Sandy Allten, RN, OCN, CCRP

She’s smart, kind, caring, generous and humorous, and, oh yes, she totally inherited the “fashion gene.” She’s a snappy dresser who lives to visit consignment shops and refuses to pay full price for clothes. She could probably make a better living as a personal shopper than she does as a genetic counselor!

Cindy Trawick, RN, ANP, has been an awesome staff nurse for years, most recently in the post-anesthesia care unit and operating room settings. She went back to school and became a nurse practitioner, which is how she ended up working in our outpatient cancer center.

Here are some things that I have learned from her since she moved into the office next to mine: She’s from Georgia; I’m from Boston, Massachusetts. We both have funny accents, depending on who you ask. We have learned not to talk about sports or politics. We both love dogs and the great state of Maine. She is young and on the way up in her career. I am old and have calculated the days until my retirement in many inaccurate ways, but I know that it is sooner rather than later!

From left: Cindy Trawick, RN, ANP, and Sandy Allten, RN, OCN, CCRP. Photos by Kelly Robinson.

Here’s what else I have learned: With genetic sequencing and testing becoming so crucial to treatments in oncology, there is more need than ever for a patient to have this procedure done. The problem: In the United States today, there is a shortage of certified genetic counselors (master’s prepared in genetics), which is expected to last another 10 years or so. Nurses or nurse practitioners who take the accelerated City of Hope genetics courses are respected for their practice, and they have been approved to provide counseling to patients who receive genetic testing by most insurance companies.

A lot of folks in the health industry feel that as long as you draw the blood or send the tumor tissue specimen off for testing, you can just have someone read off the results when the patient returns for a visit. It’s like reading the scrunched-up type on the side effects section stuck to the box of Tylenol. Who wants to read all that? Who will remember it two minutes later?

Or you can have a phone call or Skype message appointment to explain some of the results. During a call, it is hard to assess the eyes of a patient rolling back in their head as they fall asleep or veer off into a place of total confusion. A conversation like that may be classified under the umbrella of genetic counseling, but I’ve seen what an excellent version of this consists of, and that is not it.

Many patients are scared of the whole topic of genetics. They are afraid of what it means for them and their families. They skip appointments out of fear. They worry about possible extra costs. It is a complicated topic that they do not understand.

I hear Cindy every day (the walls between us are thin!) and have noticed her kindness and gentleness in explaining this very complicated topic to her patients. When multiple genetic aberrations were found in families, I have even heard her pray with patients when asked. I have seen her tears of relief when someone tests negative for a particularly deleterious genetic mutation.

For some professionals, genetic counseling would be done in an appointment or two. Cindy has taken many of her patients and their families under her loving wing and remains in their lives as a true counselor, resource person and loving nurse long after her sessions with them. For those who require further surgery based on genetic results, Cindy has been known to stop by the hospital to see how they are doing.

A genetic counselor visiting a beloved patient at time of entry to hospice? Yes, she has done that, too. She treats the patients and their families with love and support no matter where they are in the care spectrum.

She has taught all of us about some of the intricacies of genetic testing and counseling, but mainly, what she reminds us is that “counseling” is not a benign word or simply a 60-minute billable session. Counseling involves a sometimes lengthy process until the patient truly understands and accepts the information. Once that happens, that lengthy process can begin all over again with a different family member.

For us, our counselor Cindy is a gift. She can be the bearer of bad or good news, but she always gives the news with compassion and empathy.

I am proud of our organization for realizing the extra components she brings to the job. I love that they recognize that there is a difference between a voice on the phone and a caring face delivering complex information. I love knowing that our patients are in her excellent hands every day.

I love knowing that, besides inheriting the fashion gene, she also inherited the compassion gene!

Articles

This essay nominating Cindy Trawick, ARNP, FNP-BC for CURE®'s Extraordinary Healer® Award was written by Sandy Allten, RN, OCN, CCRP, of AdventHealth Cancer Institute and Charlene’s Dream.
 

The Compassion Gene

Her beautiful smile is what you see first when you meet Cindy Thornton, RN. It’s a warm, genuine, glowing smile. Next, you hear her soothing and melodious voice — a voice that was made to read children’s stories out loud or comfort patients with cancer on their darkest days. When a patient sees that smile and hears that voice for the first time, it means immediate calm and comfort have arrived.

