Cancer care tailored to you

Sutter's big, and while we're big, we're all connected.
So if there's a patient where I don't know what to do, or it's like this is c- complex or
this is unique, I have access to other experts within our Sutter system outside of where I
practice to help guide and collaborate together.
The people are so special here at Sutter.
My team cares about you, I guarantee it.
I feel it. I work with them every day.
And so I think that extra special touch of just feeling how much we care about you means
a lot. We also have access to state-of-the-art
research trials, equipment.
What makes me proud to be part of the team that I am on specifically is we offer
end-to-end every treatment that you could need for a patient that's
undergoing cancer treatment.
There's nothing that you would need to be referred out anywhere else.
You can get everything under one roof at Sutter.
Whether you are in Sacramento or San Francisco, the care that you get at Sutter is going to be
team-oriented, amazing.
You will be supported, and you will have a lot of people helping you through your journey.
And the experience that you receive I know will be the best care that you need for your
time and your story and your situation.
We also have tumor boards, weekly where doctors get together, and it's the pathologist,
it's the radiation oncologist, there's the research coordinator, the medical oncologist,
and we collaborate as a team as far as trying to make the best treatment
plan for that patient. I know that we're giving the very best care
for our patients. American Cancer Society is actually a big
supporter and partner with us here at Sutter Health.
We do a lot when it comes to transportation and housing and patient education as well.
There are other organizations that help to support through psychosocial help, whether
it's support groups or it can be art therapy and things that can help patients as they're
moving through.
So if we don't have the answers, we know the people to get in, them in touch with and to
connect them with. I think that's just our, our commitment to
excellence wherever you go.
Each person is, has been touched by, by cancer in this service line in some way, shape, or
form, so everybody has a personal reason for why they're passionate about your care and why
they care about what you're going through is because it's touched them or somebody they
care about in their own life.

Cancer care is complex, and no one should go through it alone.
And that's why I rely on an entire team: nurse navigators, medical assistants, pharmacists,
research coordinators, dieticians, and more, all playing an important role in your care.
So if anyone calls from your doctor's care team, you're hearing from your doctor, with
the same commitment to your well-being.
Behind every voice is the same message: you're supported, you're cared for, and we're walking
with you every step on this journey.
So now let me introduce you to members of your Sutter Health Cancer Care team.
We're your Sutter Health Cancer Care team.
We are your Sutter Health Cancer Care team.
We are your Sutter Health Cancer Care team.
We're your Sutter Health Cancer Care team.
We're your Sutter Health Cancer Care team.

As a navigator, oftentimes we might be the first person to make contact with a patient.
And so I think one of the first things I really try to help them understand is it's
about letting them know who is out there to support them early on.
And whether they need us right then or maybe further down the line, they'll have that
information to be able to contact us.
We help to support each other, and we work together to kind of envelop patients
with support and resources.
So as an oncology navigator, I deal a lot with barriers of care, which means the things that
will interfere with patients getting what they need while they're getting their treatment.
Clinic nurse focuses more on patient education.
I work in the outpatient cancer clinic, generally with one provider for the most part.
We do a lot of patient education.
I also take triage calls for the patients, you know, once they've begun their treatment.
If they're having symptoms, I'm the go-to person for them to contact.
Aside from the medical oncologist, your APC or nurse practitioner, physician assistant will
function as a liaison between nursing staff, pharmacy staff, nurse navigators,
the cancer support services team, just to help coordinate care and act as a resource.
As a medical assistant, I'm kind of the front of the team.
It's my job to room the patients, get their prior authorizations for their medications,
their chemotherapy.
So as a financial navigator, we help find various avenues to help
offset financial burden.
A lot of times that is through copay assistance programs for our commercially
insured patients. So we have access to various programs that
help offset that financial burden.
Financial navigators might not be physically at every facility, but every facility has
access to a financial navigator.
I've been working with Sutter Health for about twenty years now, and I am currently a
scheduler there, working in infusion services at the cancer center.
Cancer, hearing those words, is just one of the scariest things that people could ever be
told in their life. So to come into the office and to meet me,
meet our team, and to just know that it truly is a whole group supporting you on this
journey, it's definitely takes a team approach.

