Healthy Connections
PrintA guide to better health from Backus
August 2010
Patient navigator program offers comfort
Laurie Cheslak has a family history of cancer and now has the comfort of knowing she is cancer-free. She is also comfortable in knowing that Backus has a Breast Health Patient Navigator Program in case she ever needs it again.
For more information about the Patient Navigator Program, call Joyce Kuusela, RN, at 860-425-3870, or Theresa Thackston at 860-425-3809.
Her mother had breast cancer and had to have a mastectomy, and her father and brother also have both been diagnosed with different types of cancer.
So, six months ago when she found out she had suspicious results on a mammogram she feared the worst. She was scheduled for a needle biopsy. One of the hardest parts is waiting for the next step, she said.
During that time, she wrote an article for MORE magazine online detailing her experience, which included the Backus Breast Health Patient Navigator Program.
“The patient navigator program is vital because it gives the nervous, anxious patient a chance to ask questions about the accuracy of mammograms and ultrasounds and legitimacy of using them, to find out how long it will be to get biopsy results and who will relay that information, the type of procedures and the one used for them,” Mrs. Cheslak said.
The program, funded by the Backus Office of Philanthropy and Development, is part of the hospital’s Breast Health Initiative, which focuses on early detection, excellence in treatment and improving patients’ healthcare experience. The program can help by providing educational resources, support referrals and other assistance.
Laurie Cheslak, of Ledyard, is thankful for the Backus Breast Health Patient Navigator Program.
In the online article for the lifestyle magazine, she wrote a two-part series, “Waiting is the Worst,” about how she previously had a needle biopsy and a cyst removed, both of which were benign.
When she went in for her most recent needle biopsy, they first examined her breast with an ultrasound. During this they found that the needle biopsy wasn’t necessary. Apparently a cyst had broken up and dissolved.
“I was so thankful, and glad that they did that, so an unnecessary needle biopsy wasn’t done,”
Mrs. Cheslak said. Mrs. Cheslak and her husband, Gary, live in Ledyard. She has two grown daughters and one grandchild. She is a retired teacher, she taught around the country while her husband was in the Navy, including at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich. She now writes poetry and freelance articles and has a self-published book of poems.