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Susan M. Driskell is an oncology nurse navigator at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital. After a career outside healthcare, she switched gears and became a nurse at 40.
“I love working in the cancer center because of the inspirational people I work with – the patients, nurses, doctors and all of the support personnel,” says Susan. ”I think the people you work with say a lot about the organization, many of the people in the department have worked here 20 plus years.”
Susan was born in mainland Japan and lived in Korea and Okinawa with her parents, who worked for the Department of Defense.
She earned a degree in recreation and worked for five years at a community park and recreation department. She was also a horticulturist with a family landscaping business. However, when she joined a software company in sales and marketing, a light bulb went off in her mind about a healthcare career.
“The company I worked for created programs for the health insurance industry,” says Susan, who moved from Maine to Virginia before working for Sentara. “We were eventually bought out by WebMD, and that’s when I became interested in going back to school to become a nurse.”
Today, Susan specializes as the rectal program coordinator and a colorectal nurse navigator. As part of her coordinator role, Susan attends biweekly tumor board meetings where a team of Sentara specialists discusses each patient’s case. She’s also assisting with the upcoming National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer at Sentara Martha Jefferson.
“I follow the rectal patients through each phase of their cancer journey,” Susan explains. “As the colorectal nurse navigator, I have helped start a community outreach program to provide colorectal screenings for uninsured community members.”
Her other duties include maintaining the Cancer Resource Center lending library that provides materials and information for cancer patients and organizing special events for the cancer center, including the yearly survivorship event and a Spring Fly Fling (fly fishing) for female cancer survivors.
“The managers here in the cancer center are fantastic by encouraging us to work to our strengths and cultivate new growth areas,” Susan says.
Susan M. Driskell is an oncology nurse navigator at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital. After a career outside healthcare, she switched gears and became a nurse at 40.
“I love working in the cancer center because of the inspirational people I work with – the patients, nurses, doctors and all of the support personnel,” says Susan. ”I think the people you work with say a lot about the organization, many of the people in the department have worked here 20 plus years.”
Susan was born in mainland Japan and lived in Korea and Okinawa with her parents, who worked for the Department of Defense.
She earned a degree in recreation and worked for five years at a community park and recreation department. She was also a horticulturist with a family landscaping business. However, when she joined a software company in sales and marketing, a light bulb went off in her mind about a healthcare career.
“The company I worked for created programs for the health insurance industry,” says Susan, who moved from Maine to Virginia before working for Sentara. “We were eventually bought out by WebMD, and that’s when I became interested in going back to school to become a nurse.”
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