The first part of the visit, we really focus on getting to know their medical history,
understanding what symptoms they're having.
Then I examine the patient, and then we really talk through the specifics of their cancer.
So that is the stage of their cancer, and we talk through a treatment plan.
So oftentimes it involves lots of different doctors, a surgical oncologist, a radiation
oncologist, and we just make a map going forward as far as, like, what's the most
appropriate treatment for that cancer.
I'm an infusion pharmacist at Sutter.
We're utilized in a lot of different spaces.
So there's the infusion pharmacists that work directly in the infusion center, in the clinic,
so mixing medications, responding to any urgent issues like medication reactions, or if
you're having nausea while you're in the clinic, we'll respond to those types of things.
I am an advanced practice pharmacist specializing in oncology, more specifically
oral chemotherapy.
I help manage patients who are starting oral chemotherapy as well as their supportive care
too, and kind of following them throughout their journey on their treatment.
So oral chemotherapy is something that you would take orally, just like most medications
that you might be used to.
And sometimes these can be in lieu of IV treatments, or they can be complementary to
infusion chemotherapy that you might receive at an infusion center.
It just depends on the regimen, depends on the type of cancer and what's being treated.
Oftentimes, patients can be on both IV chemo and oral chemotherapy at the same time.
Takes about a week or two, sometimes three weeks, depending on your insurance.
And so we just want to make the patients be aware that it can take about a week to three
weeks sometimes to get the treatment started.
After that, once everything's authorized, it falls into the scheduler queue, and then
that's when we call the patients to get them scheduled for their treatment.
I'm responsible to giving you the medications that are prescribed to you by your oncologist.
So I will be accessing a port if you have a port.
I will be starting an IV line if you don't have a port, and I will be giving you
medications, making sure you're understanding of what you're getting, how you're getting it,
what it looks like. Treatment varies per each patient.
It could be a two-hour treatment.
It could be a five-hour, six-hour treatment, depending on your regimen, what's prescribed
for you. We make sure that you're very comfortable and
that we have snacks, and we have water and juices and things like that.
A lot of people think that they need to have a very specific way to eat, and, and that's
really not the case.
And I find a lot of my role is helping patients to be able to achieve a healthy diet
in, in a way that also feels doable for them or, or is more in line with maybe their
lifestyle as a whole.
So making sure that first and foremost, we're able to maintain your weight and that we're
managing those side effects is so important.
I provide counseling services to people who are affected by cancer.
Primarily what I do here is I like to meet people if I can during their first chemo
treatment just to let them know that the service is available.

I tell patients that clinical trials, oftentimes they're comparing, "Hey, this is
our standard, but trying to make our standard better, what if we add in this extra
experimental drug?" So anytime we have trials that a patient qualifies for, we involve the
research coordinator to see if that's a fit for the patient.
So many of our patients are educated and come to us with a question of clinical trials and
whether we have them. It's very common these days.
You hear about clinical trials everywhere you go.
But typically, we will have the physician talk to patients about treatment options, and if
clinical trial is one of the options that the patient may participate, they will involve the
clinical research team.

