Yellowknife (Nov 26/04) - Conversing in coffee shops is part of Nancy Cymbalisty's job.

One of the NWT's two Breast Health Patient Navigators, she helps women diagnosed with breast cancer get through the medical system.

"I met with a woman recently who was in from one of the communities," said Cymbalisty. "She was having an investigation done. We had tea in the cafeteria and chatted. Then I went to the tests with her, to the mammogram. It's an upsetting time."

The patient navigators are there to provide information and emotional support to women who have just been diagnosed. What they do depends on what the woman in each case wants. They help women get answers about the disease during their treatment.

"Who's got the energy when you've just had your breast removed?" said Cymbalisty.

She said women want to discuss many topics from how to break the news to family and friends, to what to expect during chemotherapy.

"We're not giving advice," she said. "We're not telling them what to do."

She said patient navigators can attend doctor's appointments with the patients, as well as checking in on them during treatment.

"I'll go and visit them in the hospital every day," said Cymbalisty. "I try to pop in every day."

Though patient navigators exist across Canada, Cymbalisty said they are especially valuable in the North.

"Imagine a woman from the high Arctic spending five or six weeks in Edmonton for radiation," she said. "It's a long way. A lot of women get lonely."

Patient navigators provide connections to the Northern Health Services Network in Edmonton, which looks after women with breast cancer while they're there for treatment.

Women across the NWT

The two breast health patient navigators are based in Yellowknife, but they work with women from across the NWT. They share an 18-hour work week assisting roughly 20 breast cancer patients taking part in the one-year pilot project so far. The program started in May.

The project is funded by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Cymbalisty said the breast health patient navigators have received a positive response from the medical profession.

"They wish all their cancer patients could have this service," she said.

Both Cymbalisty and the other patient navigator, Meryl Falconer, are trained nurses. Falconer is also a breast cancer survivor.

"You don't have to be a nurse to do this job, but it helps," said Cymbalisty.

She said though it's a draining job, it has rewards.

"You see their inner strength, that maybe they didn't even know they had, emerging. It's a beautiful thing."

Cymbalisty said many of the women want to talk about wigs and prostheses. Hair loss from chemotherapy is hard for women because hair is so important to their body image.

"It's the same with losing a breast," said Cymbalisty. "If one part is missing, then what will I look like? What will people think? How will my clothes look?" Patient navigators discuss those questions with women, as well as providing information on where to get wigs and prostheses.

Cymbalisty said she'd like to see the program get government funding and be expanded to all cancer patients.