I met Sherri Storms over one decade ago when she applied for an RN manager position at another hospital. She had breast cancer experience and presented in such a professional manner, our cancer center team did not want to lose her as a candidate. She was hired and made a difference in the lives of many women as she engaged them with the CHESS program, an electronic-based support group, and worked on many initiatives for the cancer center. Sherri has a regional and national reputation for her care delivery of patients and individualizes their plan of care for each patient. She provides emotional support and works beyond her contracted hours to do so.
Presently, Sherri Storms works as an RN coordinator and consistently advocates for her patients. When staffing vacancies challenge the team, Sherri volunteers to cross cover for practice nurses in the breast surgery clinic. She personally went to the OR when a breast biopsy was performed and ensured that the specimen was taken to pathology and handled properly. Sherri advocates for patients who have little resources and provides support during the trying time of diagnosis. Sherri was a driver for a morning intake huddle with RN coordinators and the administrative intake team to discuss pending new breast cancer patients and consults to ensure patient reports were complete prior to their appointment. This initiative resulted in the composition and acceptance of a poster for the 2018 ONS National Meeting. Sherri has advocated for a patient who had a port placed and wanted to give up on having chemotherapy treatment. She educated, counseled, and was present so that the patient could receive her treatment. She is kind when she approaches patients as if they were her own family member. A patient hit her head on the locker following her mammogram and Sherri was able to convince the patient to go to the ED to ensure she did not have hidden injuries, a fracture or a concussion.
This past year, Sherri focused on a pilot project which combined multidisciplinary appointments with surgeons and medical oncologists for breast cancer patients. These combined appointments saved the patient an extra trip to Smilow and provided patients with a plan of care at the close of the appointments which decreased their anxiety. This practice was adopted in the breast center and an abstract for a poster outlining the initiative was accepted for the 2019 ONS National Congress.
Sherri and I have shared the Nurse Coordinator role and our office for over eight years. Each day, I hear her speaking on the phone to women (and occasionally a man) diagnosed with breast cancer. With every one of those people, she is kind, compassionate, and patient. She is able to assess their level of understanding, degree of fear and anxiety, and offer information and support specific to that person's needs. She guides them to the appropriate appointments and provides an overview of what the consult visit will involve. When women arrive for their first visit, they almost always verbalize how important that call was in decreasing fear and creating trust. Sherri's support demonstrates compassionate care but is also a role model to her nursing colleagues of how to practice exceptional nursing care.
Ms. D was only 25 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time, she was in graduate school locally. Her parents both lived on Long Island. Divorced, both still came to all of the initial visits to support Ms. D. A young adult, Ms. D was responsible to make her own decisions. Her parents, however, were very influential, and occasionally in contradiction to each other on treatment decisions and complementary therapies. Sherri was critical in supporting Ms. D through the complicated breast cancer treatment continuum and trusting her own decision making with her physician and team support. Her initial surgical decision making was to have a partial mastectomy. She went on to have chemotherapy. During the end of her chemotherapy, she began to strongly consider bilateral mastectomies. She called Sherri to discuss her thoughts. One of the challenges for Ms. D was that her parents did not fully understand/support this option to start, so she was hesitant to express her feelings. But she did trust Sherri enough to express her worries and questions. Sherri listened and helped to arrange a return visit with Ms. D's surgeon. Ms. D did opt to have bilateral mastectomies with implant reconstruction and has been very satisfied with her decision. Sherri's connection with Ms. D fostered her to trust herself and her team and allowed her to make her own decisions.
Ms. T is a 32-year-old woman from CT who had moved to Oregon with her partner less than a year ago. She had just delivered her first baby and close to the end of her pregnancy was diagnosed with breast cancer. She delivered the baby in Oregon and subsequently made plans to return to her home in CT. Her journey to return to the East coast was fraught with challenges, along with the expected challenges of a newborn infant to a first-time mother. When she arrived her team quickly arranged the appropriate workup, testing, and appointments to move her treatment forward. Many barriers came into play; transport issues, childcare issues, financial and housing issues. At times, Ms. T would become exasperated with the tests, the communication, and her perception of health care miscommunication. Sherri made it a practice to call Ms. T and plan/reflect/improve the process when possible and communicate with the breast team members to ensure optimal care for this needy and at times challenging young woman. Sherri's participation in her care clearly made a significant difference to the patient receiving timely and uninterrupted breast cancer treatment, and to Ms. T feeling heard, respected and cared for.
Sherri has touched and influenced many lives during her long nursing career and certainly has demonstrated compassionate care in the 8 years that she has worked as a nurse coordinator in the Smilow Breast Center. Sherri gives 110% of herself for our patients both on the "front line" as well as from "behind the scenes" at all times.
