Breast Health Navigator Guides AMH Patients

PHOTO BY DAVE WHALEY
Malea Nowland is the new breast health navigator at
Alton Memorial Hospital.

(Alton, IL -February 2, 2010) � An abnormal result on your mammogram is an uneasy feeling for any woman. The ensuing days and weeks can be filled with doubt and lots of questions.

At Alton Memorial Hospital, that�s where Malea Nowland will step in. Nowland began Jan. 4 as the breast health navigator at AMH. Like all nursing jobs, the position will tend to physical needs but also the mental and emotional side of things for women who need treatment.

�I will serve as a liaison between the doctors, the radiologists and the patients,� says Nowland, who has spent the last five years with the Illinois Breast and Cervical Program at the Jersey County Health Department. �After there�s an abnormal test result, we want to help women know exactly what the process will be leading up to a diagnosis. The time that I spend with each patient will depend on their particular situation. And I will likely be dealing with more than one patient at a time.�

Nowland, a Jerseyville native, knows what it�s like to be on the other end of such situations. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer late last year.

�I�ve always been an advocate for women�s health, and that came into focus more when my mother was diagnosed,� she said. �She came to Alton Memorial and received excellent treatment here, so I�m very glad to be here.�

Nowland earned her LPN at F.W. Olin School and then bridged to the RN program at Lewis and Clark Community College. She has also worked at Saint Anthony�s, Christian Northwest Hospital as well as the Illinois Department of Corrections in Grafton.

�I was a mom first but then I decided to go into nursing,� Nowland says. �Our goal is to make things as clear and easy as possible for our patients. No matter what we do, the needs of the patients will always come first.