WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Finding out you have cancer is something no one wants to hear.
It's a scary time in any patient's life.
When a Geisinger patient is diagnosed with breast cancer, Rebecca Vanderveken or one of her coworkers is one of the first phone calls that the patient receives.
"I'm there to really answer questions, and I tell them I'm here to get the ball rolling and bring you in and do whatever we need to do for what's next."
Vanderveken is a Breast Cancer Nurse Coordinator at Geisinger Wyoming Valley.
She helps newly diagnosed breast cancer patients from the time of diagnosis to remission.
"Making sure they understand their diagnosis as well as their treatment options and helping them overcome any potential barriers to care, anything that may prevent them from pursuing treatment or getting to appointments," Vanderveken said.
Rebecca and her team see around 200 patients a year.
They can set up appointments and help patients through the process.
"They're going to know from start to finish the course of treatment, who is treating them when they're going to meet that person, and they also have social work if there's a question about insurance," Vanderveken said.
She also says Geisinger also has a mentorship program where patients who have finished their treatments are paired with newly diagnosed patients.
"So they can talk to somebody who is at that same point in life, going through that same disease, getting the same treatments, and really hear about it from that person who went through it," she said.
Vanderveken says she has stayed in touch with a number of her patients even after they finished their breast cancer treatments.
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