Sherri begins her relationship with her patients even before meeting them in person. She gathers and prepares all the critical information needed before coordinating an appointment for a newly diagnosed breast cancer patient. That includes not only the pathology and imaging results but personal and demographic data which may help to guide and tailor the appointments. This is important in order to make the visit thorough and most productive. She speaks directly to each patient and assists them from this initial contact throughout their journey. This helps to identify obstacles such as transportation issues, emotional status, patient understanding of their initial diagnosis and other details which may be lacking.
She has a long career in breast cancer and with that comes vast experience, knowledge, and intuition. This level of expertise is invaluable yet only one piece of what makes the patient experience and journey a "successful" one.
Sherri has many other wonderful traits which makes her an incredible nurse. She has amazing compassion for the individuals with whom she meets. She is always caring, sensitive, patient, thoughtful and empathetic with both her patients and their families alike. Every interaction Sherri displays a calm sense of reassurance. She assists patients with crucial decision making about surgical and other treatment options, education regarding pre/post-op care and expectations, coordination of appointments, and much more. She is always available and willing to listen, truly listen. She is very effective as a communicator and patients know that she is there for them- "just a phone call away".
Sherri has special connections with all of her patients but the one that sticks out in my mind is K. A mother of a 4-week old infant diagnosed with an aggressive invasive breast cancer after delivery and relocation across the country. This devastating news brought her back to CT to be close to family support. Sherri connected with her early on. She helped her navigate through the initial visit and each subsequent step along the way. As a young new mother, she was overwhelmed, as you would expect. With Sherri's continued support and guidance, she managed to get through a multitude of exams, additional biopsies, port placement, neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, symptom issues related to chemo, genetics, and research protocols. Collaboration among many team members included also social work, plastic surgery, fertility, as well as insurance specialists as she was uninsured. Sherri supported K through making the decision for bilateral mastectomies with reconstruction. Post-op also included involvement with VNA, PT and OT referrals. Sherri was present with the surgeon at her post-op and follow-up appointments. It was Sherri's consistent availability and understanding of K's needs that helped guide her successfully through this journey which is ongoing and I know that Sherri will remain at her side throughout.
Making a significant difference in one's life may be something exceptional or something simple I believe. Sherri made a significant difference for K by being there for her. Knowing that she could reach out at any time and Sherri knew her story and her challenges and goals. It meant not needing to explain herself over and over. Sherri looked out for her and anticipated what she might feel or need. Sherri is astute at "reading" her patients. She supported her and was her advocate. Without Sherri's commitment and involvement in K's journey, she would have had a much more difficult path. Most patients we see in the Breast Center with breast cancers are much older. Being able to connect and adjust to the needs of a younger woman takes great skill. Sherri had additional experience from helping to run a support group for young women diagnosed with breast cancer.
There are so many examples that can be shared of how Sherri is a role model as well as a compassionate nurse. Due to this, it is difficult to identify what examples to share because every day she is a role model and compassionate with every patient and family that she meets. Sherri is always thinking about how to comfort and support patients and their families through a breast cancer diagnosis. Here is an example: A newly diagnosed breast cancer patient was recently discharged from the hospital, after being treated for another health issue. The patient was an elderly woman who lives alone and had limited family support. Due to her health condition, her feet were swollen and she was unable to wear any of her shoes and unable to drive herself. She was scheduled the next day for a visit at a Smilow Clinic and explained to Sherri that she was concerned about traveling without shoes, as this occurred during a cold winter week.
Sherri shared this concern with the team in an effort to find resources and make a plan to assist the patient. With assistance from the team, Sherri was able to attain a pair of slippers as well as a pair of shoes and developed a plan to have these delivered to the patient's doorstep that evening so that this patient could have them for her appointment the next day.
Again, Sherri has been observed on a number of occasions making special connections with patients and families. Sherri is kind, considerate, empathic, supportive and most importantly actively listens to what patients and families need to successfully navigate a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. She is able to readily identify what other services patients/families need and collaborates within a multidisciplinary team. One such example involves a homeless woman who was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer. She needed a single mastectomy and did not have the appropriate living environment to heal and recover. Sherri worked tirelessly with the medical team including social work to secure housing where she recovered from surgery as well throughout her chemotherapy treatments. This particular patient had a very special connection with Sherri. She loved to sing and would often sing to Sherri to express her appreciation for her care and support. She had such a beautiful voice, it would bring tears to her eyes showing the care, compassion, and connection that Sherri had with this patient.
Sherri makes a significant difference in the lives of the patients/families that she serves. An example of this includes a single woman with metastatic breast cancer and very limited family support who struggled to follow through with chemotherapy treatments (she would either be late or no-show). Again, Sherri assisted the medical team and social work in contacting the patient prior to her weekly appointments to provide reminders and support as well as meeting with her during chemotherapy to discuss, identify and problem solve ways in which to help her get to treatment. Sherri went above and beyond in supporting this patient. She recognized the importance of her following through with treatment but most importantly, she intuitively identified that this patient needed support.