Helen Patterson

Queen of the Valley Medical Center (QVMC) in collaboration with OLE Health and St. Helena Hospital (SHH) will develop and launch a countywide colon cancer screening initiative.  This integrated effort will ensure timely diagnosis and access to treatment and care for patients regardless of health insurance status. OLE Health will provide the outreach to patients, administer the FIT test and refer patients to Queen or the Valley Medical Center or SHH as indicated for further testing and treatment. Queen of the Valley will collaborate with OLE Health to identify patients that may also be candidates for clinical trials or research.  The three organizations will work together on shared messaging to the community to raise awareness about the collaboration and opportunity for cancer screening.

This V Foundation grant will stimulate an innovative countywide “new” system of care between OLE Health, Queen of the Valley and SHH utilizing cancer nurse navigators to ensure a warm hand off and a solid continuum of care.  Queen of the Valley Medical Center Patient Navigator role will support and link the continuum of care for patients referred from OLE Health for further cancer diagnostics and care as appropriate. This grant will be used to hire staff and support other components of patient navigation.  Queen of the Valley Medical Center believes that our cancer patients deserve the very best in treatment – more cures, and better quality of life.