS NAVIGATING." Nurse navigator Melissa Gunlund talks to a patient about their treatment options.