So it's very important to make sure that you understand how to take your medications and
that you're following those instructions to the best of your ability.
Or if you do have a question about how you're taking your medications, that you reach out,
and we can answer that question for you, and we can work together as a team.
We definitely wanna make sure we're getting enough protein and also just enough calories
in general. If you absolutely hate broccoli, broccoli's
the thing you hate the most in this world, but you don't mind a Brussels sprout or, or, you
know, kale's all right, then that's okay too.
You know, it's I, I want you to focus on diversity over specific vegetables, and that's
where we see the most benefit in terms of how our nutrition can help support patients as we
go through treatment. Sometimes patients don't know that they might
be facing some financial challenges based on their current treatment.
So I help to educate them on what their current benefits are and offer assistance
where available and then continue to offer assistance if things change
because things do change.
Patients stop working.
Their spouse can't work maybe anymore.
So we offer continued assistance throughout their care with various situations as they
arise, and part of that is insurance education because a lot of patients just don't know what
they don't know. So I offer that as well to patients.
So I've been doing this for 20-plus years, and I think the resiliency that people have, so
what I would want someone to know and to try to remember is that everybody has that thing,
whatever it might be, that can carry them through some really, really difficult
situations and that you're the expert as far as your body or your mind is concerned.
And, and I'm just there to kinda, to help support that along the way or to help you
connect to that piece.
And I think that's why we're all here is, you know, I don't pretend to
know, what's best for you.
I'm not gonna pretend. I mean, that's, you know, a big assumption.
but I do trust, that you have that in you and that you know that about yourself and that
people can get through so many difficult things.
I always tell patients that you're the boss.
You're the boss. I'm here to support you.
I'm here to guide you. I'm here to talk through risk, benefits, talk
through options, but ultimately, it is absolutely your decision on
how you wanna move forward. so I'm supporting you.
I'm, you know, help We try one thing.
Hey, that wasn't a good fit.
Let's try something else.
but absolutely, my job is to educate you and empower you to make your best choice for your
cancer treatment.

Mho is My Health Online, and our patients have access to that.
We can send messages to them.
They send messages to us.
If there's any questions, concerns, they're able to express that through MHO, and we're
able to contact them and answer the, any of their questions.
It's a really great tool. You can also see your test results, a lot of
different things. My Health Online is a fantastic way for
patients to really be able to take control over scheduling their appointments, and the My
Health Online portal allows you to do that in your own time, not being rushed at the
doctor's office, but really being able to coordinate with either a caregiver or a driver
that's gonna take you to an appointment and find something that works for your schedule.
They're able to send us questions anytime they need to.
We encourage them not to put an emergency-type question on My Health Online.
If it's an emergency-type situation, they should call.
But a lot of times they just need clarification about their medications, or
they'll have questions like, "My other doctor said I should get this medication or these
labs ordered. What do you think about that?" So at their
initial appointment when they come to see us here at the cancer center, it's my job as a
medical assistant to make sure that they're signed up for it and help them learn how to
navigate it. So they can schedule appointments on it.
They can send us messages, and it's kind of like communicating with the physician's office
in real time, kind of like text messaging.

Sutter's been taking care of cancer patients over 100 years, so we know what we're doing.
It means so much to be on that journey with them, and you're seeing these patients.
If you're on chemotherapy, you're coming in every two weeks, every four weeks, and it's
long-term, so you really build special connections there.
So that's definitely the most important, you know, part of why I love my job.
I feel like it's an honor to be a part of the- their team as they go journey through this.
That I'm here just to guide you throughout this vulnerable time in your life, throughout
your treatment and beyond.
we're here as resources for you.
You're doing all of the hard work.
We're just here to support you through it.
We always try to let them know you're in good hands.
If there's any questions, if there's any concerns, we're there for you every step of
the way, you know, any- anything that you might be feeling.
We're here to help. We have access to various resources, and we
want to do everything we can to help them.
The financial burden should be the last thing that they're worried about.
We want them to focus on getting better.
I really try to listen to my patients, you know, to try to find out, you know, what are
their goals and what is important to them, and there are certain aspects of the treatment,
you know, that they can have some control over, you know, decisions that they can make.
And one of the things, like, a lot of the patients want to have Christmas week off.
That's take the holiday off or be able to take a trip.
in some cases, it's more important to s- stay on schedule that in other cases, there's more
leeway there. So I'll clear it with the provider, and if the
provider's okay with it, I really recommend those patients do the things in life that
bring them joy.

We're your Sutter Health Cancer Care Team.