To know her is to love her! For five years, Cindy worked in her official role as a cancer center certified breast cancer nurse navigator. A breast cancer survivor herself, she helped hundreds

of women navigate the challenges of treatment. They trusted her expertise and knowledge as a nurse. The fact that she was a survivor gave her an immediate bond with her patients. It also gave those patients hope and reassurance that cancer may not be the death sentence they had thought it was. Here was a survivor (who became the ultimate patient advocate) who was not only alive but also thriving and one of their own! She knew exactly how they felt at any given moment. That bond was priceless.

With a survivor’s knowledge and the superpower to live every day to the fullest, two years ago Cindy made the decision to retire from her day job to pursue some of her other creative talents. She enjoyed time with her family, pursued her florist skills and helped her husband “flip” houses. But she missed being able to help other breast cancer survivors, which she knew was her truest and most rewarding passion.

From left: Cindy Thornton, RN, and Sandy Allten, RN, OCN, CCRP

When her mentor — also a breast cancer navigator and survivor &mdash; received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, Cindy was one of a posse of friends who worked tirelessly before the woman’s death to show her what would be created in her honor: a legacy of advocacy to help other women with cancer. Cindy and a group of founders developed a grassroots community resource center called Charlene’s Dream, which offers education in the form of one-on-one sessions, event nights and monthly support groups. This center also offers mastectomy bras, lymphedema sleeves, port protectors, comfort pillows, and used and new breast prosthetics to those in need &mdash; all for free.

Cindy used her house-flipping skills and enormous amounts of sweat equity to transform a small outbuilding on a church campus into a warm, welcoming cottage resembling a boutique. I cannot even begin to count the number of volunteer hours in the Florida heat it took for her to help transform our donated space. Her eclectic and artsy Key West style helped create a cozy place where women with cancer could come to get help and feel safe and at ease.

She is a beloved earth mother to all. Many of her navigated patients have followed her here to our community resource program and the group she facilitates called Girls’ Night Out. Cindy is super creative, and there are always interesting topics and exercises to try during her group. And let’s not forget the healing benefits of chocolate and wine! The support groups, while sometimes tackling tough subjects, remain upbeat and fun, and that is mainly due to Cindy’s great attitude.

She is on the founding board of Charlene’s Dream. She teaches weekly Breast Cancer 101 classes at a local surgeon’s office, alternating with sessions at Charlene’s Dream. She is available every Wednesday to help women find mastectomy bras or wigs to aid them in rebuilding their confidence.

She helps women at all stages of cancer fully understand their diagnoses by explaining their pathology reports or telling them what they can expect with surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. She works with nurse navigators and social workers from both of the hospitals in our town and refers the patients she sees to them to use some of their resources as needed, too. She feels passionate that this community grassroots support program that we developed is the perfect adjunct to what patients are receiving at their respective hospitals, the goal being that no patient is missed. The ultimate aim is that all women who need further education and support receive it free of charge.

Cindy trains many of the patients she has helped to become volunteers at Charlene’s Dream. She also goes out into the community to tell various citizen groups about what we do there. This helps to both spread the word about our services and raise funds for our small nonprofit so we can continue to give everything away for free.

Did I mention that, except for a small honorarium for teaching the breast cancer classes, all the hours that Cindy puts into Charlene’s Dream are done on a volunteer basis? Cindy has given a countless amount of time freely and generously because of her passion to help other survivors of cancer. She is an excellent nurse and a true patient advocate who has paid it forward to help others.

Cindy is a model of what a rewarding retirement can hold if your heart is wide open and giving. As many talented and experienced oncology nurses begin to hit their retirement years, I can’t help but think of all that we could accomplish in the world if we all followed in Cindy’s footsteps.

"Cindy is a model of what a rewarding retirement can hold if your heart is wide open and giving," wrote Sandy Allten, RN, OCN, CCRP.

Sandy Allten, RN, OCN, CCRP

The Compassion Gene

Beloved Earth Mother to All

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