VHAN Care Navigators Offer Relief From Health Care Stressors

VHAN Care Management team members serve as advocates for patients in many aspects of their health care journey. Care Navigator Martha Merry, BS, RN, has been caring for a patient with cancer since May 2021. After the patient’s daughter contracted breakthrough COVID-19 and couldn’t take him to multiple appointments, he called Merry for help rescheduling. She not only communicated with a practice to facilitate new days and times for the patient’s upcoming appointments, but she also assessed him for symptoms of COVID-19.

Going a step further, Merry also asked a teammate in the Vanderbilt COVID-19 call center for advice on how the immunocompromised patient should interact with his daughter after her quarantine. When Martha called the patient’s daughter to report on that consultation, the daughter responded: “I want to tell you what a blessing you are to my Dad. He says, ‘I know Martha has my back!’ … Just knowing you are there is such a relief.”

To learn more about the impact that the team can have on patients’ care experience, visit the Care Management section of the VHAN Hub. VHAN members can request Care Management assistance by filling out this referral form.