The Navigator Services at the Sharon Ewing Walker Breast Health Center are designed to provide the patient with a trusted resource from pre-diagnosis to survivorship. Whatever the patient need, the support services team works together to provide dedicated and timely support.

Patient navigation in cancer care has been in use since the early 1990s. Navigators help patients with a range of tasks, including transportation to appointments, finding ways to pay for care, connecting patients with community support services and other resources, and facilitating communication with physicians and other providers.

The Navigator’s job entails working with newly diagnosed breast cancer patients or undiagnosed patients who have a history of breast cancer in the family. Serving as a single resource to schedule appointments, complete necessary paperwork, gain access to pertinent clinical trials, facilitate financial aid where applicable, and connect the patient to health care education and support resources, the navigator can help provide patients with greater assurance about what lies ahead.

To increase the potential for better outcomes, improved patient satisfaction and improved collaboration among health professionals, it is recommended that all patients with a suspicious finding be referred to a Navigator. In the case where a patient has an abnormal mammography reading or finds a suspicious lump in the breast, the services of the Navigator Program at the Sharon Ewing Walker Breast Health Center can help to eliminate many possible barriers to quality standard care. All navigator services are free to patients.