Adventist Health St. Helena Welcomes Breast Nurse Navigator
July 31, 2019 (St. Helena, Calif.) – About one in every eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in her lifetime. This staggering statistic is one of the reasons why Adventist Health St. Helena has added a breast nurse navigator to its cancer care team.
Laurie Schirling, RN, OCN, CN-BC, is a board-certified breast nurse navigator and oncology certified nurse with a long career or serving women and families facing breast cancer. “My passion is helping those with breast cancer through the transformative process from fear, to fighter, to empowered advocate,” she says.
Schirling began her nursing career nearly three decades ago working in an oncology setting at Duke University Medical Center. After working across the country as a nursing unit director, oncology outpatient nurse, hospice nurse and house supervisor, she became a breast nurse navigator at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center’s Commission on Cancer-accredited cancer center in Reno, Nevada. She then moved to California’s Central Valley, where she served patients as director of breast care centers, sleep labs and lung care centers for Adventist Health.
“My role is to break down barriers to the continuum of care,” Schirling says. “I educate patients about their individual cancer journey, to empower them as advocates for their care and support them and their families through survivorship.”
As a breast nurse navigator, Schirling works to streamline patient care, facilitates cancer peer groups and connects with the community to encourage preventative care. Schirling serves as a support for patients that have abnormal breast imaging studies and participates in the AHEAD Program screening patients with increased hereditary cancer risk.
After spending a number of years serving patients in Adventist Health’s Central Valley Network, Laurie was ready for a change. She was drawn to the Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center because of its focus on holistic care and teamwork. When not helping patients, Laurie enjoys kayaking, hiking, being in the outdoors and spending time with her goldendoodle.
Schirling serves patients receiving care at Adventist Health St. Helena’s Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center at 10 Woodland Road in St. Helena. She may be contacted by calling (707) 967-7585.
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Adventist Health St. Helena is part of Adventist Health, a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system serving more than 80 communities on the West Coast and Hawaii. Founded on Seventh-day Adventist heritage and values, Adventist Health provides care in hospitals, clinics, home care agencies, hospice agencies and joint-venture retirement centers in both rural and urban communities. Our compassionate and talented team of 35,000 includes associates, medical staff physicians, allied health professionals and volunteers driven in pursuit of one mission: living God's love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope. Together, we are transforming the American healthcare experience with an innovative, yet timeless, whole-person focus on physical, mental, spiritual and social healing.
