Patient Navigator

What is a Cancer Patient Navigator?

Cancer Patient Navigators strive to eliminate barriers for cancer patients and individually assess each person to determine what specific help they need. The critical window of opportunity, when patient navigation is most effective, is between the point of an abnormal finding and the point of that finding's resolution with diagnosis and treatment. Timely movement of a patient across the entire health care continuum is promoted from prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment, support and through to survivorship and, in some cases, end-of-life care. As a patient of Lake Charles Memorial's Cancer Center, all of our services are provided - free of charge.

The Patient Navigator can:

• Guide you through the health care system
• Help you with insurance forms
• Help you find ways to pay for health care if you don’t have insurance
• Direct you to health care services for further diagnosis and treatment
• Direct you to local resources and support
• Help you keep track of and find ways to get to your appointments
• Help you get your questions answered

Lenore Gibbons, Patient Navigator, was among the first group of navigators to obtain the only nationally accredited breast cancer patient navigation certification through Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute and the National Consortium of Breast Centers (NCBC). Most recently, she was among the first group of navigators to obtain the only nationally accredited patient navigation certification for all cancer sites through the Academy Of Oncology Nurse Navigators (AONN) and George Washington University. She is also an Oncology Patient Navigator–Certified Generalist™ (OPN-CG). This certification is the only one of its kind for nonclinical navigation professionals and is awarded by the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+). Nonclinical navigators are required to demonstrate their competency across a broad array of patient care areas. These include: community outreach/prevention; coordination of care; inpatient and care transitions; patient advocacy and empowerment; psychosocial support services/assessment; survivorship and end-of-life care; identification and elimination of barriers to care; operations management and organizational development.

To schedule an appointment contact Lenore Gibbons at (337) 494-4890 or lgibbons@lcmh.com.