There’s Help Navigating Breast Health
Cheryl Pauley, RN, CN-BN, left, and Christine Taylor, RN, CN-BN.
MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital nurses Christine Taylor and Cheryl Pauley have a message for women who receive abnormal mammogram results or are concerned about breast health: There is hope.
“Just having a certain reading on a mammogram doesn’t necessarily mean a woman has breast cancer,” said Ms. Pauley. She said about 80 percent of biopsy results come back benign.
Ms. Pauley and Ms. Taylor recently became certified breast patient navigators. Both are career nurses. Ms. Pauley has extensive experience in radiology, and Ms. Taylor was an operating room nurse before she became a care coordinator.
“Cheryl knows all of the radiology pieces, and I’ve been in the operating room and have seen the actual surgery and then recovered those patients,” said Ms. Taylor. “And as a care coordinator, I am familiar with a lot of resources that can benefit patients.”
Ms. Taylor said women are often shocked when they receive abnormal results; they don’t know what questions to ask or what their next move should be. If they have a patient navigator to help them with information about breast health and procedures, collecting test results, patient outcomes have been shown to improve considerably.
Sometimes, the greatest challenges for patients are not medical. They might need help with child care, finances, marital issues, or transportation. Ms. Taylor also can connect breast cancer patients who are uninsured or under-insured to resources that are offered through Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Pink Ribbon Project.
“We would both like to encourage women to get their yearly mammograms and follow the doctor’s instructions,” Ms. Pauley said. “If something shows up, don’t be afraid. Early biopsies and early recognition can be life-saving.”
For more information about breast health, visit MedStar St. Mary’s online.
For more information and one-click access to a full list of resources available at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital, visit their Leader Page.
