After her husband died last December, Evangeline Cole picked up her phone and called Debbie Iwanczuk, RN, BSN, a nurse at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

It wasn't that Evangeline had a problem with her ongoing treatment of pancreatic cancer at Georgetown Lombardi's Otto J. Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancer; it was that she couldn't stop crying from grief.

She knew Iwanczuk was one person who would understand and cheer her up.

"Debbie just stayed on the phone with me and told me to go ahead and cry because it is healthy and natural," says Evangeline. "She always has time for me. When I have my chemotherapy every week, she comes and sees me and often holds my hand."

She laughs then, saying. "I actually look forward to my chemo. Everyone treats me so nicely...Debbie especially. She was meant to do this job."

The job Evangeline refers to is that of nurse navigator, and the Ruesch Center has three nurses in this role. It is among the relatively few cancer centers nationwide to employ nurse navigators.

Since the Ruesch Center was founded in 2009, more than 1,500 patients have been guided through the steps of their care by Iwanczuk, Susie Park, RN, MSN, and Jane Hanna, RN, OCN. While their compassion is compelling, it's their expertise in cancer care that makes them an integral part of a multifaceted, highly specialized healthcare team at the Ruesch Center. They assess, triage, screen, coordinate, educate, empower, and advocate for their patients. And they care.

The nurse navigators exemplify the Georgetown mission and culture of cura personalis, or "care of the whole person," says John L. Marshall, MD, director of the Ruesch Center and chief for the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Georgetown Lombardi, a part of Georgetown University Medical Center and Georgetown University Hospital.

"Our nurse navigator program is unique in that the navigators are true experts in their specific diseases, so they bring a great deal of knowledge, compassion, and insight to the process," Marshall says.

"For patients, this can turn one of the worst pieces of news they'll receive into a less overwhelming experience-and at least give them the comfort that there is someone they can call to help guide them through their treatment," he says.

A nurse navigator is a registered nurse with a speciality in cancer care who serves as the initial contact for patients during the consultation and treatment phases of their cancer treatment journey, says Susie Park, a nurse navigator for colorectal cancer patients.

Park has more than 35 years of oncology nursing experience, including oncology research, and she has seen time and time again how frightening a cancer diagnosis is. "I ususally try to put myself in their position. There is a lot of information they need to know and they love it when there is a live voice they can talk to," she says.

Sometimes she will do the calling, as she did recently for an anxious patient who came into the Ruesch Center with an unusual type of stomach cancer. Park was about to coordinate care for the new patient until it turned out that her health insurance plan didn't include Georgetown Lombardi. So Park got on her phone, and managed to find an oncology practice that could see the patient the next day. Then, for peace of mind, the patient came to see a Ruesch Center specialist for a second opinion and to explore possible future clinical trial options.

"I do everything I can do for my patients," Park says.

Jane Hanna also has more than three decades of experience in oncology nursing, as well as oncology research and administration. She works with pancreatic cancer patients, and often first meets her new patients in the gastroenterology clinic of the hospital. "They may have just been told they have a suspicious mass or a diagnosis of cancer, I am here to make things move appropriately and efficiently," Hanna says.

My patients can be very sick and overwhelmed. My job is to provide patients and caregivers with the support and resources that they need to get through the illness, from diagnosis to treatment, while providing continuity of care," she says.

Because Evangeline is a pancreatic cancer patient, Hanna would have guided her through her care had she not had the day off work on the day of Evangeline's arrival. Iwanczuk, who ususally navigates patients with esophageal, gastric, liver, and other GI cancers, greeted Evangeline instead, and told her she would help coordinate her care.

"This job is very rewarding because I feel I am making my patients' lives a little easier when they are going through a difficult and stressful time," says Iwanczuk, who has also been a nurse for 35 years and is now pursuing a graduate degree in community and public health nursing. "We give a lot of patient education, because with information, patients know what to expect, and that can ease fear to a degree. One of the most important aspects of our roles as nurse navigators is to facilitate cancer care from the time of diagnosis, to help improve patient outcomes. But I also provide much emotional support."

Evangeline knows that, and she responds in the best way she knows how--by cooking. Iwanczuk and other caregivers at Georgetown Lombardi have been the happy recipients of Evangeline's culinary skills, honed in the restaurant she owned and cooked in before she fell ill a year ago. She has brought in salmon cake with friend potatoes and onions, and she prepared 45 tins of banana pudding, all tied with purple ribbon, for Christmas last year. Her son, also a chef and a 7th district police officer, recently prepared and delivered a steaming black kettel full of cream of crab soup and fed staff in the Georgetown Lombardi clinic, lab, and infusion center.

"I have always given my love through cooking," Evangeline says. "And when I am being cared for by Debbie and all the good folks at the Ruesch Center, I feel like I am with family."