Joelys Gonzalez: Why Is It Important for You to Empower Patients?

Dr. Brad Kahl: Why Is It Important for You to Empower Patients?

Dr. Cynthia Thomson: Why Is It Important for You to Empower Patients?

Transcript:

Nicole Normandin:

I feel as though the job of a social worker is to fill the gaps as much as possible. Usually that means I am providing information and resources that maybe, is a new resource or nobody’s really talked to this patient about the availability before. Sometimes that means I am anticipating potential issues, and I’m trying to be on top of it. A good example of that is if I know there’s a patient that is really self-conscious about losing their hair, for example, asking their care partner, hey, you might want to get a lint roller. And, if you notice that there’s, hair falling, you can use that to pick it before it causes more stress or before it makes the patient have a little bit of a freakout because of the amount of hair that’s left behind. But at the end of the day, what I’m trying to do and what I always want to do is give patients and their families the feeling of community. I want them to know at the end of the day, you are not alone. 

The day you get diagnosed, it changes your life, and it changes all of your family’s life forever, regardless of what the outcome is. And so I want to be as much of a resource to patients and their families as I can. And the best way that I can do that is, forming relationships, asking questions, being there whenever they need, or maybe when they don’t need me, right? Sometimes I just, hey, how are you? And those are usually the times that I get more information out of them, as opposed to when it’s like a required visit or call. Just letting patients know that I’m here, and I’m doing this because I want to.

And it’s not that it’s a job, it’s because it’s a passion. Sharing evidence-based resources, organizations like Patient Empowerment Network, there are so many resources that patients, they’re so grateful to know or hear from somebody that is just able to give them just a couple tools in their tool belt that maybe they forgot about, or they didn’t even know that this resource was available. I do this because I want to be able to provide as many resources, as much of a relief to patients and their families as I possibly can. And at the end of the day, it’s why I do what I do.It’s why I’m a social worker. It’s why I continue to work with cancer patients and their families. And I will continue doing that for the foreseeable future.