Theresa Lever named Patient Navigator at Cancer Center

August 25, 2009

Theresa Lever has been hired to join the Care Management Department at Central Vermont Medical Center as the Patient Navigator at CVMC’s National Life Cancer Treatment Center.

The goal of the Patient Navigator is to guide healthcare consumers through the complicated healthcare system by assisting them in overcoming access problems and other barriers to quality care.  The Patient Navigator also serves as a connection between the patient and the many providers involved with the patient’s care.  The Navigator will assist patients and their families to obtain needed information and will provide referral to and coordination of community resources.

“Theresa is a well respected professional in Central Vermont who has worked for CVMC for 28 years providing social services in the nursing facilities (McFarland House, then Woodridge),” stated Laura Hubbell, Director of Care Management.  “We are happy to be able to add a person with Theresa’s experience and community ties to our care management and cancer center teams.

Theresa is in the thesis stage of her Master of Education program at the University of Vermont.  She has focused her interdisciplinary studies on the ways that people encounter, receive and give hospitality to those who are different from themselves.

“I am excited about this new and important way to serve the community,” noted Theresa.  “At Woodridge I helped people navigate the long term care system at an upsetting time in their lives.  It will be a privilege to use that experience to help patients and their families cope with the complexities of cancer care,” she concluded.  

Theresa and her husband Tom have lived in Montpelier for thirty years. Their two daughters and three grandchildren live nearby.