{"id":84343,"date":"2013-10-04T14:39:47","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T18:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=84343"},"modified":"2015-12-14T11:15:35","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T16:15:35","slug":"once-a-patient-now-the-patient-navigator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/10\/once-a-patient-now-the-patient-navigator\/","title":{"rendered":"Once a Patient, Now the Patient Navigator"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kim<\/a>
Kim Hackett is the William Raveis-American Cancer Society Patient Navigator at the UConn Health Center\u2019s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center. (Janine Gelineau\/UConn Health Center) (Click image for high-res jpeg)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kim Hackett is used to making regular visits to the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center.<\/p>\n

She started doing so in 2009, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Following her treatments she became a UConn Health Center volunteer.<\/p>\n

Now, cancer-free for four years, Hackett is back at the Health Center every day, as UConn\u2019s William Raveis-American Cancer Society Patient Navigator<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to be here for other patients, because I know there are patients out there just like me,\u201d Hackett says. \u201cIt\u2019s the people who sit back quietly and want to take care of themselves and don\u2019t want to bother anybody, those are the people who need the American Cancer Society programs and don\u2019t know it. They don\u2019t know what the value of this program is.\u201d<\/p>\n

A cancer diagnosis marks the start of a journey that can be overwhelming on many levels. Beyond the emotional and physical tolls and the frequency of medical appointments is the volume of well-intentioned resources available to patients.<\/p>\n

For information on how to support the navigator program, go to giving.uchc.edu<\/a>.<\/strong><\/div>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t hit me for a week,\u201d says Elizabeth Tougas of Ashford, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer earlier this year\u2014at age 24. \u201cIt was a lot to take in.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she started to grasp the reality of her situation, she connected with Hackett and learned right away this was someone who could relate to her. They bonded quickly, first about hair loss. Tougas recalled being told it would happen to her within a few weeks of the start of her chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cKim\u2019s caring, her communication, her support, and being someone to talk to have definitely been helpful,\u201d Tougas says. \u201cShe told me how she lost her hair. She\u2019s a good one to relate with. I was nervous about the hair loss, and she went right out and got me a wig.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hackett recalls believing she, as a patient, didn\u2019t need the support offered by UConn\u2019s patient navigator program. She didn\u2019t take advantage of it until her treatment was nearly over. But once she did, she was inspired to volunteer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou find out very quickly that there\u2019s way more to this program than a packet of brochures,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a connection to the person who\u2019s in this office, there\u2019s a connection to the other patients who are introduced to you through this office, and there\u2019s a connection to the resources and the people you meet at the American Cancer Society. This becomes an emotional attachment, and survivorship is built sometimes on pure emotion I think. And it\u2019s not just breast cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kim<\/a>
William Raveis-American Cancer Society Patient Navigator Kim Hackett works with patients like Elizabeth Tougas (left) as they walk the path of a cancer diagnosis and treatment. (Chris DeFrancesco\/UConn Health Center Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAfter someone is told they have cancer, they often don\u2019t know what their next steps should be,\u201d says Stephanie Balesano, senior consultant and media relations manager for the American Cancer Society. \u201cThe Patient Navigator program is designed to help those newly diagnosed patients and their caregivers by providing personal guidance and increased access to resources and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American Cancer Society says in Connecticut, over the last five years, the rate of patients using its services went from 1 in 25 to 1 in 5. Hackett, one of only two American Cancer Society patient navigators in Connecticut, says she\u2019s been able to connect with most new patients by their third UConn visit.<\/p>\n

Tougas was pregnant and near the end of her term when her tumor was discovered. Her daughter was born healthy and is now 4 months old, the third child for Tougas and her husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of stress on us, as a young family,\u201d Tougas says. \u201cKim has helped us with coping with everything, including financially. She helped us obtain gift cards [from the American Cancer Society], and is even helping us organize a fundraiser.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about the pasta supper taking place Nov. 30<\/strong> at the Elks Lodge, 30 Bissell St. Manchester, call 860-679-7820.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy for a patient to get lost in the treatment process,\u201d Hackett says. \u201cAnd when I say lost, I mean go from appointment to appointment to appointment, and just doing what the doctor says, never really having the time to sit back and think about what they want. This program kind of reminds you from the very beginning that it\u2019s your treatment, this is your path, and there are all kinds of things that can help you through it. We call it a patient navigation program, but it\u2019s truly a resource navigator. It will connect you to the resources within the hospital and to the resources outside of this hospital, in your own individual communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

More information about the William Raveis-American Cancer Society Patient Navigator Program is available at http:\/\/cancer.uchc.edu\/treatment\/services\/navigator.html<\/a>. Hackett can be reached at 860-679-7820.<\/p>\n

\n

Follow\u00a0the UConn Health Center<\/a> on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a> and\u00a0YouTube<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kim Hackett, a breast cancer survivor, is back at the UConn Health Center\u2014not as a patient, but as the William Raveis-American Cancer Society Patient Navigator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":84345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[57,2010],"class_list":["post-84343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-health","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 05:27:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84343"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107165,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84343\/revisions\/107165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/84345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84343"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=84343"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=84343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}